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