The facts so far:
Heinrich Hertz was his granduncle (no relation to the car rental magnate)
Mark Levinson played bass with Paul Bley and other well known jazz musicians,
Mark married Kim Cattrall and co-wrote a book with her on female orgasms, probably right after seeing and hearing her performance in "Porky's".
Levinson founded and then was forced out of his renowned self -named audio company, but managed to stay in the audio business
He and Bill Murray both live in Switzerland and/or South Carolina
He is now 74 and apparently lives with a Russian model, He must be exhausted by now.
Chevy Chase played with the founders of Steely Dan while at college in Bard.
Nobody knows what happened to Laraine Newman outside of Bill Murray possibly, The fact is she did get a nose job and finally put on some weight.
Apparently Dekay found Faye Dunaway's wife in Lahore, Pakistan. Nobody knows why he as even there. Give him credit though.
Gilda Radner still rules. |
Told to me by Mark, his great uncle was Heinrich Hertz.
His interesting multi page bio (written by Audio writer, Barry Willis) can be found on the Daniel Hertz site.
Among many things, he designed the mixing board at Woodstock.
A checkered business life, he is responsible for the development of many legendary components. |
@skyscraper - Bill Murray lives in South Carolina (as much as any star lives in one primary place). He gets around a lot doing hilarious things all over the place. Check out his Netflix show following him. It is historical. Have’s heard anything about Lorraine Newman since she left SNL in the 70’s, but I’d believe Bill dates her. |
Wikipedia:
Mark Levinson worked as the bassist for five years (1966–1971) for jazz pianist Paul Bley and played with other renowned jazz musicians of the period.
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Mark Levinson (the man) lives in Switzerland still doing high-end audio. The brand is owned by Harman and they still market products bearing his name. My 80s-90s ML gear from Madrigal Labs still going strong |
was thinking more Heinrich Hertz...
He claims Heinrich Hertz is a distance relative. I think on his mother's side. |
This is one of the best links to ML's early story. I seem to remember reading some years ago that he was forced out of the original Mark Levinson co due to incompatabilities with the board and in the process had leave his 'name' behind and was not allowed to use it as a brand for his future co's. I think Cello was his next venture after leaving ML? Correct me if I'm wrong. Beautiful gear, Cello, I had a pair of active Serafins, nice. https://theaudiostandard.net/thread/4790/history-mark-levinson-audio-systems |
It said in Stagrer's link Kim's husband Mark Levinson was a jazz musician.
And where can you find Russian models outside of Russia? Is moving to Switzerland the answer?. I think that's where Bill Murray lives with Laraine Newman now. Who would have guessed?
Mike |
jayctoy:
Thanks, I just found her living in Lahore District, Punjab, Pakistan and it seems that she may have once been married to Faye Dunaway.
You restored my faith in Goodle.
DeKay |
Couldn't agree more, sokogear. The saddest most shocking and hard to believe they really did it part of Zombieland is when they kill Bill Murray. Still can't believe they did that. He had the nicest house too. https://youtu.be/zUfqMHkB4X0?t=69 |
I was thinking more Heinrich Hertz... |
In the mid-1970's Mark Levinson asked us (Sound + Wood of Boca Raton) to make some oak stands for his HQD systems since we were the premier hardwood audio company in those days.
We made a few as well as a couple of cabs for the 22" Hartley woofers that some HQD buyers wanted. They were so heavy (1.5" pressboard) that we had to use 4" casters to hold the weight--they were about 5' high.
Anyway, he liked the stands, etc., but was a VERY slow pay. Given the prices he charged for his stuff, this seemed odd to us. We did not carry his hardware--it was exceedingly well made but sounded, well, let me take my mom's advice per Bambi and Thumper and just say it was less than good. It also broke a lot, and we had enough lines that did that--Nakamichi, Phase Linear, Sequerra, Crown, etc., so a line that was expensive, broke, and did not meet our sound requirements did not really appeal to a small business like ours.
As I remember, no customers asked for it either. We did such a good job with our other high-end lines--Audio Research, Magnepan, Linn Sondek, Thornes, etc.--we did not need another expensive line anyway.
That's what I know for sure about Mark Levinson. I have no idea what he is doing today.
Cheers! |
Bill Murray is the man....SNL male MVP, but close call. Gilda the runaway female MVP. Can’t even compare a #2. |
Daniel Hertz is related to Mark Levinson I think? |
Dekay her name is Kim Catral, ex wife of Mark. |
I miss the SNL of old with Dan Ackwoyd, John Beshumi and Cheddar Cheese.
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roxy54:
Whoever thought that Googling Mike Levenson and Kit Catrell would be so complicated?
I give up.
DeKay |
So who is Daniel Hertz related to? |
Chevy was never in Steely Dan or on any tour with them to my knowledge. . He was friends with Don and Walt at Bard and played with them there. I think he was gone when they signed with ABC to write songs for them.
@roxy54 - he should have made sure they couldn't cheapen his name with licensing deals like the one with Lexus, but I guess once he sold he lost control of the quality of future products with his name on them.
I guess he sold his ego with his company. Opposite of Trump.... |
dekay,
Maybe you'd get a hit if you googled his ex-husband, Tim Catrall. |
I just Googled Mark’s x-wife "Tim Catrall" and did not get a single hit.
What in the heck is going on here?
DeKay
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...maybe if you spelled his name right...
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I spent an interesting afternoon in Mark Levinson's NYC store many years ago. I was there with an audio-reviewer friend who knew Mark. The most interesting part of the visit was when Mark left us in his studio for an hour with instructions to play with any of the equipment we so desired ! The special piece in the room that day was his new Nagra reel-to-reel digital recorder ! He had the ability to insult you to your face and yet you went away not being offended ! An interesting guy !
I have several of his recordings both on vinyl and on CD and find them unremarkable both sonically [too dry] and musically. My reviewer friend owned quite a few pieces of Mark's equipment, most of which I thought sounded on the "sterile" side, but the build was excellent ! I think that Dan D'Agostino stole Mark's "Crown" when he started the Krell company. Interesting times ! What a great hobby ! |
sokogear,
I could be wrong, but I think Mark Levinson sold his name to Madrigal many years before they started branding systems to Lexus. |
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Lost respect for him when he sold him name to Lexus. Would anyone believe he spent any time at all thinking about car audio?
Hey @hilde45 - Keith Carlock has been SD's drummer since I think '02. Which one are you talking about? Before that there really was no drummer in "the band" since the early 70's. |
True, he never designed anything, but he had a good ear and a great nose for talent. Hiring Takeda San of Miyabi to design ’his’ MLC-1 cartridge before anyone else in the west had heard of him was another prime example.
He was a talented bass player though. Check out the records he made with Paul Bley in the mid ’60’s, long before his career as an ’audio entrepreneur’ got started.
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When I put in the order for a Daniel Hertz M7 and M12 last year, I was worried that I would trade sound quality for compactness and simplicity.
When I switched on the system, my fears were dispelled. Mark Levinson is indeed the man.
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Steely Dan's loss of a drummer was our mutual comedy gain. |
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This thread is great lol.
But seriously, wtf is DH, I’m guessing Red Rose is gone and he’s moved on and this is his new project?
Living in Switzerland with a hot Russian wife doesn’t sound that bad tbh. |
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It's a shame that Norm Crosby is not alive to read this thread.
DeKay |
Apparently, there's a Kim Cattrell who works at Xerox and has a LinkedIn profile. Other than that, there seems to be a lot of buzz about this Kim Cattrall, who was some kind of an actress. But Xerox -- that's a real plum!
Or maybe it's Mark Levenson who's married to Kim Cattrell. Is this World One or World Two? Need to check the date on a newspaper... |
My friend had the JC-2 preamp in use in 1978. That's where I heard it with the Quads and Futterman OTL amps! |
Mark Levinson designed nothing! He just financed the business and used his name for marketing! Tom Colangelo (now deceased) designed the first generation electronics (ML1, ML2, ML3). The JC-1 mc head amp and JC-2 preamp were earlier designs from John Curl. |
internet conflation at its best, right here ... 😆 |
Didn't know he was married to Kim Cattrell for 6 years. Interesting history of the man..myth and legend. |
Obscure petty criminals named Mark LevEnson aside, there is only one Mark Levinson in audio, and Daniel Hertz SA, based in Neuchatel, is his latest enterprise. (He is also working to upgrade mass-marketer LG's audio. Seems an odd project for him, but then geniuses are always odd). ML always undertakes something new after pushing his former infatuation to its limit.
Paupers like me have only ever heard ML gear in showrooms. Well, I did have a psychiatrist friend who owned it, but his social guests were never interested in serious listening. Frankly I always suspected he owned ML gear only because he could afford it and the top local dealer had told him it was the best. Like non-cooks whose fancy kitchens are decked out with SubZero fridges, Wolf ranges, and other stuff whose functions they don't know and whose names they can't pronounce. |
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Obviously the OP is talking about the digital legend Mark Levensen and not guy who started a company building preamps and amps designed by others. |
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I think his name is Mark Levinson; but it's nice to hear about what Mark Levenson is up to as well. Oh great, you had to go and spell the beans. |
"he spends his time between his home in Switzerland and boat in Venice with his Russian model wife and his 11 year old son… when last I heard."
At least now I know where so much of my money went. |
I think his name is Mark Levinson; but it's nice to hear about what Mark Levenson is up to as well. |
Elves has left the building. |
Mr. Levenson better watch out, because there's another guy trying to profit off the similar sounding nature of their last names. https://www.marklevinson.com/ |
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