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| Leon Russell Records Newsletter |
| April 29, 2006 |
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by Carol Speed CS: I consider myself a lifetime adult, and you're what I call a lifetime adult. Did you know when you were three years old studying classical piano that you would stand with great songwriters and performers?LR: Even at the age of three I wasn't much of a "stander" due to my bad feet. But I do remember, in early times, staring at the line made by the bottom of the wall touching the floor while I was playing and pretending it was the front of the stage. I wanted to be able to look at my imaginary audience and play without making mistakes. CS: You've mastered the piano, trumpet, guitar and bass guitar. Most people only play one instrument. Did the guitar, bass guitar and trumpet come easy for you? LR: My horn experience is actually baritone and valve trombone. I moved from trumpet in the 5th grade when I joined the Maysville, Oklahoma high school band. They had plenty of trumpets and no baritone players. The guitar was difficult for me due to a birth injury that partially paralyzed my right side. It took a year for me to be able to hold a guitar pic. CS: What inspired you to write "Lady Blue"? LR: That song was written for my ex-wife, who I loved deeply at the time. Who can know the many and sometimes dark aspects of love. CS: You wrote "This Masquerade", which George Benson recorded, and it occupied the number one spot on the jazz, pop, and R & B charts. It received "Record of the Year" and a Grammy. "This Masquerade" and "A Song For You" are two of my favorite songs. Both are awesome. I was in Los Angeles at one of your concerts when you sang "A Song For You". The entire venue went quiet when you started singing the first line of "A Song For You". Your draw of the audience was so strong, one could hear a pin if it dropped. Are those special moments when you're performing felt by you? What is the feeling like? LR: In the case of "A Song For You", I was trying to write a song that both Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra could sing. It's very nice to know that a moment from my past reaches the audience in such a way. When I was writing the song, there was a funny feeling in my chest as I wrote the lines "I acted out my life on stages, with ten thousand people watching". At that time, my largest audience had only been about 80. CS: You produced and played on sessions with Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Sam Cooke, Johnny Mathis, Wayne Newton, Ike & Tina Turner, and many more. Was there a big difference making music with folksy style Bob Dylan and the rough, hard-thumping rhythms of Ike & Tina Turner? LR: In the case of Bob, I asked him to let me bring a band to New York and cut some tracks for him. This was in response to him telling me that when he was the only one involved, everything went fine, but when he tried to play with a band, everything went badly. He said that he admired the fact that I could play with large groups of people without having any trouble. Also, I had heard that when he cut his "Nashville Skyline" album, that when the playback was going on, he went out of the studio to write the next song. I wanted him to show me how to do that, which he did. CS: The "Concert for Bangladesh", the film and album went platinum, included your duet with George Harrison on "Beware of Darkness", and performers Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Klaus Voorman, Badfinger and Ravi Shankar. It was the first rock and roll benefit concert. What were you feeling while performing and recording, knowing your performance would influence the caring for less fortunate people, and ideas of future artists, and their judgement of you? After all, the Rap generation came in hardcore. LR: Oddly enough, there was very little pressure on me at that event. I was surrounded by so many big stars, I thought I would hardly be noticed. The next night at Pittsburgh, the daunting pressure of stage fright returned, when I was back in the position of being responsible for the show. CS: Your Shelter Records produced Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Phoebe Snow, and The Gap Band. You also produced and played on three albums for the great blues guitarist Freddie King. Billboard Magazine reported that you were the top concert attraction in the world in the 70's. So what was special about Freddie King that you took the time from your fame to record three albums with him? LR: Tom Petty was discovered by my partner, Denny Cordell, Phoebe Snow was found by our National Head of Promotion, Dino Areli, and The Gap Band was discovered by Buddy Jones. I studied Freddie King's records when I was trying to learn guitar and I was very excited at the prospect of being able to play with him. He insisted that I play a guitar solo on one of the songs, and he can be heard on the record yelling loudly at the end of my solo. CS: You and Willie Nelson--The Dynamic Duo - achieved success with "One For The Road" album. It was honored by the Country Music Association as "Best Album of the Year". Then you recorded "Heartbreak Hotel" with Willie Nelson, which topped the charts, and you've toured together many times. You co-hosted the first of the Willie Nelson 4th of July picnics. What does Willie Nelson mean to you? LR: Willie is a national treasure. When it comes to music and the music business, he knows so many things that I have no idea about. When we did that first in his series of duet albums, he said we should form an act. And that we would be the "biggest thing in the business". It was hard for me to imagine. But he was probably right. His life goals involve helping young artists, and making the world in general a better place to be. I think he has accomplished them very nicely. Leon Russell has wowed the world with his performances, and songwriting. Music and film are intertwined, and no one has married songwriting to film like Leon Russell. His song "Superstar" is sung by Luther Vandross for "Luther Vandross With Love - The Videos" (2004), and the Paramount film, "Tommy Boy" (1995) used his "Superstar" song. Leon Russell co-wrote "Lost Inside Of You" with Barbra Streisand for "A Star Is Born" (1976). "A Poem Is A Naked Person" (1974) a feature-length documentary, directed by Les Blank, captures music, and other events at Leon Russell's Oklahoma recording studio from 1972 through 1974. Leon Russell played himself in the MGM film, "Joe Cocker: Mad Dogs & Englishmen" (1971). Leon Russell is, also, featured in Joe Cocker's "Have A Little Faith", an independent documentary film. The surprise that Carol Speed found, while researching for the Q&A with Leon Russell, was that he played a radio preacher for Columbia's "When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?" (1979). |
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