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Chuck Leavell

Chuck Leavell has been pleasing the ears of music fans for more than 30 years now. His piano and keyboard work has been heard on the works of Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, The Black Crowes, George Harrison, The Allman Brothers Band, The Indigo Girls, Blues Traveler, Train, Montgomery-Gentry, Lee Ann Womack and many, many more. In addition to being a well established pianist/artist in the music industry, Leavell is also a published author, tree farmer, and keeps busy with his advocacy work on behalf of the environment.

At the age of 13, Chuck got the opportunity to see Ray Charles in concert. He recalls, "Ray and the band played an incredible show, and it had such an impact on me that I made up my mind there and then that that was what I wanted to do. I decided that night what I wanted as my career." When he was 15, Leavell made his way to Muscle Shoals, AL, and the legendary studios there, where he played on several records, including Freddy North's soul classic Don't Take Her, She's All I've Got.

In 1969 Chuck moved to Macon, GA, where Southern music impresario Phil Walden had recently opened Capricorn Records and studio. There he joined Alex Taylor's (brother of James Taylor) band Friends and Neighbors. He spent the next year and a half with Taylor and appears on his Capricorn album, Dinnertime. After his stint with Taylor, Leavell spent six months on the road with Dr. John, who was managed at the time by Walden. Leavell refers to his time with Dr. John as his "college education", because he spent most of his time watching a master at work.

In 1972, shortly after the death of Duane Allman and prior to the death of Berry Oakley, Leavell was asked to join the Allman Brothers Band. He was barely 20 years old at the time. The first album he recorded with the band was Brothers and Sisters, which included the classics "Ramblin' Man" and "Jessica." The album hit number one on Billboard's Pop charts. He went on to record two more albums with them before the Allmans disbanded.

Emerging from the break-up of the Allman Brothers Band, Leavell formed the rock/jazz/blues fusion group Sea Level with ABB drummer Jaimoe Johanson. The band toured relentlessly during the late '70s and released five critically acclaimed albums.

Catching the ears of and becoming friends with the late rock 'n' roll impresario Bill Graham and keyboardist Ian Stewart, the original "sixth" Rolling Stone, in 1982 he was invited to assume a significant keyboardist/vocalist role for the Stones that continues today.

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Album Review

Paul Rodgers: Midnight Rose

Read "Midnight Rose" reviewed by Doug Collette


It is a travesty that Paul Rodgers is not a household name. Despite considerable commercial success with English bluesrockers Free ("All Right Now") and Bad Company, plus his high-profile associations with Queen and guitarist Jimmy Page (in the band dubbed 'the Firm'), the British-Canadian vocalist, musician & songwriter remains a somewhat unsung figure in the annals of contemporary rock. The rather short playing time of his sixth solo album--roughly thirty-two minutes--is something of a metaphor for the under-the-radar ...

3
Album Review

Allman Brothers Band: Trouble No More: 50th Anniversary Collection

Read "Trouble No More: 50th Anniversary Collection" reviewed by Doug Collette


The gold-embossed lettering on the front and back cover of the roughly 5" by 7" slipcase enclosing the Allman Brothers Band's box set Trouble No More belies its otherwise generic art work. Yet the graphic design isn't all that gives the lie to an otherwise positive first impression gleaned from 50th Anniversary Collection. A glance at the sixty-one tune track-listing plus a cursory perusal of Kirk West's stellar photos inside the eighty-eight page booklet are also somewhat deceiving: while this ...

106
Talkin' Blues

Talkin' Blues with Chuck Leavell

Read "Talkin' Blues with Chuck Leavell" reviewed by Alan Bryson


Receiving a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; recording a new CD with guest stars John Mayer and Keith Richards trading guitar solos; successfully launching his Mother Nature Network, with ten million page views per month; publishing his fourth book, Growing a Better America: Smart, Strong and Sustainable (Evergreen Arts, 2011); being named an honorary forest ranger by the U.S. Forest Service, for his commitment to conservation; and working on John Mayer's much-anticipated Born And Raised (Columbia, to be released May 22, ...

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Interview

Chuck Leavell: The Magic of Finger Painting

Read "Chuck Leavell: The Magic of Finger Painting" reviewed by Alan Bryson


Chuck Leavell is one of the world's premier blues rock pianists--a veteran musician who has recorded and toured with many of the best-known names in the business. He is perhaps best known for his work with the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Black Crowes, and most of all, his legendary years with the Allman Brothers Band in the '70s. The Allman Brothers Band blurred the line between jazz and blues rock with their ...

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Album Review

Chuck Leavell: What In That Bag?

Read "What In That Bag?" reviewed by Ed Kopp


When the Rolling Stones decide to take their act on the road every other year or so, they usually turn to Chuck Leavell for support on piano. Leavell is an incredibly versatile keyboardist, capable of playing rock, blues, R&B, jazz, fusion--you name it. The Georgia-based piano whiz tackles all of those styles and more on What's In That Bag, the most eclectic Christmas release of the season.This CD started out as a gift to Leavell's friends and family ...

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Recording

Watson's Riddle featuring Chuck Leavell to be released on Palmetto Records on August 30th

Source: Palmetto Records

Palmetto Records will release the debut album for Watson's Riddle on August 30th 2011. Watson's Riddle consists of veteran jazz guitarist Steve Watson (Bruce Hornsby Band, Dolly Parton and TV Theme credits Magnum PI, A Team), Paul Riddle, Chuck Leavell and Tim Lawter. “Deep Grooves, Deep Soulful Melodies, and Deep South..." The music has been called “Smooth Jazz Americana" by Sandy Shore, smoothjazz.com. About Watson's Riddle Watson's Riddle is a dynamic new instrumental group formed in Upstate South Carolina by ...

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Interview

Keyboard Ace Chuck Leavell Interviewed at AAJ

Keyboard Ace Chuck Leavell Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

Chuck Leavell is one of the world's premier blues rock pianists--a veteran musician who has recorded and toured with many of the best-known names in the business. He is perhaps best known for his work with the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Black Crowes, and most of all, his legendary years with the Allman Brothers Band in the '70s.

Leavell is a man who has spent time with presidents and whose friends include some of ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Midnight Rose

Sun Records
2024

buy

Trouble No More: 50th...

Universal Music Group
2020

buy

Live in Germany:...

Evergreen Arts
2008

buy

Forever Blue - Solo...

Chesky Records
2001

buy

What In That Bag?

Capricorn Records
1998

buy

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