Leon Haywood – Intimate (Expanded) (1976/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Born in Houston, he listened to the blues as a child and started playing piano at the age of three. In his teens, he performed with a local group and worked as an accompanist to blues musician, Guitar Slim. In the early 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he worked with saxophonist Big Jay McNeely. McNeely arranged for him to record his first single, “Without a Love”, an instrumental on the small Swingin’ record label. After that, he joined Sam Cooke’s band as keyboardist until the singer’s death. Haywood next recorded two singles for Fantasy Records, and subsequently moved to Imperial Records, where he recorded the single “She’s with Her Other Love”, which made the R&B charts in 1965. He was also part of two session bands organized by Los Angeles disc jockey Magnificent Montague which issued the instrumental hits “Hole in the Wall” (R&B #5/Pop #50, 1965) under the name of The Packers, and “Precious Memories” (R&B number 31, 1967) as the Romeos.

Tracklist:
01. Leon Haywood – Let Me Make It Good to You (03:11)
02. Leon Haywood – Dream Dream (04:13)
03. Leon Haywood – Strokin’ (Pt. 2) (06:03)
04. Leon Haywood – Let’s Get It On (04:45)
05. Leon Haywood – The Streets Will Love You to Death (06:45)
06. Leon Haywood – I’m Your Knight In Shining Armor (03:38)
07. Leon Haywood – They Don’t Make ‘Em No More Like You (06:03)
08. Leon Haywood – It’s Got to Be Mellow (02:45)
09. Leon Haywood – Dream Dream (Single Version) (03:10)
10. Leon Haywood – The Streets Will Love You to Death (Pt. 1) (03:06)
11. Leon Haywood – The Streets Will Love You to Death (Pt. 2) (03:23)

Personnel:
Melvin Ragini – guitar
Ray Parker Jr. – guitar
Gene Page – horns, strings
Hense Powell – piano
John Barnes – piano
Larry Nash – piano
Ernie Watts – saxophone
Louis Johnson – bass
Scott Edwards – bass
Wilton Felder – bass
Ed Greene – drums
James Gadson – drums
Ollie Brown – drums
Ed “Bongo” Brown – bongos
Joe Clayton – congas
Jim Gilstrapvbackground vocals
John Lehman – background vocals
The Jones Girls – background vocals
Julia Tillman – background vocals
Lani Groves – background vocals
Maxine Willard – background vocals
Sharon Routt – background vocals