Leon Russell has passed on......

Saw him only once, at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, sharing the stage with the New Grass Revival.  My oh my.

His generation is coming to it's end. Dylan himself can't be too far behind, I fear.

They say it happens in 3's, Cohen, Russell and now who? It sad to see Leon pass, I guess he went back to the island. 

I heard and photographed Leon Russell something like 10 times. Something that amazed me, beyond his playing, was his total control of what was happening onstage, no matter who was playing with him or how many musicians were on the stage.

He wasn't just playing, he was conducting. The only other performer I saw with that kind of presence was Van Morrison.

Another thing that I've loved about him is that no matter how many people he played with, you could always recognize his touch but he never got in the way of the rest of the performance.