Music Man Leon Russell Returns to Saban Theatre

Emily Manthei

It requires a venue that has had as many lives as Beverly Hills’ art deco palace, the Saban Theatre to host one of rock and roll’s most decorated “session men” and band leaders. Leon Russell’s career has taken him from playing guitar and piano on the albums of legends as diverse as Frank Sinatra and the Beach Boys, Herb Alpert and Bob Dylan, and everything in between, while somehow making time to write songs for The Carpenters (“Superstar”) and Ray Charles (“A Song For You”) to name only a few. As a bandleader and record producer in the 70s, Russell made music under many band names and pseudonyms, including the “Asylum Crew” and “Hank Wilson,” as well as dueting with the likes of Willie Nelson, George Harrison, and more recently, Sir Elton John (with whom he recorded the album “The Union” in 2010).

Now looking more like the 1970s vision of Santa Claus, with a beard sprawling smoothly down his chest along with a bright head of snowy-white long hair, Russell has more than 50 years of music-making history to sift through when he performs. His career started at the age of 14, when he began performing at clubs in Tulsa, near his southern Oklahoma hometown. At 17, the piano kid hit Hollywood, where he eventually became part of a gang of session musicians known as the “Wrecking Crew,” accompanying on hundreds of albums through the 60s. From jazz to blues to pop to country to disco to rock, Leon Russell has written, played, or sang them all. When he played in George Harrison’s “Concert for Bangladesh” fundraiser in 1971, Russell’s “Jumpin’ Jack Flash/Youngblood” medley helped the concert album win a Grammy for Album of the Year. In 2011, Sir Elton John had the honor of inducting Russell into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Russell’s most recent LP, “Life Journey,” was released earlier this year. With the help of producer and long-time friend, Tommy LiPuma, Russell distilled his musical influences, from Count Basie to Billy Joel, some of the artists whose hits he covers on the diverse record of personal references and public displays of affection. The liner notes say it all, “This is a record of my musical journey through this life. It reflects pieces of things I have done and things I never did.”

Tickets for Leon Russell at the Saban Theatre on Aug. 22 are on sale here.