Chuck Leavell - Southscape 2005

Pianist and writer Chuck Leavell has had a long and versatile career, including a stint with the Allman Brothers Band, his own jazz fusion band, Sea Level, and has toured and done session work with the likes of Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Aretha Franklin, not to mention his long-standing arrangement with the Rolling Stones. He has also written a couple of books, including an influential book on forestry and stewardship, and recorded his own solo albums, of which Southscape is the third (if you count his Christmas album). A light sort of jazz- rock affair, Southscape is intended to be a musical portrait of the American South, and while it isn't exactly a tour de force that makes you smell the kudzu or make you want to eat a peach, it has a pleasant flow and feels comfortably familiar, even on first listen. Working with a rhythm section of Chad Cromwell on drums and Michael Rhodes on bass, and getting added support from sax players Tim Ries and Randall Bramblett (as well as guitarist Larry Carlton on two tracks), Leavell plays strong, anthemic piano that brims with joyful certainty. Highlights include the elegant "Savannah" and the magnificent, soaring "Jessica," which Leavell originally co-wrote with guitarist Dickey Betts for the Allman Brothers in the early 1970s. It's a little odd at first to hear "Jessica"'s familiar lead lines done on piano rather than on electric guitars, but it remains a beautiful composition in any fashion, and it conjures the South, and Georgia, in particular, as well as any melody in recent memory. AMG.

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Chuck Leavell - What's In That Bag 1998

In blues-rock circles, Chuck Leavell was famed for his work with the Allman Brothers and the Rolling Stones, but he never cut a solo album to showcase his talents. When he began his solo career in 1998, he made an odd choice -- he decided to record a Christmas album, What's in That Bag?. Even though it isn't a choice many other musicians may have made, the resulting album is quite charming. His backing group of studio musicians, including the Muscle Shoals Horns and vocalist Lisa Fischer, is first-rate, and the album has a warm feel which suits the carols just right. Leavell throws in a couple of originals (including the great "Hey Santa") and newly written tunes to balance such standards as "Merry Christmas Baby," "Greensleeves," "Away in a Manger," "We Three Kings," "Joy to the World" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." It all makes for a pleasing, bluesy holiday album that happens to also confirm Leavell's great talents as a keyboardist. AMG.

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