This was basically the best musical news I had heard in a long time when Dusty and I heard about this album over the summer. Now, with just weeks away, I'm getting really antsy for release of Elton John and Leon Russell's historic collaboration, The Union. You know Leon Russell but you just don't know it. He was a studio pianist for Phil Spector so he played all over Spector's albums in the 60s. This is where Elton John comes in. I like to think of it this way: a chubby little kid is forced to take piano lessons and play classical music. Said chubby kid discovers R & B and pop music (this is the 60s before Nsync so pop is still real music, mind you) and realizes he can actually do something cool with his piano lessons. Said kid is Elton and the man he hears playing piano behind the records he loves is Leon Russell. Leon was truly one of Elton's idols and now, all these years later, they've recorded an album together. Cameron Crowe recorded the making of the album as a documentary, which comes with the deluxe edition of the cd, which is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.
Here's a song from the new album:
Here's a clip of Leon KILLING it at the Concert for Bangladesh:
Here's a song from the new album:
Here's a clip of Leon KILLING it at the Concert for Bangladesh: