The State
more than simply a musical style. As emcee, I watched from the side of the stage as this alchemy occurred, multiplied and built to a frenzy, and, as it all happened, I found myself asking why. What was, and is, it about Leon that moves people to something INSIDER beyond devotion – to kinship, maybe, or at times, something near worship? In these parts, certainly, there’s a proprietary element involved. Just as the Beatles belong to Liverpool, the Beach Boys to Southern California and Bruce Springsteen to New Leon Russell’s legacy, full of near-religious fervor, Jersey, Leon belongs to embodies a special time of stardust in the early 1970s. Oklahoma – and especially to Tulsa. In each couple of months case, the artist is not only a symbol ago in this space, I for a place, but also for a specific wrote about a thenfeeling during a certain time within upcoming event at that place. The word for it is zeitgeist. Tulsa’s Will Rogers And the zeitgeist Leon represents is High School auditorium, honoring Tulsa in the early 1970s. the musical legacy of one of its most It wasn’t a long stretch, but it was famous alumni, Leon Russell. a magical one. It began, more or The tribute concert included the less, when Leon assumed the role dedication of the refurbished Baldwin of ringmaster with Joe Cocker and piano that Russell played in the ’50s that hopelessly piebald collection for the amusement of his high school of rockers known as Mad Dogs & peers during their lunch breaks. Englishmen, and continued as he and Producer Dick Risk, one of Rushis Shelter People became one of the sell’s classmates, had invited rock world’s top touring acts. Along the star Elton John, in Tulsa to do his way, he wrote and recorded the great own show that evening, to drop by hits “Tightrope,” “This Masquerade,” the afternoon presentation because “Superstar” and “A Song for You,” Sir Elton had been an early admirer and became co-owner of Shelter of Leon and responsible for a career Records – with offices and a studio resuscitation in the later years of in Tulsa – giving many great artists, Leon’s life. including himself, a recording home. Although he gave his own tribute It’s not that Leon hadn’t made his to Leon at his evening concert, Elton musical mark before that. It’s simply John did not show up that afternoon. that it was neither as publicly visible However, Leon did. in the ’60s nor as closely identified On that day, his imperishable rock with Tulsa. Then, he was working in ’n’ roll spirit soared from a top-notch a far more behind-the-scenes capacity group whose members ranged from as an arranger, songwriter and session first-generation rock ’n’ rollers and musician, well-known in the industry classmates (Johnny Williams, Bobby but not outside of it. Taylor), through friends from his Although his contributions went a golden hippie-boy era (Ann Bell, long way toward defining the sound David Teegarden), into the next of Southern California pop music generation of sidemen and collaboraduring that decade, the record buyer tors (Brandon Holder, Brian Lee). and Top 40 radio listener never really PAUL BENJAMAN LED THE The sold-out house responded with FESTIVITIES AT THE TRIBUTE knew he or she was hearing Russell CONCERT, REPLETE WITH near-religious fervor, reminding us playing on big hits by the likes of the RUSSELL’S SIGNATURE TOP HAT once again that the gospel influence Byrds, the Beach Boys, the Ronettes, AND “HOLY TRINITY” SHIRT. PHOTO BY PHIL CLARKIN in Russell’s work embodied much Jan and Dean and many more. Espe-
The Tulsa Zeitgeist
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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | APRIL 2019
cially tuned-in music fans might’ve recognized his name as songwriter on several numbers from hitmakers Gary Lewis and the Playboys, but there would’ve been no reason for them to have known that Leon was intimately involved with that group by doing everything from arranging songs to stocking the band with firstclass Tulsa expats like guitarist Tom Tripplehorn, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Karstein. An objective observer would note Leon Russell’s time of true rock-star incandescence was brief – really, only those few years in the ’70s. And while he continued to tour, perform and record, he was never again the draw he’d been then. I remember a conversation I had in the ’90s with Russell friend and historian Steve Todoroff, who’d gauged majorpublisher interest in a Leon biography – without success. An executive at Hyperion Press pithily summed up the situation: “Leon is timeless, but he’s not timely.” That brings us back around to the why of Leon’s great and lasting fame in these parts. I don’t know, but I can hazard a guess – it has something to do with turning the Okie stereotype on its ear. In the generation preceding Leon’s, an exodus of Oklahomans fled the horrors of the Dust Bowl to California, where they chased what too often turned out to be an uncapturable will o’ the wisp. Rightly or wrongly, the hard-luck, hardscrabble Okies and their desperate journeys became the faces of our state to much of the world. About a quarter-century later, Leon made that same trek. But he came back. And when he did, he had the will o’ the wisp with him, packed in rock ’n’ roll stardust. In a reversal of the Okie migration, music-industry people from the West Coast – and just about everywhere else – came to Oklahoma and turned Tulsa into an international rock-music crossroads. It was a brief, shining moment, but all the more precious for its brevity. I was overseas for Uncle Sam in the early ’70s, so I didn’t really understand this until some years later when I watched a VHS copy of the 1971 documentary Mad Dogs & Englishmen. Chronicling the tour of the same name, it’s remarkable in a number of ways, not the least of which is how Leon absolutely takes over the
