Best known for his studio and live work with Gregg Allman, Levin’s links with GC Pro’s Judd Goldrich were forged decades ago.
Peter Levin’s discography is both lengthy and deep. The keyboard wizard is known for his piano and clavinet work that offsets the Hammond played by Gregg Allman in his current band, which Levin tours and records with. But his history also includes a genre-busting who’s-who of music: Allen Toussaint, Aaron Neville, Levon Helm, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Bernard Purdie, Lou Reed, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Christian McBride, God Street Wine, Merl Saunders, Phil Lesh and Jackie Green, Vassar Clements and the Oak Ridge Boys, along with session work for Korn, Train, Beastie Boys and Public Enemy. When not on tour with Allman, he has his own gig with the band Moon Palace Revival. He also finds time to work in his personal Brooklyn studio, also dubbed Moon Palace. Another thread running through Levin’s career is Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the business-to-business (B2B) division of Guitar Center providing highly customized service for professional accounts, which has been part of Levin’s story for years. GC Pro Account and Artist Relations Manager Judd Goldrich has a personal relationship with Levin going back decades, to when Goldrich was a younger man but still a fixture in the NYC M.I. scene.
The two formed a long-lasting bond that transcended just a transactional relationship. “When I got serious as a touring and studio musician, Judd was the guy I went to when I needed instruments or equipment of just good advice,” Levin recalls. That relationship was strengthened in recent years, when Levin was playing with Gregg Allman on the Mississippi coast and a fierce gulf storm raged through. The storm wiped out a stage, taking with it all four of Levin’s keyboards. “I called Judd, who was then at Guitar Center, and he had a new Yamaha CP-300 piano — the focal point of my rig — and some Moog pedals on the way to me immediately,” he says. “It’s been that way ever since. Whether I need gear for touring or for my studio, I call Judd and GC Pro and it’s taken care of.”
Most recently, Levin bought a Sequential Prophet-6 synthesizer at GC Pro and a Fender silver-face reissue Vibrolux amplifier that he’s using for his clavinet and Wurlitzer electric piano. When he realized that the Vibrolux’s two 10-inch speakers couldn’t deliver enough low end, GC Pro’s specialists suggested a Vibro-King 2×12 closed-back extension cabinet that did the trick. “Anywhere I am in the country, I call GC Pro or go into a store, they have what I need when I need it,” he says. “GC Pro is just the best.”
More information: Guitar Center Professional