Legendary American singer and pianist Leon Russell
has entertained the world for five decades, getting his start as an in-demand
Wrecking Crew session player and playing on hundreds of hit records before he
began releasing his own albums in 1967. On April 1, the day before his 72nd
birthday, Leon Russell will release a new studio album, titled Life Journey,
via Universal Music Enterprises (UMe).
Life
Journey features newly written original songs and Russell’s turns on classics
that resonate with the two-time GRAMMY® winner as important to his musical
trajectory. Recorded and mixed by Al Schmitt at Capitol Studios, the album is
produced by Tommy LiPuma and executive produced by Elton John, with whom
Russell most recently collaborated for 2010’s critically acclaimed album, The
Union.
“This is
a record of my musical journey through life,” Russell writes in a package essay
for Life Journey. “It reflects pieces of things that I have done and things I
never did, for one reason or another.”
The
Lawton, Oklahoma native’s new original songs on Life Journey are “Big Lips,” a
boisterous romp built around his vocals and piano, with Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums,
Willie Weeks on bass, and Chris Simmons on slide guitar, and “Down In
Dixieland.” The album-closing ode to Louisiana Dixieland jazz features
Russell’s vocals and piano leading a parade of horns arranged and conducted by
John Clayton, including Ira Nepus on trombone, Darrell Leonard on trumpet and
flugelhorn, and James Gordon on clarinet, as well as the aforementioned
Laboriel Jr., Weeks, and Simmons on their respective instruments.
One of
popular music’s most celebrated songwriters and performers, Russell’s songs
have hit the charts across several 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.” George Benson won 1976’s Record of the Year GRAMMY® Award for his cover
of Russell’s "This Masquerade" and it became the first song in music
history to hit No. 1 across the jazz, pop, and R&B charts. In 2011, Russell
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of
Fame.
On Life
Journey, Russell celebrates the songs of 10 other writers, infusing them with
the vibrant bounce and spirit that has long been his signature. Russell opens
the album with Robert Johnson’s “Come On In My Kitchen,” leading a tour of his
majestic musical house that continues with Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart
Gorrell’s “Georgia On My Mind,” Haven Gillespie and Beasley Smith’s “That Lucky
Old Sun,” John Davenport and Eddie Cooley’s “Fever,” Mike Reid’s “Think Of Me,”
Duke Ellington and Paul Francis Webster’s “I Got It Bad & That Ain’t Good,”
Herb Magidson and Allie Wrubel’s “The Masquerade Is Over” (featuring a lush
orchestral arrangement, a wistful glance back to Russell’s own “This
Masquerade”), Paul Anka’s “I Really Miss You,” Billy Joel’s “New York State Of
Mind,” and Johnny Fuller, Robert L. Geddins, and David Rosenbaum’s “Fool’s
Paradise.”
Other
musicians who joined Russell to record Life Journey include Robben Ford, who
played guitar on “That Lucky Old Sun” and “Fool’s Paradise,” Jeff Hamilton and
John Clayton, who played drums and bass on “The Masquerade Is Over,” “Think Of
Me,” and “I Really Miss You,” respectively, with Anthony Wilson on guitar for
“The Masquerade Is Over” and “I Really Miss You.” Greg Leisz played pedal steel
guitar on “That Lucky Old Sun,” “Think Of Me,” and “I Really Miss You,” Larry
Goldings played Hammond B3 organ on “That Lucky Old Sun,” “Fever,” “Think Of
Me,” and “Fool’s Paradise,” and the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra played on
“Georgia On My Mind,” “I Got It Bad & That Ain’t Good,” and “New York State
Of Mind.”
With
Life Journey, Leon Russell reminisces with some of the musical touchstones that
have inspired him, while bringing forth new songs of his own for an album that
looks back with the love, loss, joy, and peace that’s collected during a life
well lived. How fortunate the world is for Leon Russell to share his life and
time with us in song, all these years.
Leon
Russell: Life Journey
1. Come On In My Kitchen
2. Big Lips
3. Georgia On My Mind
4. That Lucky Old Sun
5. Fever
6. Think Of Me
7. I Got It Bad & That Ain’t Good
8. The Masquerade Is Over
9. I Really Miss You
10. New York State Of Mind
11. Fool’s Paradise
12. Down In Dixieland
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