First I should say that there are a lot of people in this business who have worked more closely with Leon, and for longer periods, than, I did. But for a brief period, somewhat early in our two careers, we did converge a bit.
Back when I was stationed at the early Ardent Studios commercial location (National Street in Memphis, 1960's, mostly), Leon was a somewhat regular visitor and participant. There was a guy around the scene, who was from Memphis but had taken off into the world, named Don Nix. Don had been a saxophone player in The Markeys, the early Stax band which had the huge instrumental hit, "Last Night." He became a writer and producer, and was probably best known for writing the Albert King song "Going Down," which later was covered by Jeff Beck/Rod Stewart. Don became a fixture in the "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" scene, and through that association, brought in such personnae as Leon, Denny Cordell, Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, and others into the Memphis/Ardent circle.
Leon was amazing to me. He was such an accomplished musician. He would play incredible things on the piano, often "performing" a musical comedy act for all of us privately, wherein he would play perfectly a series of classic tunes, but with very odd, intended mistakes put in such perfect places, that it sounded just barely off and wrong...only someone with powerful virtuosity could have been that good AND that bad all at once. It was hilarious...but you had to be there.
Leon had just a short while before done the first Asylum Choir recordings with Marc Benno. We all thought they were great, very inventive. "Welcome To Hollywood" was the big hit to me. The original vinyl album had a very large photo of a roll of toilet paper on the cover. Leon was strangely obsessed with tissue, and for that reason had paid homage to the invention. This music is mostly lost today, which is a GREAT shame.
Leon was always very up on gear. He would regale us with tales of his Chamberlin, of which he was quite fond. He was one of the first to have his own studio, in his home, and recorded or overdubbed many great productions there. As mentioned previously somewhere in this forum, he was a highly respected studio musician in LA, even to the point of being called for first piano on Sinatra sessions, as well as Phil Spector's. Leon produced many huge hit records before a producer was a "household name," including such things as Gary Lewis and the Playboys, and the awesome recording of "Lies" by The Knickerbockers (which was almost all Leon as the band, done in his house). One incident which haunts me to this day was when Leon heard a demo I had just done of a then-new song I had written. He loved the song, and thought it was perfect for Gary Lewis (Gary is Jerry Lewis' son). This would have been the follow-up single to "This Diamond Ring," a huge pop hit. Well, although I was flattered, I was also horrified. I thought "This Diamond Ring" was way too nerdy and "milk toast." I preferred The Yardbirds, and blues music. If I wanted pop, I'd go for The Beatles. But NOT Gary Lewis and The Playboys! So I refused to let him use the song. Of course, for the rest of the years since then, I have highly regretted this decision. I was up on a high horse, and missed out on what may well have been a good opportunity. I listen now with respect to "This Diamond Ring," and recognise it as the great pop production that it was. Oh well, live and learn!
Leon brought Denny Cordell in for a few sessions. Denny was the tremendous English producer who was responsible for many great recordings, not the least of which was "A Whiter Shade of Pale." Denny was a great guy, and became a lifelong friend, if not a constantly present one, until his unfortunate death a few years ago. His son Tarka is still my good friend (I recently mixed Tarka's newest production). Denny was a joy to be around back then, and his and Leon's bringing in such great players as Jim Keltner and others was an inspiration.
Leon at that time was working on his solo album "Stranger In A Strange Land," and he had seen my Moog synth, just arrived from Trumansburg, NY. As I had been learning this new craft of synthesis directly from Robert Moog, Leon wanted me to show him how it all worked. So we set it up, and he brought in his tapes. We did the synth parts on that song and others on the album during these "lessons."
We at Ardent worked several times over probably 8-9 years for and with Leon at various times. One of the last things I remember doing was a great album for his Shelter label, for singer-songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey. This is still one of my favourite albums, and Willis is a good friend. He had recorded it in various places, but brought it into Memphis to be mixed. This album had the original version of "Muskrat Love," which was covered and a hit by The Captain and Tenille a while later.
I haven't had any contact with Leon for many years now. From what I understand, he grew somewhat reclusive and even more different than he always had been. I think perhaps some T. Leary related experiments may have caught up somehow. But the genius will always shine through.