He is best known as a big band composer for Stan Kenton and the Don Ellis Orchestra, as well as the founder and long-time director of Towson University's Jazz Program.

He studied composition with George Thaddeus Jones at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and became interested in odd meters through their use by such composers as Paul Hindemith, Maurice Ravel, and Igor Stravinsky.

In his last years, he more frequently turned to bebop originals, tunes by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Tadd Dameron.

The recording comprised Levy compositions, all but one in odd meter: "Bop City Revisited", "Poopsie's Penthouse", "A Quiet Friday", "Pete Is a Four-Letter Word", "Bread and Watrous", and "Stillness Runs Deep".

Personnel on the recording who also have performed with the Hank Levy Alumni Band include Steve Ashcraft (drums) and Ray Disney (trumpet).