SHORT TAKES : Gallery Director Packs a Sax

When David Levy, the Corcoran Gallery’s new director, signed his contract, he informed the board that he had a prior commitment in February. A jazz saxophonist, Levy, the former chancellor of the New School for Social Research in New York, has scheduled a performing tour of Japan with a group of New York jazz greats including Chico Hamilton, drums; Donald Byrd, trumpet; Jimmy Heath, tenor saxophone, and Reggie Workman, bass.

The group will perform in Tokyo, Kyoto and Kanagawa and give workshops during the day. Levy, who plays baritone and alto sax, also will have a hand in the group’s arrangements, whose repertoire will include originals and standards. “I’m kind of a classicist,” Levy said Thursday, his second day on the job at the Corcoran. “I love the Count Basie sound. I tend to take music I like and configure it for the group I’m playing with.”