Ike Levin is a multi-reed player, recording artist, teacher, and a highly regarded jazz and compositional improvisor based in Portland, Oregon. He honed his musical skills performing in the blues and jazz clubs of his native Chicago and later as a contributor to the jazz and creative music scene in the San Francisco Bay area.  He studied composition at the Roosevelt University Conservatory of Music and privately with the legendary reed master Joe Daley who helped him establish his technique and post-bop musical roots.  Ike also studied with tenor saxophonist extraordinaire Fred Anderson one of the co-founders of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM).  Under his tutelage Ike gained an appreciation for phrasing and use of space as he explored the musical frontiers of fully improvised music.  Another key ingredient to his true musical development came from listening to the many iconic musicians who came through the fertile Chicago jazz venues and by sitting in at the array of jam sessions held throughout the city.  

 

​ A number of key musical influences are evident in Ike's approach to his instruments and improvisation. These include John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Kidd Jordan, and Thelonious Monk.  Other key influences include the works of many of the 20th century’s innovative orchestral composers such as Bartok, Schoenberg, Pendercki, Satie, Ligeti, and Boulez. 

 

Ike has performed across the North America at a variety of jazz concert venues, clubs, and festivals.  He has performed and recorded with a host of notable jazz artists including inventive, adventurous pianist Joel Futterman, with whom he has had a deeply productive 25-year collaboration. Ike has also performed and recorded with the late highly regarded drummer/percussionist Alvin Fielder. As well as, Donald Robinson, Kash Killion, Robert Barry, Ronnie Burrage, Reggie Nicholson, Oluyemi Thomas, Igeoma Thomas, Robert Porter, Yancy Taylor, Smiley Winters, Al Criado, Tony Pacini, Ed Bennett, Tim DuRoche, and Percy Scott among many others.  Ike regularly performs with his progressive post-bop jazz ensemble and his Improvisational Compositional Trio. ​

 

In addition to his performances and recordings, Ike co-composed with Joel Futterman the musical soundtrack for the 2017 independent documentary film Birthright: A War Story that examines the aggressive campaign by states, the courts, and religious doctrine to restrict women's autonomy over their reproductive health care.