TJB and Leon Russell
- Thread starter Phil Fox
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Dave
Well-Known Member
I saw Leon at least six or seven years ago. Forgot which year, but I remember it being Halloween.
Anyway, at the place I saw him at, the sound was very POOR and unfortunately, other than the Band Announcements, you could barely hear him or make out what songs he was singing. Though listening very carefully, I at least knew when he was singing "Tightrope", "A Song For You" (which he did as a solo w/o band) and "This Masquerade" (also w/o band; a rhythm machine played "percussion" in the background--even the drummer left the stage, or had us thinking the little percussion he was playing was a whole "section"!). He didn't have a horn section, but he had "prerecorded ones" which were the "culprit"--they drowned everything else out!
Of course, he appeared at that venue quite a few more times, since. Wish I had shown up there with my ticket stub from that ill-fated performance, I may have seen him again for FREE! And of course, the crowds who gather and line up for the "meet & greet" and "autograph sessions" outside his tour bus are known to be ENORMOUS!
As for playing with Herb & TjB, I really don't know. But of particular interest is A&M '45' (734) "Misty" (which I think, may be the Johhny Mathis song; he either sings on or it's instrumental) B/W "Cindy" (which I'm presuming is an instrumental), that I so far, have yet to unearth. But, I think Herb could have at least been very well involved in the materializing of that, No?
Dave
Anyway, at the place I saw him at, the sound was very POOR and unfortunately, other than the Band Announcements, you could barely hear him or make out what songs he was singing. Though listening very carefully, I at least knew when he was singing "Tightrope", "A Song For You" (which he did as a solo w/o band) and "This Masquerade" (also w/o band; a rhythm machine played "percussion" in the background--even the drummer left the stage, or had us thinking the little percussion he was playing was a whole "section"!). He didn't have a horn section, but he had "prerecorded ones" which were the "culprit"--they drowned everything else out!
Of course, he appeared at that venue quite a few more times, since. Wish I had shown up there with my ticket stub from that ill-fated performance, I may have seen him again for FREE! And of course, the crowds who gather and line up for the "meet & greet" and "autograph sessions" outside his tour bus are known to be ENORMOUS!
As for playing with Herb & TjB, I really don't know. But of particular interest is A&M '45' (734) "Misty" (which I think, may be the Johhny Mathis song; he either sings on or it's instrumental) B/W "Cindy" (which I'm presuming is an instrumental), that I so far, have yet to unearth. But, I think Herb could have at least been very well involved in the materializing of that, No?
Dave
Captain Bacardi
Well-Known Member
Steven J. Gross
Well-Known Member
mikeargo
Well-Known Member
Leon will be playing in Austin on Sunday, May 2. Actually, he'll be playing at Lake Austin, at a small venue called The Pier. This is a funky lakeside burger joint where you can just pull your motorboat up to the dock and hop off for some food or music or a game of pool. (The Captain probably knows about this place.) They have a small outdoor stage, and I'd guess the capacity at a couple hundred, tops. If I drive slowly, it's about 8 minutes from my house.
One little-noted latter-day Leon/A&M connection is "Quiet Nights," on Leon & Mary's Wedding Album (1976?). Cowritten with Julius Wechter, and Julius plays piano, percussion, and marimbas on the track.
Mike A
One little-noted latter-day Leon/A&M connection is "Quiet Nights," on Leon & Mary's Wedding Album (1976?). Cowritten with Julius Wechter, and Julius plays piano, percussion, and marimbas on the track.
Mike A
DAN BOLTON
Well-Known Member
Phil Fox said:
Judging from the style he exhibited on TIGHTROPE, I'd be willing to bet that Leon might have contributed to SWINGER FROM SEVILLE and LOVE POTION #9, and maybe even the BMB's version of CAST YOUR FATE TO THE WIND...
Carol Kaye would probably know...she played on several TJB recording sessions, including ATOH.
Dan
Mike
Active Member
I ‘m surprised to hear that Lean Russell played with the TJB: I attended a Leon Russell concert around 1970 at the War Memorial in Rochester, New York. Believe me, he didn’t play anything remotely similar to the TJB. He and his band put on one heck of a rock & roll show. At one point he even climbed up on top of his grand piano and did “Jumping Jack Flash”, playing a guitar, with his mane of silver/gray hair flying; he even threw tambourines in the air like Frisbees. When it comes to rocking the war memorial, I’d rate his act right up there with Humble Pie. Before this concert, I was vaguely familiar with Leon, after that night I became a life long fan. Also, for those not familiar with him, he’s put out a string of country western albums that are a real pleasure to listen to (check out “Hank Wilson is Back”). The man is versatile and incredibly gifted.
Phil Fox
New Member
Unfortunately, my experience was very similar to Dave's (post of 4-03). The sound of the concert was unbelieveably loud, but it was as garbled as it was loud. For most of the show I was able to identify the songs I knew only by a short bit of melody (usually only a bar or so). The songs were mostly played at a very rapid tempo. The songs that I was most easily able to idenity were Rolling Stones covers (Wild Horses and Jumping Jack Flash) as well as a cover of Kansas City which closed the show.
Leon could not have done anything as physical as climbing on a piano -- in fact, he played a very complicated electronic instrument (synthesizer??) instead of a piano. He walked out onto the stage with a heavy limp and using a cane. (I found one reference somewhere that he had had a motorcycle wreck years ago.)
I too like the Hank Wilson albums. Country has never been played with more energy.
Phil
Leon could not have done anything as physical as climbing on a piano -- in fact, he played a very complicated electronic instrument (synthesizer??) instead of a piano. He walked out onto the stage with a heavy limp and using a cane. (I found one reference somewhere that he had had a motorcycle wreck years ago.)
I too like the Hank Wilson albums. Country has never been played with more energy.
Phil
Phil Fox said:
I wonder if they used a "house" sound system or brought their own. You'd think whoever was running those shows would have had the sense to make it sound better. Sometimes it is the venue (like Chene Park in Detroit--everyone sounds bad there due to a 6-second reverb that turns everything to mud). But if you hear of the same artist having bad sound at different venues...
I saw a lot of shows last year, and I think in terms of sound, the worst was The Cramps--very muddy, very difficult to hear the songs. Same situation--if I didn't already know the songs by chord changes, I would have missed most of it. The venue was a dive (the Majestic Theater), which could have been part of the problem.
dostros
Member
Hi. I just found/joined this forum, which explains the belated contribution to this thread. Leon Russell is of course a rock music legend from when as a youngster he produced Gary Lewis and the Playboys "This Diamond Ring" and ghosted with innumerable artists, to his days with Joe Cocker as leader and organizer of the famous Mad Dogs and Englishman tour.
I am very familiar with his piano style, and yes I do hear what could be him on A Taste of Honey, but his classic, trademark style is unmistakable on a much later album: Warm (one of my favourites). On Sandbox (near the end), it sounds like the Herb gave him a break to show off his stuff. By that time, though, he was already so well known I'm a bit surprised he had the time to sit in with them again.
Most Leon sources say he played on a number of TJB albums, never credited.
David Ostrosser
I am very familiar with his piano style, and yes I do hear what could be him on A Taste of Honey, but his classic, trademark style is unmistakable on a much later album: Warm (one of my favourites). On Sandbox (near the end), it sounds like the Herb gave him a break to show off his stuff. By that time, though, he was already so well known I'm a bit surprised he had the time to sit in with them again.
Most Leon sources say he played on a number of TJB albums, never credited.
David Ostrosser
dostros said:
I'm hoping that with these upcoming reissues, we'll see some studio credits for these classic albums. If anything, it would save us all a lot of guesswork, confirm some suspicions, and would be generally interesting to anyone who is as familiar with the TJB as a lot of us are.
And...welcome aboard!
I've seen Leon in concert twice, both at the same small club and during the dead of winter. I also found the sound quality less than ideal but was able to recognize the songs.
The "Misty"/"Cindy" single is one I don't have; fortunately both songs are on THE A&M BOOTLEG ALBUM (SP 8022, double LP).
Leon did great piano playing on the Flying Burrito Bros. version of "Wild Horses" from BURRITO DELUXE (SP 4258) which pre-dated the Stones rendition.
JB
The "Misty"/"Cindy" single is one I don't have; fortunately both songs are on THE A&M BOOTLEG ALBUM (SP 8022, double LP).
Leon did great piano playing on the Flying Burrito Bros. version of "Wild Horses" from BURRITO DELUXE (SP 4258) which pre-dated the Stones rendition.
JB
Dave
Well-Known Member
I never would've guessed Leon played on any more of the Herb Alpert/TjB albums, after the early years...
But, YES, that piano solo near the end of "Sandbox", at least is something Leon Russell would do... What other songs on Warm could he have played on? Has he appeared on Summertime , too?
Dave
...discovering, yet, more for our (Where is it, anyway??!!) "NOT Herb...?" thread...
But, YES, that piano solo near the end of "Sandbox", at least is something Leon Russell would do... What other songs on Warm could he have played on? Has he appeared on Summertime , too?
Dave
...discovering, yet, more for our (Where is it, anyway??!!) "NOT Herb...?" thread...
DAN BOLTON
Well-Known Member
dostros
Member
I think the "Whipped Cream" presence is pretty official, according to LR discographies, but apart from that they say he is on a number (conceivably a good number) of other TJB.
It seems to me that any support musicians should be very discreet and not really draw attention to their particular recognizable style, so its normal you would have to listen very closely to pick them out IMHO.
LR started getting very visible at about the time of WARM, so that's maybe why they let him show off his chops a little more (or they couldn't STOP him)
. The Sandbox break just really FEELS like him. For instance, the Up Cherry Street found on You Smile, the Song Begins is a similar style to LR, maybe, but it's not him. The piano slurs on the start of Marjorine (WARM) are very Leon as well. Leon has always had money woes, so maybe he always needed studio gigs.
I love this thread because it was Herb that inspired me to play trumpet at 11 years old, and Leon that inspired me to learn piano. Now I'm back to trumpet, where I should'a stood.
David O
It seems to me that any support musicians should be very discreet and not really draw attention to their particular recognizable style, so its normal you would have to listen very closely to pick them out IMHO.
LR started getting very visible at about the time of WARM, so that's maybe why they let him show off his chops a little more (or they couldn't STOP him)
. The Sandbox break just really FEELS like him. For instance, the Up Cherry Street found on You Smile, the Song Begins is a similar style to LR, maybe, but it's not him. The piano slurs on the start of Marjorine (WARM) are very Leon as well. Leon has always had money woes, so maybe he always needed studio gigs.I love this thread because it was Herb that inspired me to play trumpet at 11 years old, and Leon that inspired me to learn piano. Now I'm back to trumpet, where I should'a stood.
David O
Numero Cinco
New Member
dostros
Member
Numero Cinco said:
Thanks for drawing my attention to "Green Peppers". Very nice tune. I had to listen in headphones to hear the piano, which I don't do much, as TJB is usually palatable for my wife.
After perusing the other A&M forums, I see that Julius Wechter has stated flat out that it was Leon for the "first few" TJB (and BMB) albums, which Leon says included "Whipped Cream". The rest, says Julius, was Pete Jolly. For me, the piano on Warm sounds the most like Leon's classic style, even though one wouldn't be expecting him to still be playing with Herb in 1969.
However, in 1969 Leon was recording the album Joe Cocker! at A&M studios. So it maybe isn't such a stretch after all.
David O
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