Julie's Reviews > Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time's Journey Through Rock & Roll History

Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time's Journey Through Rock & Roll History by Bill Janovitz is a 2023 Hachette Books publication.

I honestly have no idea how to even begin here.

This is a very comprehensive biography. The author has done an incredible job here with organizing all this material on Leon’s life. Of all the biographies I’ve ever read, this one might have been the most complicated- because Leon was complicated.

A musical genius misdiagnosed most of his life with a variety of mental health issues, he was great at music- but bad at relationships, bad with money, bad with his health. After helping so many other artists in his life, he was often forgotten about in his later years…(despite a resurgance in 2010- and his induction into the RHoF)- but in his prime…

Leon was a mystery, a bit spooky, a little intimidating. He was wild, but introverted, living in his head and in his music. He worked with so many people in his life- just an incredible list of people who wafted in and out of his orbit.

It is no wonder that he made such an impression, made such an impact on music- for others and himself. It was crazy reading about all the work he did, his methods, the way his mind worked all while he moved around a world of musical innovation. Fascinating, really.

Now when it comes to Leon’s personal life things could get sticky and Leon was not always easy to like or understand. He was, to say the very least, eccentric- not always the warmest person on earth and didn’t have a filter, either. But he also liked having all his people surrounding him despite his tendency to be absent-either physically or emotionally.

I’m really not sure how Janovitz managed to get through all the family drama portions of the book as it was often confusing and convoluted, but he did an amazing job on this herculean task.

That said, if you aren’t as familiar, as the author is, with Leon Russell, or if you aren’t a child or prodigy of Leon’s generation, some of this material could be tedious. I knew many people spoken of in this book, but there were just as many I did not know. Sometimes the process of creating the music went straight over my head and I admit to occasionally skimming some sections as this book is extremely long for a biography. In fact, it might have been a good idea to have broken this book up into two sections as is the current trend for some memoirists these days. I was tempted to put the book aside for a while, actually, as it was definitely dense at times, and I have been so busy it was hard to stay focused on some sections of it- and with the length of it I'd started to crave a little fiction. But- this didn’t diminish my absolute respect for what the author has put together here and the obvious labor of love that it was is beyond impressive.

4+ stars