Released 01/04/2014
Legendary American singer and pianist Leon Russell has entertained the world for five decades, getting his start as an in-demand Wrecking Crew session player and playing on hundreds of hit records before he began releasing his own albums in 1967. Leon Russell's latest studio album, titled Life Journey, will be released on April 1, 2014. This 12-track album features newly-written, original songs and Russell's turns on classics that resonate with the two-time GRAMMY® winner as important to his musical trajectory. The album is produced by Tommy LiPuma and executive produced by Elton John, with whom Russell most recently collaborated for 2010's critically acclaimed album, The Union. On Life Journey, Russell celebrates the songs of 10 other writers, infusing them with the vibrant bounce and spirit that has long been his signature. Russell opens the album with Robert Johnson's 'Come On In My Kitchen', leading a tour of his majestic musical house that continues with Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell's 'Georgia On My Mind', Haven Gillespie and Beasley Smith's 'That Lucky Old Sun', John Davenport and Eddie Cooley's 'Fever', Mike Reid's 'Think Of Me', Duke Ellington and Paul Francis Webster's 'I Got It Bad & That Ain't Good', Herb Magidson and Allie Wrubel's 'The Masquerade Is Over' (featuring a lush orchestral arrangement, a wistful glance back to Russell's own 'This Masquerade'), Paul Anka's 'I Really Miss You', Billy Joel's 'New York State Of Mind', and Johnny Fuller, Robert L. Geddins, and David Rosenbaum's 'Fool's Paradise'. With Life Journey, Leon Russell reminisces with some of the musical touchstones that have inspired him, while bringing forth new songs of his own, for an album that looks back with the love, loss, joy, and peace that's collected during a life well lived. How fortunate the world is for Leon Russell to share his life and time with us in song, all these years.
Disc 1: Come On In My Kitchen Big Lips Georgia On My Mind That Lucky Old Sun Fever Think Of Me I Got It Bad & That Ain't Good The Masquerade Is Over I Really Miss You New York State Of Mind Fool's Paradise Down In Dixieland