Ronnie Wood by Joe Russo

via glowlab.ca

In the recent wake of Ronnie Wood ‘s second induction into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame [Rolling Stones and now the Faces], I was fortunate to catch a very rare “one-off” performance by the slide guitar god in the Grand Ballroom at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, NJ last Saturday night. This year marks the Rolling Stones’ 50th Anniversary, and with no tour in sight this was perhaps the next best thing. The 37 year Stones veteran rhythm guitarist brought together an all-star cast for this very special performance. His bandmates included Stones players Bernard Fowler (vocals) andChuck Leavell (keys), drummer Steve Jordan, bassist Willie Weeks, and an additional piano/keyboard player.

While Ronnie is not used to being a frontman and his bandmates haven’t played much together, the band was exceptionally tight. What made this show so special and rare was that Wood hasn’t had a solo tour through the U.S. since 1992, where Fowler and Leavell joined him then, too, and also penned songs with Ronnie during that period. With the Golden Nugget undergoing a massive $150 million renovation, Woody’s good friend and casino owner Tilman Fertitta asked him to perform a show to un-officially open up the refurbished casino.

Wood played a wide array of songs from the various bands he’s rocked in/with to a smallish crowd of around 1100 lucky fans. Ronnie ran through hits and rarities from the Faces, the Stones, his solo material, and Bob Dylan covers. He blazed through a 16-song 90 minute performance that had everyone rocking and grooving. The laid back rocker was in great spirits, animated and talkative as he patrolled the stage. At one point, Wood takes off his sport jacket and button-up shirt to reveal a Justin Bieber tank top underneath.

Head on over to Glowlab.ca to read the full review and check out a bunch of photos.

Continue reading to see all the photos from the party!

via It’s Only Music Now

Like many of you, I can’t just listen to an album and enjoy the music. I have to know not only who played on an album but who engineered it, where all it was recorded and, if the songs aren’t written by the recording artists, how did they come about selecting other peoples songs to record. In the case of Back To The Woods, I was also curious as to how Chuck decided who would play on which songs. For instance, did John Mayer say, “Hey! I want to play on Wish Me Well and Boots and Shoes!”?

“We were so fortunate to get them. Starting with Keith, I contacted him and he agreed to play on it, but I would have to do it in NY. As I was calling around to try and find a studio, I contacted John’s right hand guy, Ken Helie. I had already been working with John on his record at

Electric Lady Studios up there. I asked Ken if he had a contact at ELS for me to book some time. He came back to me to say that John would be happy for me to use some of his time that he had blocked out.

“So that begged the question would John come and play, too? He agreed, and we got them both in the same day. It was so great. But before I got them, we had recorded most of the tracks in my friend Jim Hawkins’ studio in Athens, Georgia, with a core band of me, Chris Enghauser on stand up bass and Louis Romonos on drums. Concluding his comments about the actual recording of the album, Leavell adds, “Danny, Candi, Col Bruce, Randall and Davis were all done in Athens . . . but Keith and John were done in NY as noted previously.”

Do any of these tunes generate special memories or have special meaning for Chuck?

“Well, they all throw you back in time. I love the Ray tune, Losing Hand. Classic Ray when he was focusing more on blues than jazz, pop or country as he did later in his career. Pure blues, and he was a master. I love the Little Brother Montgomery stuff, too, especially Vicksburg Blues, which I do on my own, piano and vocal. It is such a plaintive song and you can just feel the pain he’s going through. I’ve been a Memphis Slim fan for a long time and getting John to play on Wish Me Wellwas perfect. He killed it. It was all a wonderful journey for me.”

As to the question of whether he will be supporting the disc with any public performances or touring, in answering it Leavell shared some insight into the recent announcement by John Mayer that he was cancelling his scheduled tour and how that impacted him.

“Well, at present we all know that I was supposed to tour with John Mayer this year. We had put together a fantastic band, and I had worked on his new release, Born and Raised, over the course of the last year. I think it’s a wonderful piece of work, and we were all (including John) so looking forward to the tour.

“But then his throat problem, a thing called a granuloma which is kind of like a blister growth in between his vocal chords, returned after his surgery and 4 months of treatment and recovery. We were in LA just in our fourth day of rehearsals – all going so great when he began to struggle. He saw his Dr. that evening and we all got the bad news: the tour had to be cancelled.

“It was a big blow to all of us, but especially for John. We’ll all be fine, and I’m grateful that I got to play on Born and Raised, which is now out and that I got to do Back To The Woods. So yes, I’ll be focusing on that now. We’re still reeling from the cancellation now and I’m starting to sort out ‘Plan B’. But life goes on, and things will take their natural course. I know we all send love to John and hopes for a full recovery down the road. He’s a very special man and a very special talent.

In addition, Chuck’s wife, Rose Lane Leavell, arranged a star studded party at the famous Arnaud’s Restaurant after the performance to celebrate Chuck’s 60th birthday. Chuck and Rose Lane’s daughters, Ashley and Amy, co-producer of “Back To The Woods”, Steve Bransford and lots of friends and family were in attendance.

Not a bad way to kickoff the release of “Back To The Woods“!

AAJ: The last time we talked, you were already interested in doing a tribute album about the early blues pioneer piano players. It’s an amazing piece of work. What struck me, as I got into it, is that guitar-based blues is very much alive and well in our guitar-centric age, but it’s clear how close we’ve come to losing something really special. Although it is actually quite old, piano blues is new to a lot of us, so I’m hoping this CD will spark a renewed interest in it.

CL: I appreciate that very much. For me, it was such an interesting project. My son-in-law Steve Bransford, is a Ph.D. who graduated from Emory University, and his discipline is American History with an emphasis on visual arts and American roots music. So it was his idea. He came to me and mentioned there’s been all these projects done for artists like Muddy Waters and other guitarists and blues composers, and tributes done for a lot of jazz artists. He said that, to his knowledge, no one had really focused on these prewar piano players, and he said there is some really interesting material there, so he gave me three CDs with about 150 songs to listen to.

Head on over to All About Jazz to read the full interview.

CHRIS GRANGER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

via NOLA.com

Chuck Leavell spent his 60^th birthday Saturday doing what he does most other days of the year: making music. But on this particular Saturday – interviewed by Nick Spitzer at New Orleans Jazz Fest – he also chatted about his storied career as a keyboardist with such groups as the Allman Brothers Band and the Rolling Stones.

Leavell recalled that, as the youngest child in his family, he routinely begged his mother to play a tune on the household piano. “I was just fascinated watching her hands move up and down that keyboard,” he told his audience gathered at the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage. Not long afterward, son informed mother that “I wanted to be a musician when I grew up.”

Her response? “She said, ‘Son, you can’t do both.’”

Yup, Leavell knows how to deliver a keen quip or two. Telling listeners that he has been married to the same woman for 38 years, he allowed that “marriage is like photographic film – it has to be developed in the dark.”

Before the wedding, however, came stints playing tuba in an elementary school band, and organizing his first band (The Misfits), which played every Friday night at the Tuscaloosa, Ala. YMCA.

Soon afterward, Leavell found himself packing up his ’65 Olds Cutlass station wagon and migrating to Macon, Ga. It was there that he began his association with the Allman Brothers, taking advantage of what he called “freestyle, freethinking jam sessions.”

At least two generations of Allman Brothers fans know him from his extended keyboard work in “Jessica,” excerpts of which he shared with Saturday’s Jazz Fest listeners. It was an electric piano here, not an acoustic instrument, but the shivers were still apparent.

Later in Leavell’s career came his band Sea Level (notice the play on his last name), plus an abiding affection for preserving his native landscape, a love that continues to define his life in the American south.

Of course there was mention of a fateful 1982 phone call that led to his gig as a keyboard player for the Stones. By 1989 he was largely responsible for determining set lists for the band, arguing on behalf of great, early songs he felt were unjustly neglected.

“I had a fan’s sense of what people would like to hear,” Leavell explained. Those songs constituted the Stones’ history, “and I kind of threw it back at them.”

Chuck Leavell Official Facebook Page.

Jambase, Atlantic City Weekly, and CBS News all have some nice things to say, and NJ.com has some great pics as well.