Leslie West
Mountain’s hard rocker BORN 1945
Leslie Weinstein was 11 when he enjoyed his first musical epiphany. Taken by his grandmother to watch the filming of a TV show, he saw Elvis Presley perform live in early 1956. The impact, he said, was “electrifying”. Two years later he bought a ’56 Strat, with the money he’d received for his bar mitzvah.
By 1964 he’d begun to forge his own rich playing style, joining his brother Larry in high school garage band The Vagrants in his native Forest Hills. The Vagrants became local heroes, their ability to blend rock and soul evident on the version of Respect which they released a month before Aretha Franklin’s defining interpretation.
West’s mind was blown further in September ’67 when, while tripping on LSD, the 21-year-old saw Cream play at the Village Theatre in New York. He elected to put together a new project and – assisted by former Vagrants and Cream producer Felix Pappalardi on bass – he wrote material for a solo project he called Mountain, a moniker Ebit based on his own commanding physique and which he would use for his next band, changing his own name in the process to Leslie West.
Mountain’s third show came at the Woodstock festival in the summer of ’69, leading to their first career-defining, cowbell-heavy hit, Mississippi Queen, the following year. An undisputed rock classic, it showcased West’s ability to combine seismic riffs with his roaring, soulful vocals. West’s style, however, was more varied than that ubiquitous track suggests – his use of vibrato and his distinctive tone on the likes of Theme For An Imaginary Western and Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin) inspiring the next generation of guitar players, Eddie Van Halen and Michael Schenker among them.
Mountain’s flame burned brightly for four years, while Leslie also found huge success with supergroup West, Bruce And Laing. His own addictions, however, took hold for much of the ’80s, but his bonhomie and evergreen talent allowed him to remain a player admired by fans and fellow musicians alike. The latter point was borne out with his final string of impressive solo albums – Unusual Suspects (2011), Still Climbing (2013) and Soundcheck (2015) – which saw the likes of Billy Gibbons, Slash, Brian May and Joe Bonamassa queueing up to play with him.
West’s death, aged 75, on December 22 at his home in Florida silenced a man who can rightfully be viewed as a true titan of American hard rock.
“Billy Gibbons, Slash and Brian May all queued up to play with West.”