Leon invited me to go with him and Denny to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium as a prospective venue for the L.A. leg of the tour. While Denny was backstage talking to the management, Leon motioned for me to come with him.
We stepped through the curtains onto the stage. Just us two facing an empty house.
“If you can sing to one person, you can sing to a million. It’s all in a raindrop.”
“What is, Leon?” I asked.
“The ocean.” When he smiled he reminded me of Clark Gable sometimes. I didn’t know why he covered up that poetic face with all that hair. He motioned to the empty house. “I want them rushing the stage.
“You do?” I asked. He nodded and smiled.
He was straight out of a medicine tent from the heart of Oklahoma. This man was the real thing. Leon and all good rock and roll guys (Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard) knew how to rock the house. They found those rhythms in every church, every little town where there was a piano and some semblance of a gospel choir.
What a perfect musical director to bring together some of the hottest musicians in the world: Joe Cocker, Chris Stainton, Jim Keltner, Carl Radle, Bobby Keys, backed up by a choir and singers including the great Claudia Lennear and Rita Coolidge.