Mike Levin to Pound Keys in Union Tonight For Fellow Yardlings

With a background of jam sessions with Bennie Goodman and Casa-Loma, and two years experience as a band leader, Michael I. Levin '42 will talk on "Jazz, its Origin and Place in American Life" at 7 o'clock tonight in the Union. The program is to be illustrated by records and by playings.

All his family have been highly interested in music, especially Uncle Beryl Rubinstein, one of the country's leading pianists. Although it was not until his sophomore year in high school that Levin first took lessons, he had a 12-piece jazz band within a year and soon acquired a great reputation around Cleveland, his home city.

Now 17 years old and a high ranking scholar, Levin says that he "just took to it." In addition to informal playing, or "jamming with Bennie Goodman and Casa-Loma, he has worked out with some of the players from Count Basie's and Andy Kerk's orchestras. Every week Levin sends to the "cleveland News" a column called "Swing," which tells of the activities of the important bands in Ohio.