A year ago, I was bemoaning the fact that fans no longer seem to be concerned or fascinated by backing musicians - Wendy and Lisa with Prince, David Grissom with Joe Ely, the guitarists in Bob Dylan's band, what duo is fronting the Allman Brothers, the guys in Steely Dan. It seems like the members of any given edition of Bright Eyes or Beck's band are hardly driving interest the way they did back when.
One of those guys was Chuck Leavell, who played the still enthralling piano solo on the Allmans' "Jessica," the keyboards on Eric Clapton's "Unplugged" and, for the last 20 years, with the Rolling Stones.
He has a solo album coming out May 13, "Live In Germany: The Green Leaves and Blue Notes Tour" on Evergreen Arts.
Leavell did the “Green Leaves & Blue Notes Tour” in Europe after the Stones' "A Bigger Bang" tour ended, recruiting some German musicians to accompany him. Performance on the album was recorded on Sept. 14 for the German radio station HR1. Classics on the album include “Jessica,” “Statesboro Blues,” “Honky Tonk Woman,” “Rip this Joint,” Les McCann and Eddie Harris’ “Compared to What,” “Georgia,” “Here Comes the Sun” and “Route 66.”