Leon Spencer

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Leon Spencer Jr. (born November 1, 1945 in Houston , Texas - † March 11, 2012 ) was an American soul jazz musician ( organ , piano ) and band leader.

biography

Leon Spencer began playing the piano as a child and had lessons for over ten years. At the beginning of his career he performed in Texas with David "Fathead" Newman , before taking up an engineering degree at Texas Southern University , which he continued at the University of Houston . After completing his military service, he attended a Jimmy Smith concert and decided to work as an organist. At first he accompanied guest artists such as Peggy Lee and Lou Rawls in Houston . He also performed in the Texas area with his school friend, Melvin Sparks . In 1969 Spencer moved to Los Angeles for three months , where he made his first recordings with guitarist Wilbert Longmire . In 1970 Spencer went to New York and worked again with his school friend Melvin Sparks. Spencer and Sparks appeared on Lou Donaldson's Blue Note albums Pretty Things , The Scorpion and Cosmos between 1970 and 1971 .

Spencer soon became known for his own soul jazz albums, which he recorded for Prestige Records in the early 1970s , such as Sneak Preview (1970) Louisiana Slim (1971), Bad Walking Woman (1972) and Where I'm Coming with nonet cast From (1973). Besides Sparks, the performing musicians included Grover Washington, Jr. , Idris Muhammad , Hubert Laws , Sonny Fortune , Jon Faddis , Seldon Powell , Frank Wess , Joe Beck , George Duvivier , Grady Tate and Virgil Jones . After these recordings, Spencer left the music business.

Appreciation

Spencer was heavily influenced by Jimmy Smith as the organist on the Hammond organ B 3 . The first two prestige LPs Sneak Preview and Louisiana Slim were re-released in 1997 under the title Roots of Acid Jazz . Bob Porter mentioned in the liner notes Spencer's unusual use of the organ 's lower manual , with which he developed new bass lines. Payne doesn't see him as a simple Jimmy Smith impersonator; with him “the cosmic funk of Larry Young and Dr. Lonnie Smith with the eccentric soul of rock musicians like Gregg Rolie , Brian Auger , Steve Winwood or Ray Manzarek ”.

Discography (selection)

Band leader

  • Sneak preview! (Prestige, 1970; 1971) with Melvin Sparks , Grover Washington Jr., and Idris Muhammad
  • Louisiana Slim (Prestige, 1971) with Melvin Sparks, Grover Washington Jr., and Idris Muhammad
  • Bad Walking Woman (Prestige, 1972)
  • Where I'm Coming From (Prestige, 1972/73; 1973) with Grady Tate and Idris Muhammad

Accompanist

for Lou Donaldson
  • Hot Dog (Blue Note, 1969) with Charles Earland and Idris Muhammad
  • Pretty Things (Blue Note, 1970) with Melvin Sparks, Blue Mitchell , Lonnie Smith, and Idris Muhammad
  • The Scorpion (Blue Note, 1970; 1995) with Melvin Sparks and Idris Muhammad
  • Cosmos (Blue Note, 1971) with Melvin Sparks and Idris Muhammad
for Melvin Sparks
  • Sparks! (Prestige, 1970; BGP / Ace 1993) with Idris Muhammad
  • Akilah! (Prestige, 1972; BGP / Ace 1993) with Idris Muhammad

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary News: Leon Spencer Jr. (1945-2012) ( Memento of the original from July 31, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers from March 29, 2012, on allaboutjazz.com (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.allaboutjazz.com
  2. ↑ death notice on organissimo
  3. ↑ a b Biography at Doug Payne Whatever Happened to Leon Spencer?
  4. ^ Scott Yanow : Portrait at Allmusic
personal data
SURNAME Spencer, Leon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Spencer, Leon junior (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American soul jazz musician (organ, piano) and band leader
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Houston , Texas
DATE OF DEATH March 11, 2012