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Leon!

Added 2023-03-11 16:44:58 +0000 UTC

Let's get some Leon Love going today! Where to begin?!

If you wanna get started at the top, listen to some Phil Spector records... That's Leon playing the triplets on Be My Baby!

How about this stellar arrangement of "The 59th Street Bridge Song?'

Did you know Leon co-wrote Superstar by the Carpenters? Check out this incredible live version of it from the Mad Dogs and Englishmen live record with Rita Coolidge singing Superstar / Leon's on piano going nuts! Digging into that Mad Dogs and Englishmen live record made me think that Joe Cocker got a bad rap after John Belushi parodied him on SNL - but he was GREAT and this record, thanks to Leon's incredible arrangements and assembled top tier players really helps to make that case!

Here's Leon taking center stage at George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh doing Jumpin Jack Flash , in my opinion, THE definitive version of this song.

Leon's biggest hit as a solo artist is probably this perfect song: Song For You I adore this song, and the look and feel of this live on a TV set look. The whole special is up on youtube to enjoy.

Then you must watch the Les Blank documentary A Poem Is A Naked Person. Leon fought with Les about the movie and it was shelved, but it's really great and I think Leon came to peace with it before he died.

Here's Elton inducting Leon into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame... he tells the story better than I did.

At the space we were recording at, Ian our engineer had a room full of old gear, and I was over there after the show on Thursday and he dropped the bomb that the tape machine pictured here was Leon's!