Tuscaloosa-raised Chuck Leavell says Rolling Stones bandmate Charlie Watts was ‘all class’

Even casual fans of the Rolling Stones recognize Mick, Keith and Charlie: lead singer Jagger, guitarist Richards and drummer Watts, the legendary band’s core since 1963.

That stability was rocked permanently when Watts, 80, died Tuesday in London. 

Fans know those who have moved in and out of the lineup over decades, including the late guitarist Brian Jones, retired bass player Bill Wyman, guitarist Mick Taylor and original keyboardist Ian Stewart. Although he’s been a mainstay as Richards’ fellow guitar-slinger since 1975, Ronnie Wood is still thought of, by some, as “the new kid.”

Deep divers recognize at least one more star from within that constellation: Tuscaloosa-raised Chuck Leavell, who has played keyboards on stage with the Rolling Stones since 1982, and in studios with the band since 1983’s “Undercover.”

“We are all shocked and devastated to lose Charlie. I feel broken. There has been no man finer, more elegant and more beautiful to walk the Earth than Charlie Watts. All class,” Leavell said when contacted by The Tuscaloosa News for a statement. 

“It has been the honor of my life to have played with him over the last 40 years, and to have called him a friend. My heart goes out to his beautiful family.”

The site www.rollingstones.com featured no links Wednesday, just a large photo of a smiling, dapper Watts. The band is scheduled to begin playing dates again Sept. 26. Steve Jordan had been announced as sitting in on drums, back when Watts announced he wouldn’t be going on the road, following a medical procedure.

“For once my timing has been a little off,” Watts’ early August statement read.

“I am working hard to get fully fit but I have today accepted on the advice of the experts that this will take a while. After all the fans’ suffering caused by COVID I really do not want the many RS fans who have been holding tickets for this Tour to be disappointed by another postponement or cancellation. I have therefore asked my great friend Steve Jordan to stand in for me.”

Watts’ other bandmates, and a plethora of musicians including Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Joan Jett, Brian Wilson, Nile Rodgers, Rosanne Cash, Steven Van Zandt, Billy Bragg, Pete Townshend, Lenny Kravitz, Sheryl Crow, Daryl Hall, John Oates, and members of Aerosmith, Def Leppard and Pearl Jam, spoke in public tribute after the announcement.

Richards posted a photo to his social media account of Watts’ Gretsch drum kit, with the sign “Closed – Please Call Again” hanging over it.

A longtime jazz aficionado, Watts brought not just rock steady backbeats, but a sense of swing and controlled abandon to songs mostly composed by Jagger and Richards. Aside from those two, he was the only one to have played on every Rolling Stones record. Watts was the snap and crackle jolting “Start Me Up,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Brown Sugar,” “Miss You” and other classic hits.

Asked for some favorite unsung, or less-appreciated, Watts performances, Tuscaloosa News readers named the pounding “Paint It Black,” sly and sinister “Sympathy for the Devil,” furious “Gimme Shelter,” “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,” “Mother’s Little Helper,” “19th Nervous Breakdown,” “Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker),” “Monkey Man,” “When the Whip Comes Down,” “Beast of Burden,” “Plunder My Soul,” “Dance Little Sister,” “Get Off My Cloud,” “Under My Thumb,” “If You Can’t Rock Me,” “All Sold Out,” and others.

Leavell and the Stones

On tour, Leavell serves as de facto music director for the Stones, working to help create set lists, reminding everyone of chord changes from an encyclopedic file of notes he’s compiled, and keeping some of the more volatile elements in balance.

In a 2019 feature, The Wall Street Journal called Leavell “… the calm in the eye of the Rolling Stones’ crossfire hurricane. Throughout the band’s current 17-show ‘No Filter’ tour of American stadiums, you’ll find the keyboardist center-stage, within eyeshot of every member of the 11-person group. He’s the guy they look toward to steady the ship if they feel a song wobbling or need a reminder or a cue.”

In Wednesday’s statement to The Tuscaloosa News, Leavell paid homage to that other serene, seated fellow on stage, his friend Watts.

“As a musician, his timing and beat were impeccable, his touch delicate yet so powerful. His sense of what and what not to play was unsurpassed,” he said.

Born in Birmingham, Leavell moved with his family to Tuscaloosa while still in single digits, learning basics of piano from his mom, Frances Leavell, and cousin Winston Leavell, though largely teaching himself. At 14 he started The Misfitz, which played regular Friday night gigs at Tuscaloosa’s old downtown YMCA. While still a teen, he began session work, moving to Macon, Georgia, to work with Capricorn Records.

From working with Dr. John, Leavell caught the ear of Gregg Allman, who brought the 20-year-old in to play on solo disc “Laid Back,” and then into the Allman Brothers Band fold, shortly after the death of Duane Allman, adapting the group’s old dual-guitar sound to include more fluid keys, alongside Gregg’s Hammond organ.

His first record with the Allman Brothers Band was the No. 1 “Brothers and Sisters,” where Leavell’s piano rode up front, alongside Dickey Betts’ lead guitar lines. Leavell’s work on the instrumental “Jessica” drives that song, with what’s often considered the greatest piano solo in rock ‘n’ roll history.

Years later, after relentless touring, and some of their biggest hits, the band went on hiatus. Leavell, with Allman Brothers bass player Lamar Williams and drummer-percussionist Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson, formed jazz-blues-rock fusion band Sea Level.

That and other of the pianist’s work caught the ears of Stewart, who’d formally left the Stones in the early ’60s, but stayed on as road manager and touring pianist. In ’82, Leavell stepped up to the Stones as pianist, vocalist and a “sort of musical navigator,” keeping track of arrangements.

“Without the continuity that Chuck brings to us, the Stones would not be the Stones,” Richards said once, in an interview.

Leavell has continued to work on other projects between Stones tours, including solo discs “Forever Blue” and Christmas album “What’s In That Bag?” He’s played with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, John Mayer, Black Crowes, Indigo Girls and numerous others. 

 

He’s also written extensively about the tree-farming and conservation work at his Charlane Plantation in Dry Branch, Georgia, outside Macon, including books “Forever Green: The History and Hope of the American Forest,” “Growing A Better America: Smart, Strong and Sustainable” and “The Tree Farmer,” aimed a younger readers. He co-founded environmental website The Mother Nature Network (www.mnn.com).

In 2004, he published an acclaimed autobiography, “Between Rock and a Home Place.” The 2020 documentary film “Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man,” drew rave reviews, with a 100% fresh score on RottenTomatoes.com, and winning film festival acclaim.

Featuring appearances by Jimmy Carter, Jagger, Richards, Watts, Clapton, Betts, Wood, Mayer, Miranda Lambert, Bruce Hornsby, David Gilmour, Bonnie Raitt, Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Shaffer, and others, it’s available on Amazon Prime video.

URL: https://bit.ly/3ommuMR