It's, of course, fitting that singer/songwriter/keyboardist Leon Russell's real last name is "bridges."

Claude Russell Bridges, born April 2, 1942, would one day write a tune called "The Masquerade" that, in jazz singer and guitarist George Benson's hands, hit No. 1 simultaneously on the jazz, pop and R&B charts. It's the footnote on Russell that got a thousand feet tapping. And powerful imagery that defines his life’s work in music.

A gravelly marvel of a singer, Leon Russell parlayed his Cliff's-notes rep as the rustic, yet rich swamp-popster into a terrific little rock sideshow. He's never exactly been in the spotlight, but careful liner-note readers - at least for a while - could always find Russell along its fuzzy edges.

If he set a standard of playing, and of innovating, that couldn't be matched later - he also established himself as a hard-headed iconoclast, perhaps the last of the bird-flipping genre-busters.

Russell started as a 14-year-old who lied about his age so he could sit in with rockabilly players like Ronnie Hawkins (who eventually led a tough group of Canadians that became Bob Dylan's backing group, the Band) and James Burton - the legendary late-period Elvis Presley guitarist from Shreveport.

That led to sessions work under the tuteledge of mad-genius producer Phil Spector, where Russell played on a stunning series of hit songs. Soon, he was the hipster sideman. He could be found opening for Jerry Lee Lewis, sitting in with Glen Campbell records, making friends with Beatles.

By 1970, Russell had written a hit for Joe Cocker ("Delta Lady") then helped organize and play on Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour - as famous now for its debauchery as its shimmering soul-deep musical fury. A self-titled solo album followed, and it included the minor hit "A Song for You."

Russell was at the top of his game. He appeared on the bill for George Harrison's proto-benefit concert for storm-torn Bangaladesh in 1971, performing a memorable medley of the Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and then the 1950s Coasters' hit "Young Blood."

His flair for gritty, but heartfelt playing led to invites for sessions work with the Stones, as well as B.B. King, and Dylan, another star from the "Bangaladesh" show. There then followed, on 1972's Carny, one of Russell's most enduring classic-rock staples, the single "Tight Rope" - and then an only-in-the-1970s triple-LP concert set called Leon Live in 1973.