High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Stan Levey (April 5, 1926 April 19, 2005) was an American jazz drummer. Born in Philadelphia, Levey is considered one of the earliest bebop drummers, one of the very few white drummers involved in the formative years of bebop and accepted as one of bop's most important drummers, along with Kenny Clarke and Max Roach. He played in Philadelphia with Dizzy Gillespie's group in 1942, at the age of 16. Soon after he went to New York, where he and Dizzy worked on 52nd Street with Charlie Parker and Oscar Pettiford. After his tenure with the Stan Kenton Orchestra he moved to the West Coast in 1954, joining Howard Rumsey and the Lighthouse All-Stars, and was a major influence in West Coast jazz.