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Darrell
Leonard News "We
Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3" written by Randy Newman
with horns arranged by Darrell Leonard wins Academy
Award for best song 2011. Happy new
year to one and all. Winding up
the year by playing several church Christmas programs. Off to Angola Prison
with Phil Driscoll. Played two
nights and filmed them for a documentary. Home from
tour. Had a great time. Start
rehearsal with Leon Russell and Elton John.
The studio band from the "Union" CD is preparing to do
several shows. Boston, New
York City, San Francisco, London , and Hollywood. Daytona
Beach, Florida with Taj. Crazy town. Started
trumpet lessons with Arturo Sandoval.
Hello. Bohemian
Grove with the Blues Brothers. Wrote
a big band book and had a great bunch of San Francisco players fill out the
band. Drank a lot of wine. Off to Toledo
with Belushi Studs Terkel on HBO Taj at Doheny
Blues Festival Recording
this month (May 2010) with the Phantom Blues Band and with Curtis Selgado. Again in the
studio with T Bone Burnett. This time with Elvis Costello. More gigs
with the Blues Brothers, Taj Mahal
and Randy Jacobs. In the
studio with T Bone Burnett arranging and playing on several songs for the
upcoming Elton John and Leon Russell project. It will be released on October
18 2010. Back in the
studio with Mitchell Froom where I arranged and
played on Randy Newman's tune "We Belong Together" for "Toy
Story3". Back out on
the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise with Taj Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band. Hitting the Caribbean
this time. In the
studio with T Bone Burnett and Gregg Allman.
Recorded a live version of 'Blind Man" using five horns and rhythm
section. Will be released in January 2011. Worked with
producer Mitchell Froom who I had worked with years
ago with Bonnie Raitt. He saw us in Palm Springs on
the Bon Taj tour and we hooked up again. A few Blues
Brothers dates in the mix. Out with the
Phantom Blues Band on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise. Went to Mexico
and due to hurricanes, we stayed at sea the whole trip. Dave Mason played a
few tunes with us. glad to get back on solid ground. Great time
on the tour with Taj and Bonnie. Looking forward to
the next one. Getting
ready to hit the road with Taj Mahal
& the Phantom Blues Band and Bonnie Raitt on
the Bontajroulet
tour. Will be playing with both Taj and Bonnie and
then both Taj and Bonnie doing a combined set with
both band at the end of the show. If you're in the neighborhood stop by and
say hello Thu Aug 6 -
Williamsport, PA - Community Arts Center Sat Aug 8 -
Philadelphia, PA - Mann Center Sun Aug 9 -
Wallingford, CT - Chevrolet Theatre Tue Aug 11 -
Newark, NJ - NJPAC Wed Aug 12 -
Brooklyn, NY - Prospect Park Bandshell Fri Aug 14 -
Hyannis, MA - Cape Cod Melody Tent Sat Aug 15 -
Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion Sun Aug 16 -
Vienna, VA - Filene Center at Wolf Trap Tue Aug 18 -
Atlanta, GA - Chastain Park Amphitheatre Wed Aug 19 -
Louisville, KY - The Louisville Palace Fri Aug 21 -
Highland Park, IL - Ravinia Festival Sat Aug 22 -
Highland Park, IL - Ravinia Festival Sun Aug 23 -
Grand Rapids, MI - Meijer Gardens Tue Aug 25 -
Indianapolis, IN - The Lawn at White River State Park Thu Aug 27 -
St. Paul, MN - Minnesota State Fair Fri Aug 28 -
Council Bluffs, IA - Stir Cove at Harrah's Casino Sun Aug 30 -
Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre Tue Sep 1 -
Salt Lake City, UT - Red Butte Amphitiheatre Wed Sep 2 -
Boise, ID - Idaho Botanical Gardens Thu Sep 3 -
Troutdale, OR - Edgefield Winery Sat Sep 5 -
Bend, OR - Les Schwab Amphitheatre Sun Sep 6 -
Woodinville, WA - Chateau Ste. Michelle Mon Sep 7 -
Eugene, OR - Cuthbert Amphitheatre Wed Sep 9 - Friant, CA - Table Mountain Casino Fri Sep 11 -
Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre Sat Sep 12 -
Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl Sun Sep 13 -
Saratoga, CA - The Mountain Winery Wed Sep 16 -
Oakland, CA - Paramount Theatre Thu Sep 17 -
San Diego, CA - Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay Fri Sep 18 -
Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues Sun Sep 20 -
Telluride, CO - Telluride Blues & Brews Festival Wed Sep 23 -
Albuquerque, NM - Sandia Casino Thu Sep 24 -
Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theatre Fri Sep 25 -
Rancho Mirage, CA - Agua Caliente Casino Once again with
T Bone Burnett I used my favorite trombone section, Ira Nepus,
George Bohannon, and Maurice Spears on Jakob
Dylan's new recording. Arranged and
played on legendary Australian singer Jimmy Barnes new collection of some
American soul classics. We used the cream of LA's
R&B session players. James Gadson, Reggie
McBride, Johnny Lee Schell, Mike Thompson, Joe Sublett,
and Tom Petterson. Had a ball recording live with
no overdubs. Did fifteen songs in three days. Again in the the studio with T Bone I
arranged a ten piece horn section for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals new CD which will be released in October. B.B. King CD
"One Kind Favor" that I arranged horns and played on won best
traditional blues Grammy. A Pepsi
commercial I arranged, played trumpet on and co produced with T Bone Burnett
was featured on President Obama"s Inauguration
and the Super Bowl. Did some
arranging and playing on the new Fall Out Boy CD with Neal Avron. Eric
Simonson asked me to write a jazz score for his documentary on Studs Terkel. Worked with
John Porter on the Radio City Rockette's Christmas
Record. More
sessions, road work, and arranging work. Started
playing with the band and choir at Living Waters of the San Fernando Valley. Chicago in
the winter. Lot's of snow. After six weeks of rehearsal at the Steppenwolf,
the show is up and running. I head back to LA and the show does a succesful ten week run. From the
Caribbean to Chicago for "Carter's Way" rehearsals. Now there's a
change. Blues Cruise
in the Caribbean. Not a bad way to spend January. A few warm
up gigs with The Phantom Blues band before we hit the high seas with Taj on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise 08. Off to San
Francisco with Taj and the Phantom Blues Band.
Played a week at Yoshi's. In the
studio with Taj Mahal.
This will be the 10th album I've done with Taj. Finished up
the B.B. King project. Just back
from Chicago where Eric Simonson and I did a workshop at the Steppenwolf
Theatre for "Carter's Way". We begin rehearsal in January for a
February opening. Check info for Carter's Way. Did a
session with for producer Don Was a few weeks ago featuring the great Detroit
singer Sweet Pea Adkinson. It was filmed and is on
the internet available for free download. Check it
out at My Damn Channel. Working on B.B.Kings' new recording with producer T Bone Burnett and
engineer Mike Piersante. Arranged and played
trumpet on five great tracks. Getting ready to do seven more. B.B. sounds
great. I hope I hold up that well at 82. Played at
the South Point Hotel showroom in Las Vegas with the Phantom Blues Band.
Our new CD "Footprints" will be available on the Delta Groove label
in November. Darrell
Leonard/Joe Sublett CD "Texacali
Horns" now available in stores and on line. Recently put
a brass section on a couple of new tunes for the band Fall Out Boy's new CD
with producer Neal Avron. Played at
Safari Sam's in Hollywood CA September 21 with Joe Sublett
with our new band and played music from our new CD "Texacali
Horns" Played at
the Greek Theatre with Los Lonely Boys on August 18. Worked at
Ultra Tone studios with Joe Sublett as we finish
work on the Phantom Blues Band CD. I recently
spent the day at legendary Shangrila Studio in
Malibu working with producer John Porter on the new Keb'
Mo record. The Texacali Horns just finished work on a new batch of cues
for this years season of the ABC series
"According to Jim" starring Jim Belushi. Played on
the title track "Don't Come Knocking" for the new Sam Shephard movie of the same name. T Bone Burnett was the
producer of the song he co-wrote with Bono, and Edge. Featurd
vocalists were Bono and Andrea Coors. Along with
Glen Clark I just finished production on a Jim Belushi
"According to Jim" soundtrack record which
will soon be released on Hollywood Records. All the music was played by Jim's
band The Sacred Hearts. The Texacali Horns recently spent a couple of days in the
studio with John Porter working on the new Los Lonely Boys record. I spent the
month of May in Kansas City where I worked as music director on the play
"Carter's Way". I created a score and songs written in the style of
Kansas City jazz from the mid thirties. I had the pleasure of working with
wonderful Kansas City musicians. The great Bobby Watson played saxophone and
helped me by assembling a sterling swinging rhythm section composed of Tommy
Ruskin on drums, Gerald Spaits on bass, and Joe
Cartwright on piano. Along with me playing trumpet we spent two days in the
studio playing blues and eating barbeque. Who could ask for more? I got to
work in Capitol Records studio A with engineer Ed Cherney
and eleven more of my favorite horn players where we recorded my big band
arrangement of "Nice 'n' Easy" for an episode of Jim Belushi's TV show "According to Jim". Along with
Joe Sublett I played on the new Solomon Burke CD
"Make Do With What You Got". It's old school soul all the way. Our
favorite drummer James Gadson lends his masters
touch to all the tracks. It's in stores now. Check it out it. Got a call from Don Randi to play a few nights with Nancy Sinatra. What fun. She is way cool.Nancy Sinatra .com We are also on Johnny Rivers
latest release "Reinvention Highway". JohnnyRivers.com |