Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time’s Journey Through Rock and Roll History

Janovitz (Rocks Off), front man of the band Buffalo Tom, celebrates an underappreciated rocker in this sprawling but unsuccessful biography. The author charts Leon Russell’s path from his Oklahoma upbringing, to stints as a studio pianist and producer, to touring with his band the Shelter People in the 1970s, zeroing in on his descent into decades-long obscurity before his 2016 death (a slump notably punctuated by a 2010 collaborative album with Elton John, who petitioned the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to induct Russell). The author credits Russell with a bluesy, gospel-inflected musical style, and a redneck-hippie persona—long hair, beard, scruffy top hat—that influenced performers such as like bassist Leon Wilkeson of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Janovitz tends to overhype Russell’s music (for instance, he judges the forgettable “A Song for You” to be “perfect”), but takes an illuminating dive into the rock biz’s middle stratum of session musicians and B-list acts that undergird superstars’ hits. While Russell’s rise is entertainingly chronicled and woven through with lively rock ’n’ roll picaresque (“ ‘He was always... at some party or some orgy, or with everybody going to get shots for VD,’ ” observes singer Rita Coolidge)—his fall is a tiresome slog through mediocre gigs, and business and alimony wrangles. Russell’s oeuvre doesn’t measure up to the treatment Janovitz lavishes on it. (Mar.)