Early last year Leon Russell was at his home outside Nashville when his telephone rang. It was Elton John, calling from a safari vacation somewhere in Africa.
“I was laying in bed watching my TV, and I suspect he was laying on an
elephant somewhere,” Mr. Russell said. “I hadn’t talked to Elton for 35
years, so it was quite a surprise.”
Mr. John proposed the idea of recording with Mr. Russell, who was one of
his early influences but has largely been forgotten by pop history.
That phone call resulted in a new album, “The Union” (Decca), which
reaches stores on Tuesday, and a 10-date tour, beginning that evening at
the Beacon Theater. (The concert will be broadcast live on the Fuse
network; Mr. Russell and Mr. John will also perform at the Beacon on
Wednesday as part of an all-star benefit show organized by their
producer, T Bone Burnett.)
For Mr. John the primary motivation for “The Union” — which returns him
to the acoustic-based, country-flavored sound of early recordings like
“Tumbleweed Connection” — was to bring a renewed recognition to one of
his idols. “If Leon can get the accolades he deserves and be financially
O.K. for the rest of his life, I will have done something decent with
my music,” he said in a call from his home in France.
When they first met in 1970, Mr. John was a young unknown, while Mr. Russell,
the Oklahoma-born pianist and songwriter, was already established as
rock ’n’ roll royalty. He was best known as a member of Phil Spector’s studio band and a session player who recorded with artists as varied as Frank Sinatra and the Rolling Stones.
In that year alone Mr. Russell wrote two songs that would become
standards: “Superstar” (written with Bonnie Bramlett) and “A Song for
You.”
Mr. Russell and Mr. John went on to play a handful of shows together.
Mr. Russell’s star remained bright for a few years — in 1971 he was one
of the highlights of George Harrison’s “Concert for Bangladesh” and produced several songs for Bob Dylan — but he gradually retreated from the spotlight. Mr. John
went on to become possibly the biggest rock star of the 1970s and to
rack up more than 50 Top 40 hits and sell 250 million records.
Leaning back in a recliner on his tour bus and smoothing his snow-white
beard, Mr. Russell said that he accepted responsibility for the
direction his career took. “I haven’t done my part,” he said. “I’ve
avoided the press and a lot of stuff that would have made me more
visible, just because it’s not my style. And when I see all the stuff
that Elton does, I can understand why I’m not doing that more.”
Even if his name has largely drifted into obscurity, Mr. Russell’s
gospel infused, soul-country blend continues to echo through recent
recordings by the likes of Sheryl Crow, Zac Brown and Kid Rock. Mr. Russell is also a guest on Elvis Costello’s forthcoming album, “National Ransom.”
“I first saw Leon Russell in 1971 or 1972,” Mr. Costello wrote in a
recent e-mail. “Then, as now, Leon made everything happen when he took
the stage. For heaven’s sake, his rock and roll credits could fill up a
big inscribed monolith, if they still made such things.”
The genesis of “The Union” was actually during the premiere episode of
Mr. Costello’s music talk show on the Sundance Channel, “Spectacle,” for
which Mr. John is an executive producer. On that program, in 2008, Mr.
John discussed the enormous impact that Mr. Russell had on his music,
even improvising a Russell-style song. That prompted Mr. John’s partner,
David Furnish, to load some of Mr. Russell’s recordings into his iPod in advance of the couple’s annual African safari.
When Mr. Russell’s “Greatest Hits” album came on one day during the
trip, “I started to cry, it moved me so much,” Mr. John said. “His music
takes me back to the most wonderful time in my life, and it makes me so
angry that he’s been forgotten.”
From Africa, Mr. John called his United States manager, Johnny Barbis,
and asked for Mr. Russell’s telephone number. After contacting Mr.
Russell, he got in touch with Mr. Burnett
and raised the idea of an album of duets. “It seemed like an
extraordinarily generous thing to do,” Mr. Burnett said, adding that he
considers Mr. Russell “one of the best rock ’n’ roll piano players in
the world” — and he offered his services.
After meeting last year in Las Vegas, where Mr. John was concluding his
“Red Piano” extravaganza at Caesars Palace, the two singers made plans
to record in early 2010. When Billy Joel
canceled some of the dates on his tour with Mr. John last November,
however, Mr. John and Mr. Russell decided to try a few days in the
studio.
While discussing ideas in the control room, Mr. Burnett called up a
YouTube video of Mahalia Jackson. Mr. John began playing a
gospel-inspired riff, and Mr. Russell quickly joined in. “We knew that
the two pianos sounded so wonderful, we had something here,” Mr. John
said. That preliminary jam became a song titled “A Dream Come True.”
Other compositions crystallized just as rapidly. The melody for “I
Should Have Sent Roses,” with lyrics by Mr. John’s longtime
collaborator, Bernie Taupin, came together so quickly that Mr. Burnett
had to record a first pass on his iPhone. In four days they had written 10 songs.
They scheduled the actual recording sessions for January, but that month
Mr. Russell, 68, was hospitalized; he underwent more than five hours of
surgery for a brain fluid leak, as well as treatment for heart failure
and pneumonia. A week later, though, he went straight into the studio.
“Leon was in a somewhat delicate state,” Mr. Burnett said, “but the
longer we went, the stronger he got. I was watching the music fuel him.”
Guests including Brian Wilson and Neil Young
(who adds a haunting verse to “Gone to Shiloh”) joined the sessions. As
the recording was winding down, Mr. Russell decided that he needed to
make one final addition.
“I wanted to give Elton something,” he said. “But what do you give a guy
who has six fully stocked houses? So I thought the only thing I could
give him is a song.” He quickly wrote the stately “In the Hands of
Angels,” an abstract retelling of the story of the album, which thanks
Mr. John (“the guv’ner” in the lyrics), who “knew all the places I
needed to go” and made him “feel the love down deep inside.”
Mr. John said: “When he played that, we just lost it. No one has ever
written me a song before. He said, ‘I want to thank you for saving my
life,’ and I just burst into tears.”
Making “The Union” provided an unforeseen benefit for Mr. John, a new
sonic direction that he said would set a path for all of his future
work. “This is the most honest record I can do at this time,” he said.
“I want to make music like this for the rest of my life.”
Mr. Russell seems to be enjoying his return to the world of major labels
and big-name collaborators. “Elton was excited the whole time, and it
was exciting for me to watch him be excited,” he said. “He endeavored to
make me feel like a king, which he did successfully.”
It’s not clear, however, that he would choose to remain in the
limelight. After the tour with Mr. John, Mr. Russell will be back on his
bus, playing clubs as the mood and the need arise. “My hobby,” he said,
“is silence.”
