Thrift Store Albums: Levant Plays Gershwin

The great thing about thrift store vinyl is that for only 79 cents you can take a chance and listen to something you've never heard before.  For example, I recently picked up this vinyl album entitled "Levant Plays Gershwin."

From the album cover, I thought that Levant was a chick!  I wondered if she was the first of the one name celebrities ... like Madonna or Seal.  But, it turns out that Levant was Oscar Levant. Levant was a close friend of George Gershwin and a very interesting show business personality.  He was a composer, he played piano, he acted in movies, he was a comedian, and he was a larger than life personality.  He also battled addiction and mental health issues.


On the musical scene, he was known as one of the best interpreters of George Gershwin's music.  Indeed, he plays it well.  But, I would have never discovered Levant or any of this if I wouldn't have plunked down less than a dollar at Goodwill.