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Leon Russell
Leon Russell is a music legend and perhaps the most accomplished and versatile musician in the history of rock 'n roll. In his distinguished and unique 50 year career, he has played on, arranged, written and/or produced some of the best records in popular music.
Leon has played on pop, rock, blues, country, bluegrass, standards, gospel, and surf records. As a session musician, arranger, producer, singer, songwriter, pianist, guitarist, record company owner, bandleader, and touring musician, he has collaborated with hundreds of artists.
Born in southwest Oklahoma in 1942, Leon began piano lessons at age 4. He was playing in Tulsa nightclubs at the age of 14. After graduating from high school, Leon's band, The Starlighters, went on the road with Jerry Lee Lewis for almost two months. Leon left Tulsa at the age of 17 for Los Angeles where he began playing in the L.A. clubs and eventually became one of the best session musicians in Hollywood. He worked with the best Hollywood producers and top musicians in the business.
Russell became part of an elite group of studio musicians called the Wrecking Crew and played on hundreds of hit records in the 1960's. He was part of studio groups such as The Routers and The Super Stocks. The Routers recorded the huge hit "Let's Go" and The Super Stocks recorded surf and hot rod tunes. In 1964, Leon was a member of the the house band on the Shindig! show on ABC television which showcased the top pop acts.
Leon organized and led the band behind Joe Cocker for the famous "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" tour of the U.S. in March-May, 1971. The huge 11 member band included 3 drummers and a 10 member choir which played 65 shows in 48 cities. The tour was filmed for the movie "Mad Dogs & Englishmen". The live double-LP album on A&M Records reached #2 on the U.S. album charts and sold over a million copies.
1971, Leon joined George Harrison and friends for two performances of the Concert For Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden in New York to raise money for refugees. His Jumpin' Jack Flash/Youngblood medley was considered the highlight of the show by some. The album earned a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
As a songwriter, Leon's songs have hit the charts across all genres and have been covered by a diverse range of artists. Ray Charles recorded A Song For You, B.B. King had a hit with Hummingbird, The Carpenters with Superstar and Joe Cocker with Delta Lady. The Carpenter's cover of Superstar, written by Leon and Bonnie Bramlett, went to #2 on the pop music charts. George Benson won the "Record of the Year" Grammy in 1976 for his cover of Leon's song, This Masquerade, and it became the first song in music history to hit #1 on the jazz, pop and R&b charts.
When Leon Russell was in the midst of what possibly was the busiest period in his life, he was often referred to by the musicians he worked with as “the master of space and time” for his otherworldly ability to fit into any musical situation.
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Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time's Journey Through Rock & Roll History
![Read "Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time's Journey Through Rock & Roll History" reviewed by Doug Collette](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/67f63b6ea1361b079165354a2985cb4d.jpg)
by Doug Collette
Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time's Journey Through Rock & Roll History Bill Janovitz 592 Pages ISBN: #978-0306924774 Hachette Book Group 2023 A quick perusal of the late Leon Russell: The Master of Space And Time's Journey Through Rock & Roll History will most likely leave an indelible impression that the native Oklahoman was one of the most colorful characters ever to populate rock of the '60s and '70s. Bill Janovitz's ...
read moreLeon Russell: Signature Songs
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by Doug Collette
Originally released in 2001 and out-of-print since a 2007 re-release, Leon Russell's Signature Songs is now available again on compact disc and vinyl LP in tandem with a new distribution agreement for late Beatle George Harrison's label imprint, Dark Horse Records. A collection of eleven stripped-down takes on The Master of Space And Time's best-known songs, this is a singular entry in the list of over half-dozen similar 'best of' anthologies released since 1976. As nasal as ever ...
read moreLeon Russell: On a Distant Shore
![Read "On a Distant Shore" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/741ed92a0667814b785be84a3471411f.jpg)
by C. Michael Bailey
In the same way that the death of my Aunt Irene in the early 1990s showed me Father Time was coming for my immediate family, did I realize the same fate awaited my musical heroes when Frank Zappa was shown the door about the same time. This past year has been especially hard with the deaths of Chuck Berry, Gregg Allman, and, now, Leon Russell. Russell was one of those artists who got old all at once. It is easier ...
read moreLeon Russell and Southside Johnny &The Asbury Jukes at the NYCB Theatre
![Read "Leon Russell and Southside Johnny &The Asbury Jukes at the NYCB Theatre" reviewed by Mike Perciaccante](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/67f63b6ea1361b079165354a2985cb4d.jpg)
by Mike Perciaccante
Leon Russell, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes with special guests The Persuasions NYCB Theatre at Westbury Westbury, NY July 27, 2013Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame member Leon Russell, as well as Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, along with special guests The Persuasions, thrilled a small but enthusiastic audience at the intimate NYCB Theater in Westbury on July 27, 2013. The intimate venue, which on many concert occasions is used as a theater ...
read moreLeon Russell: Signature Songs / Guitar Blues
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by C. Michael Bailey
Leon Russell is an American National Treasure. He should be protected at all costs.
Leon Russell entered my consciousness when I saw the movie and later purchased the soundtrack for Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen. He was this larger-than-life figure, acting as sidekick to the great white Ray Charles. Russell had an immediately identifiable piano and guitar style, and his vocals, that voice, that could come from no one else but an Oklahoma Dust Bowl ghost. Born Claude Russell ...
read moreLeon Russell: Homewood Session, 1970
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Leon Russell was an interesting artist. Born in Oklahoma, he began playing piano at a very young age and was getting paid for it starting at 14 when he gigged in Tulsa. As Leon told me when I visited him at home in Nashville in 2014: Whatever I heard I could remember and play. When I came home from jobs, I'd listen to my radio. The only station it picked up favored R&B and Pentecostal gospel." Like all naturally gifted ...
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Leon Russell R.I.P. - "I've acted out my life on stages with 10,000 people watching"
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HypeBot
Leon Russell wrote songs so well crafted that even the first time you heard them, you swore that you've heard them before. It was not that they were't unique- they usually were- it was that they touched something hiding deep inside you. Leon Russell, a prolific artist, songwriter and producer, who recorded hits such as Tight Rope" and Lady Blue" has died. He was 74. A statement released on Sunday by Russell's wife Jan Bridges said: “We thank everyone for ...
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Leon Russell (1942-2016)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Leon Russell, a singer-songwriter and pianist who spent much of the early 1960s appearing on pop hits as a Los Angeles studio musician and who, in the years that followed, was a solo artist and composer of hits such as A Song for You, Tight Rope, This Masquerade and Superstar, died on Nov. 13. He was 74. Back in March 2014, I spent several hours with Leon at his home outside of Nashville. The house was loaded with eclectic furnishings ...
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Interview: Leon Russell
![Interview: Leon Russell](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/67f63b6ea1361b079165354a2985cb4d.jpg)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Two weeks ago I was in Nashville interviewing Leon Russell at home for today's Leisure & Arts page in The Wall Street Journal (go here or please buy the paper). I've always been a fan of Leon, who in recent years slipped from the radar a bit. That's what happens when you're independent. You have your freedom but you don't have the promotional machine behind what you're doing. Leon's new album—Life Journey—is out today, and it's a fascinating mix of ...
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Elton John and Leon Russell - The Union (2010)
![Elton John and Leon Russell - The Union (2010)](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/2010/helpinghands100x100.jpg)
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Something Else!
By Nick Deriso Elton John's long and often dispiriting journey back to his 1970s muse led him to an early idol, Leon Russell. The result is The Union," a sturdy new collaboration full of spiralling soul and timeless revelations about starting over. Produced by T Bone Burnett and set for issue by Decca on Oct. 19, the album refurbishes John's tattered legacy even as it restores the legend of Russella consummate musician who saw his career stalled by a stubburn ...
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