"Leonard," says Roscoe Beck, "is for many an almost mythical figure, a lay saint, as I have heard him defined. I first met him as a vital 40 year old and then as a thoughtful 80 year old. And how anyone who approached him, even if only through his work, I came out changed. I consider myself lucky to have known him personally, but he is available to everyone, he lives through his art, and everything is there to be discovered, in his words and in his music ».
The first meeting
Rafael Gayol: We met for the first time in June 1988 at the Kalvøya festival in Norway, where I was the percussionist and backing vocalist of A-Ha. He arrived with his daughter Lorca, who was 13. On the tour bus we listened constantly to I'm Your Man, seeing him appear was a very welcome surprise. I listened to Leonard from the age of 11. After introducing myself, I asked him: "What are you doing at an A-Ha concert?" With all the courtesy in the world he hugged me and said that his daughter was a fan: "He wanted to see them so we arrived a day before my concert." Five months later, we met again by chance in New York. I walked on Central Park West, he got out of a limo. As soon as I started talking, he politely interrupted me and said, "Norway, right?" I continued my walk thinking that one day I would like to work with him.
Javier Mas: During rehearsals, he wanted a deeper and fresher sound. Always feel free, he told me. He was always focused and precise.
Roscoe Beck: When we met, he had already done sessions for Recent Songs, I think he had a clear idea of where he was going. But Henry had brought me there to add a different perspective. In that first session I suggested using a drummer. A cardboard box containing a 2 inch tape from Ampex was used to replace a snare drum. That engraving became the basic track of the final version. The atmosphere was not always peaceful, but Leonard always treated everyone with respect.
Rafael Gayol: He knew how to communicate exactly as he wanted the arrangements. He sat right next to me and often watched me play with Roscoe Beck and Neil Larsen. I only made suggestions when asked by Leonard or Roscoe, who was our musical director. Leonard knew what he wanted.
Adam, who also produced Leonard's last album, You Want it Darker, released just three weeks before his death, says that the breadth of the recorded poems is "extraordinary."
There are these songs that exist that he wanted finished, these incredible powerful readings that were set to music - Adam Cohen.
He explains that, while they were making You Want it Darker, "I would implore him, even though I knew he was in a delicate state, I'd say, 'Dad, just read this, just read this poem to a metronome and we'll look at it later.' Some of my favourite poems of his are actually in the vault and I was tasked with finishing them."
To mark Leonard Cohen’s birthday (September 21, 1934 – November 7, 2016), his final book of poetry, The Flame, will be published October the 2nd 2018, Cohen finished the book before his death, in November 2016, at age 82.
The Flame, as “an enormously powerful final chapter in Cohen’s storied literary career”, publisher Canongate said that the Canadian singer-songwriter had chosen and ordered the poems in the months before his death in November 2016. T
