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He started out playing guitar but soon added a Farfisa Combo Compact organ, then a Wurlitzer electric piano, and began concentrating on keyboards.
By 15 he was doing recording sessions, making $25 a day playing demos in Birmingham & Muscle Shoals. After moving to Macon, GA at age 17 in 1969, he played with artists including the Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels, Wet Willie, Bobby Whitlock, and Bonnie Bramlett.
And then in 1972 at the age of 20 Chuck was asked to join the Allman Brothers Band.
The first Chuck Leavell piano track that caught my attention was the Allman Brothers' "Southbound", with its extraordinary power and forward momentum. It really drove the rhythm section.
Leavell takes a tour de force piano solo that starts with jazzy 9th-chords, evolves into single-note runs, syncopated octaves, cross-bar phrasing in 3rds, bluesy riffs, more octaves, and ends with two-handed cross-bar phrasing - 24 bars of virtuosic rock piano soloing at its best. In addition to the solo itself, the rhythmic backing that Leavell provides behind the vocals and guitar solos is smoking hot - driving the rhythm section like a speeding train.
Then ten years later he was touring with the Rolling Stones. Not bad for a Georgia tree farmer.
And then seven years later - 17 years after "Southbound" - The Black Crowes asked him to play keyboards on their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, resulting in "Hard to Handle" becoming their break-out hit single.
My Chuck Leavell transcriptions:
The Black Crowes - "Hard to Handle" - NEW!
The Allman Brothers Band - "Southbound"
The Allman Brothers Band - "Jessica" - Piano Solo from Tutorial Video
The Allman Brothers Band - "Jessica" - Complete Piano Part (Single)
The Allman Brothers Band - "Jessica" - Piano Solo - Album RH + Video LH
The Allman Brothers Band - "Ramblin' Man"
Gregg Allman - "Midnight Rider" (Rehearsal) - Acoustic Piano Solo
Eric Clapton - "San Francisco Bay Blues"
My other Black Crowes transcription:
The Black Crowes - "Remedy" - Piano Solo - played by Eddie Harsch
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