Leon Wilkeson=most underrated player ever to walk the Earth. Fact. Just listen to these brilliant lines! And yes, I'm aware that Ed King played on the first album whilst Leon temporarily quit, but it was Leon who actually wrote those lines; Ed merely played them. However, he did play them very well, so props to the two of them.
When my son was in high school he was in the marching band and at home games they had a stage setup for bass, guitar and drums. My son played the guitar and they played Freebird during half-time. He had a blast playing the solo and it was a real crowd pleaser. Since I was never in a situation where I had to learn it, while he was learning the song I was fiddling with the bass line and I was impressed with how melodic it is.
Great player, great band. I've be re-visiting some of their albums recently, really just digging the tunes and the playing - so this is quite a timely thread. There's some great stuff on YT, few where LW is playing a Jazz. Proves that they can cut right through if they can get past the wall of Skynyrd guitars!
Love his playing. His tone on the jazz bass sounds amazing. I found some settings for his jazz bass. He is mainly using the bridge pickup. {}
This is the tune that made me realizes that they were great players, love this tune. I used to do it in a country/southern half original rock band during the early 80's we did a good job on it and it was always one of the crowds favorite tunes.
The credits on the debut LP say that Leon composed "many" of the bass parts Ed played, not all of them. I don't know if it's known which ones Leon wrote.
I’ve long been a “casual” Skynyrd fan, but have recently dove deeper into the legends, lore, and the music. ‘Frustrated to find so little about Leon’s playing, his gear, his influences... Like a lot of bassists, he’s way underrated and overlooked.
It’s not either or; Larry Junstrom, later of 38 Special, and Greg T Walker, later of Blackfoot, preceded Leon in Skynyrd and may have composed of the bass lines for songs written before Leon was in the band.