Americana Roots -- #3 Southerners in Hollywood. Leon Russell – Part Two
Part 2 -- Mad Dogs and Bangladesh
In today's post we briefly examine a few of the of the major musical events involving Leon Russell from the early 1970s. In yesterday's post we saw the film of the “happening” in a Hollywood recording studio. Leon and many of the people you saw in that film were part of the band backing the English singer Joe Cocker.
In 1971 a major film studio released a cinema documentary film of that 1970 Joe Cocker tour. That film and accompanying album, at least in youth culture, captured quite a bit of attention and in a sense catapulted Leon Russell to the next level of stardom. In the film he played both piano and at times lead guitar.
Here is a clip of them covering a classic Beatles song, “With a Little Help from my Friends” from the 1967 album Sgt.Pepper. This iconic version had an anthem like quality for the youth of that period.
Leon developed a close association with both George Harrison and Eric Clapton. A few year back I interviewed Joey Molland of the band Badfinger and he told me about recording the the hit song “Day After Day” in London with George Harrison as the producer. He mentioned that Leon Russell stopped by to see George and that George ask him to play piano on the song. Although it's only a background part, it's subtle and beautiful. Leon essentially played it impromptu after listening to the song a time or two. It gives you an indication of what a fantastic studio musician he was.
Interestingly, George had to stop his work as producer because he was asked by Ravi Shankar to do a benefit concert for Bangladesh. It was also recorded and filmed. This film, with many of the greatest names in rock music, was a huge success, and the accompanying album was the Grammy record of the year. Leon Russell and Badfinger were recruited by George for the concert, so I got to hear all about it from someone who was there.
There wasn't time for a lot of rehearsals, but here is an clip of Leon Russell (with Harrison and Clapton) playing an old blues standard. In the middle of the song it is interesting to hear George begin to naturally sing harmony – not a common thing for blues on a lead vocal, and it demonstrates how the years with the Beatles honed George's skills.
Keeping it short for busy Steemers, more to follow
Photos: All photos are YouTube screen captures with effects by @roused
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Thanks so much! You are a power link in the blockchain :-)