Welcome to this month’s Dance Party edition of Sweeney’s Gumbo YaYa. Ivan Neville’s collaborative project with Cris Jacobs titled Neville Jacobs kicks off the show with a very appropriate number called “Dance for Me Mama.”
The Meters, which includes Ivan’s uncle Art, starts off the first full set with “No More Okey Doke” — a silly title with a danceable groove. And speaking of danceable grooves, I would never have thought I could boogie to “If I Were a Carpenter” but somehow Eldridge Holmes’ cover pulls it off. Chuck Carbo, Corey Henry, Danny White, Big Sam and Sierra Green keep the beat flowing. This week’s show features extra long sets and less talking cause you really can’t dance when I’m blathering on.
Papa Grows Funk and Cha Wa takes into the second half hour which finishes strong with Rebirth’s “Hot Butt Naked Sex,” Paula and the Pontiacs “Rough n’ Tumble Man,” Allen Toussaint’s “Shoorah, Shoorah” (from a 1976 vinyl record) and Kid Eggplant’s touching love song “Vasectomy.”
We get a little reggae beat going with the second half of the show where Lil’ Rascals Brass Band does “Rasta Second Line” and Alex McMurray’s Rock Steady project, 007, performs “Alidina.”
Later you’ll hear songs by Meschiya Lake, Charlie Wooten and Arsene Delay, King James & the Special Men, George Porter Jr., Billy Iuso, Earl King and Lynn Drury.
The pace changes but doesn’t really slow down with Meschiya Lake’s “Anytime is Saturday Night,” Smoky Greenwell’s “Back to the Boogie,” and Dr. Michael White doing “Panama.” Thanks for tuning in and dancin’ to the beat.
A deep dive into Funk marks my third show in honor of African American Music Appreciation Month. In addition to celebrating another cultural gift to the world by African Americans, the show makes a pretty solid argument for why New Orleans should also be considered the birth place of Funk.
Get the music started and read on.
While James Brown is widely considered the originator of “Funk,” his work is built off of rhythms that derive from New Orleans. (Read Benjamin Doleac and Alexander Stewart for the academic explanation.)
The Meters, who formed in 1965 but didn’t release a record until 1969, combined those New Orleans rhythms (Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste) with George Porter’s bass, Art Neville’s organ and Leo Nocentelli’s guitar to make early funk classics like “Cissy Strut” and “Look-ka Py Py.” On the show you’ll hear a later song of the band’s “Funkify Your Life.”
As the in-house studio band for Allen Toussaint’s Sansu Records, the Meters provided the backing vocals and rhythm for a wide range of music by Lee Dorsey, Robert Palmer, Albert King, Etta James, the Pointer Sisters, LaBelle and Paul Mccartney. In fact, it was at McCartney’s record release party (Venus and Mars) in New Orleans when Mick Jagger heard the Meters and arranged for the band to tour with the Rolling Stones. In this week’s show, you’ll hear other Sansu artists including Betty Harris and Danny White.
Later, you’ll hear a track from the seminal Wild Tchoupitoulas record which brought together the four Neville brothers as they assist their Uncle George Landry (Big Chief Jolly) record the first major release of a full Mardi Gras Indian album. It was this project that resulted in the brothers coming together as a band.
You’ll also hear contemporary funk musicians who are still performing Walter Wolfman Washington, Corey Henry, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Sierra Green, Rebirth Brass Band, Soul Rebels and Hot 8 Brass Band. It’s two hours of funk — another great music form that would not exist if not for the fertile creativity of African American artists.
Next week, the last show for this year’s African American Music Appreciation Month will focus on Blues and Zydeco. Please consider subscribing.
Last week’s African-American Music Month show celebrated the many styles of music generated by New Orleans musicians of color. Just about every genre . . .except for funk. Today’s show is all about the funk starting with The Meters’ “The World Is A Little Under the Weather” from 1971. You got two hours of listening so you best get started now.
When you talk about funk, there’s James Brown (who was inspired by Little Richard’s New Orleans sessions) and then there is The Meters –formed in 1965 by Zigaboo Modeliste (drums), George Porter Jr. (bass), Leo Nocentelli (guitar), and Art Neville (keyboards). Allen Toussaint used The Meters as his studio band, supporting Lee Dorsey on “Ride Your Pony” and “Working in the Coal Mine. By 1969, The Meters were doing their own thing with “Sophisticated Cissy” and “Cissy Strut.” In addition to Weather, you’ll hear the band’s “Zony Mash” and “Stretch Your Rubber Band.” You’ll also hear Eddie Bo with an extended version of his big hit “Hook and Sling.”
To continue to honor African-American Music Month, this show features black artists including Sierra Green, Chocolate Milk, Hot 8 Brass Band, Eldridge Holmes, Rebirth Brass Band, Glen David Andrews, George Porter Jr. and his Runnin’ Pardners, Cyril Neville, Mem Shannon, Dumpstaphunk and more. The two exceptions are songs are by Galactic that feature Irma Thomas and Glen David Andrews on vocals.
Another sad loss for the world and New Orleans with the death of Art Neville at 81. His 60 plus years of performing spanned the early years of New Orleans R&B to funk to the rich gumbo of the Neville Brothers. This week’s show has almost an hour of Art’s music. Get it started by clicking the triangle in the player below and then read on.
Barely 17, Art Neville recorded with his high school band a song that would entertain over seven decades of Mardi Gras revelers. “Mardi Gras Mambo” may not ever have charted but it has been a seasonal favorite ever since its recording in January 1955 in a local radio station studio.
Art Neville hooked up with Harold Battiste and recorded with Specialty Records after that cranking out songs like “Cha Chooky-Doo,” “Oooh Wee Baby” and “Please Listen to My Song.” You’ll hear those and others early on in the show before I move on to his more funkier stuff.
As a keyboardist, he became known as “Poppa Funk” anchoring the sound of The Meters and playing songs that would define the New Orleans funk sound. You’ll get three tracks from The Meters in this show — including “Africa” which the Neville Brothers would later cover.
Art’s uncle, George Landry, and the Meter’s association with Allen Toussaint would lead into musical history when they recorded “Wild Tchoupitoulas” — an album of music derived from the Mardi Gras Indian culture and the chants of their uncle in his role as Big Chief Jolly. In this album, you can hear the Neville Brothers sound developing — particularly in the context of Mardi Gras Indian numbers.
But my Neville Brothers’ set focuses on their New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival performances and the importance Art and his siblings played in supporting that institution. You’ll hear “Yellow Moon” for instance from the 2001 JazzFest.
The last half of the show includes a full set of brass bands, some country and swamp pop, and ends with Houseman DeClouet singing “The Truth Iz Out.” I know you’ll like this show. Be sure to subscribe to my blog so you can get wind of future shows.
This week’s show features a set about cars and two sets on quadrupeds such as horses, ponies and mules. But really this show is about chilling out with some blues, folk, country and Americana. Get it started and I’ll tell you more.
Andrew Duhon kicks it off with his ode to New Orleans street fairs, inspired by stumbling across the Freret Street Fair while biking. AllDay Radio carries on the vibe with its “Pothole City,” Gina Forsyth takes a turn with “Somewhere Off the Foot of the Mountain” and the Subdudes finish the first full set with “Wedding Rites.”
I hit the Subdudes again later in the show since they’ll be performing in Seattle next week. (May 19th at The Triple Door). I also play Sonny Landreth’s “U.S.S. Zydecoldsmobile” to anchor a set on cars. Landreth will be playing two nights at the Triple Door.
The horse sets started as a coincidence. When I build a playlist for a show, I often just go for songs I want to hear. I picked the Meter’s cover of “Ride Your Pony” and later pulled Spencer Bohren’s “Stone Pony Blues.” When I noticed that, it was easy to pull some other songs such as Benny Turner’s “Dont’ You Ride my Mule” and Bonerama’s energetic “High Horse.”
Stay with the show and you’ll hear some wonderful songs by Yvette Landry, Helen Gillet, Leyla McCalla, Jonathon Long and Shawn Williams. Thanks for listening and please consider subscribing so you can be notified of future shows.
I’ve been a bit giddy this week. The onset of our area’s first solid gesture of spring coinciding with the start of Jazz Fest in New Orleans and Olympia’s Arts Walk and Procession of the Species this weekend inspired this show which aired April 26, 2018 on KAOS. The show features very little jazz but a lot of New Orleans which is fitting at a time when Olympia holds its biggest street scene of the year.
Process of the Species is a unique Olympia cultural experience.
To get ready for that walking, standing and processing, I start with some hip openers thanks to an opening number by The Meters followed by Shamarr Allen’s trumpet boogie of Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off.” Art Neville comes back on with one of his Specialty Records classic rock and roll songs. Keith Stone keeps it rocking with the title track from his latest release The Prodigal Returns.
I mellow it out later in the set, with the help of Kelcy Mae singing an Earth Day appropriate song “Mr. Leopold.” Elvis Costello sings a great Allen Toussaint song, with the composer’s vocal and piano assistance. To honor Olympia’s unique cultural creation — the Procession of the Species, I played the Brassaholics “They Sew” – a song about New Orleans unique cultural creation the Black Indians of Mardi Gras. This song was two-fer cause it also honored Brassaholic’s trumpeter Tannon “Fish” Williams who celebrated his 43rd birthday that day.
I didn’t hear about the death of Charles Neville till the next morning so I’ll save his tribute for next week’s show. Please enjoy this one and consider subscribing so you can be alerted to when new shows are posted.
This week’s show is a funky one. Get the show started by clicking the Mixcloud arrow then read how Ohio scooped New Orleans on the funk
A recent NPR story about Dayton, Ohio having a Funk Hall of Fame took me a bit by surprise. It’s not that I have anything against Ohio though I resent the tendency of their vote for president seeming to count more than mine. And yes, there are some fine funk bands from Dayton (Ohio Players, Heatwave, Zapp, etc.).
Like many though, when I think of funk masters, I think James Brown, George Clinton and, well, The Meters. In the late 60’s, Art Neville (keyboards), George Porter, Jr. (bass), Leo Nocentelli (guitar) and Zigaboo Modeliste (drums) became the studio band for Allen Toussaint backing hits like “Everything I Do Gohn Be Funky,” sung by Lee Dorsey. And while they didn’t make it as big as some of the mid-70 funk bands, The Meters, along with James Brown, are widely considered to be the originators of the funk sound.
But its not that simple. The Meters were influenced by New Orleans parade rhythms, Professor Longhair, and Earl Palmer, who before moving to Los Angles to be part of the famed “Wrecking Crew,” was part of the Cosimo Matassa studio band that created many of the early R&B hits by Fats Domino and Little Richard. The same Little Richard sound that James Brown cited as being an influence on his funk sound.
So why isn’t the Funk Hall of Fame in New Orleans? Probably for the same reason there’s not a decent Jazz or R&B museum in New Orleans. Dayton made it happen and New Orleans didn’t. Well, least the music is good. Other acts on this show include Corey Henry, Galactic, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Dr. John, Eddie Bo, New Orleans Nightcrawlers, Jon Cleary, Papa Grows Funk and Walter “Wolfman” Washington.
Allen Toussaint was a teenager when he first sat in on Earl King’s band and regularly scored gigs at the legendary Dew Drop Inn.
It wasn’t long before he found his way to the center of the known Rock n’ Roll universe at the time, Cosimo Matassa’s studio, where he laid down piano tracks on recordings by Fats Domino, Huey “Piano” Smith, and Aaron Neville. But it was when he joined Minit Records that his creativity became apparent to the world. Using his parent’s living room as rehearsal space and testing ground for new material, he assembled a parade of hit singles by Jessie Hill, Irma Thomas, Lee Dorsey and this blog’s patron saint, Ernie K-Doe.
Ernie K-Doe best recordings were aided by the songwriting, arranging and producing of Allen Toussaint.
As a keyboard savant, Toussaint could accurately reproduce and synthesize the city’s revered legacy of piano professors, especially the style of Professor Longhair. But as a songwriter and arranger, he was able to weave the full panoply of New Orleans rhythms, vocal traditions and spirit into a clean appealing style for the pop market. In fact, he, along with K-Doe, were responsible for the sole number 1 pop chart hit recorded in New Orleans, “Mother-in-Law.” (A song written before Toussaint was married and had one.)
Later, he started his own record labels providing a platform for local and national musicians to access the New Orleans sound. With The Meters as his studio house band, Toussaint was a key force behind the New Orleans funk sound that developed in the 70’s. A prolific songwriter, his music has been performed by The Rolling Stones (“Ruler of My Heart”), The Who (“Fortune Teller”), Bonnie Raitt (“What Do You Want the Boy To Do”), Devo (“Working in the Coal Mine”), Al Hirt (“Java”), The Doors (“Get Out of My Life Woman”), Jerry Garcia (“I’ll Take a Melody”), Glen Campbell (“Southern Nights”), Robert Palmer (“Sneaky Sally through the Alley”), The Pointer Sisters (“Yes, We Can Can”) and many more.
Linda and Paul McCartney performing with Allen Toussaint in his New Orleans studio in 1975.
In 1973, Toussaint had a big hand in producing and performing on Dr. John’s album “In The Right Place.” Two years later, Linda and Paul McCartney moved their entourage to New Orleans to collaborate with Toussaint in his New Orleans studio on their album “Venus and Mars.”
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011. If there’s any question of whether being a senior statesman of New Orleans music has diminished his chops, you need only look as far as his grammy-nominated, post-Katrina collaboration with Elvis Costello, “The River in Reverse,” for evidence that at 77, he still has it.
In addition to being a producer, bandleader, arranger and songwriter, Toussaint is an accomplished pianist and stands with the great New Orleans piano “professors.” Toussaint will take the stage at the French Quarter Festival on April 9 at 3:45 p.m. but you will be able to catch his music on my next show this Monday. (Here’s the recorded show)
I originally posted this in 2015 but have updated it so the links are still good and the information is relatively ageless.
It’s never too late to make plans for Jazz Fest. If you accept this mission, you will join the millions of satisfied music lovers worldwide who have made this pilgrimage during the 50+ year history of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
The 1975 New Orleans Jazz Festival Poster
To help you move from idle curiosity into action, here are a handful of things you should know about the New Orleans Jazz Fest. (Also, here’s a later post as to why you might consider visiting New Orleans when it is not JazzFest.)
1. It’s more than Jazz. The festival combines world-class and national acts with some of the best regional music of all types. There are stages for blues, gospel, zydeco and cajun, world, kids stuff and, of course jazz. On the rest of the stages you’ll see funk, hip hop, Mardi Gras Indian, rock, folk, latin, pop, brass bands, oh heck, . . look at the lineup. Not to mention, you’ll have access to Second Line parade demonstrations, excellent food and local crafts.
2. Last weekend in April and first weekend in May. That’s always the formula. This means that the 2020 festival starts Thursday, April 23 and runs through Sunday May 3, with three-days to recuperate in the middle (no festival shows Monday – Wednesday). Go for the day or the whole fest.
New Orleans Fair Grounds is 145-acres. During Jazz Fest, 12 stages operate.
3. Tickets are easy to get at the gate. You can procrastinate and/or be spontaneous. They will have a ticket waiting for you (unless they book the Rolling Stones again). It’s highly unlikely the festival will sell out. It takes a lot of bodies to fill the Fair Grounds Race Course. Day passes are $75 and sold with efficiency at the entry points. You can buy in at advance if you want. But after Ticketmaster takes its pound of flesh, you save less than a price of beer per ticket. Or you can buy a brass pass and go all seven days.
4. Hotels can be expensive but plentiful; cheaper further out. It’s over $300 a night to stay downtown/French Quarter. Cheaper further out. If you have a car, Slidell, Metairie or some other suburb is an affordable option. But not as fun as being in close. Since I like embedding in a neighborhood, I use AirBnB. Yes, almost everyone charges more during Jazz Fest.
5. The best shows are not always the “big” shows. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage folks always assemble an intriguing top of ticket with big acts such as Elton John, The Who, Stevie Wonder, Tony Bennett, Paul Simon and other big touring acts you can see just about anywhere. I understand if you have to see one of these. However, if you skew your viewing portfolio toward local legends and masters, particularly those who rarely perform together these days, you will reap even bigger dividends.
The founding members of The Meters performed at 2015 Jazz Fest, from left: George Porter, Jr., Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli, , and Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste. You can count on unique acts.
Each year, the festival attracts New Orleans centric acts that you might otherwise be able to catch. Try to catch acts that form just for this event (such as musical tributes) or come back together again (the Radiators, Meters)
Lagniappe – At some point, you must get your ass in the Economy Hall Tent and shake it. (Second Line Umbrella optional). Nuff said.
There are lots of other resources for the details, starting with Jazz Fest site. To hear some of the music that you would hear at Jazz Fest, be sure to tune in on Thursdays. Also, join me on my journey, learning about the New Orleans music scene by subscribing (upper right side of this page)
Galactic, an ever evolving New Orleans band that tours nationally, will be on the wet side of the Cascades this coming week.
On Thursday February 26, Galactic will take the stage at Bellingham’s Wild Buffalo before rolling down to Seattle’s Showbox on Friday and finishing its tour of Interstate-5 at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland on Saturday.
(From Left) Robert Mercurio, Ben Ellman, Rich Vogel, Jeff Raines and Stanton Moore.
The band formed in 1994 and was inspired by The Meters and other funk bands playing in Benny’s Bar, a long-gone uptown establishment located not more than a football field from where the Nevilles used to live. The band’s original name Galactic Prophylactic was quickly shortened while it led a second wave of New Orleans funk bands.
The first decade, Galactic was powered by the vocals of journeyman R&B and soul singer Theryl “Houseman” DeClouet. With its jam band tendencies, the group developed a loyal following for its live shows.
While the band has gone through a number of personnel changes over the years, the core of the group includes founding members Jeff Raines (guitar), Robert Mercurio (bass), Stanton Moore (drums) and Rich Vogel (keyboards). Also, saxophonist Ben Ellman, who produced Trombone Shorty’s first two albums, has been a long-time mainstay of the band.
After the departure of DeClouet in 2004, the band got into producing its own music using loops and samples and invited a wide range of mostly New Orleans talent into the studio with them. Ya-ka-may, probably my favorite Galactic album, includes Irma Thomas, Trombone Shorty, John Boutte, Katey Red, Big Freedia, and Big Chief Bo Dollis. The first song also includes a sample from the fright night show Morgus the Magnificent.
Robert Mercurio on bass for Galactic
According to reviews of this tour, the band is reaching back to its roots, while still keeping it contemporary. Check out recent releases “Higher and Higher” featuring JJ Grey and “Dolla Diva” with a duet by Maggie Koerner and David Shaw of The Revivalists. For this tour, Erica Falls is handling the vocals — an excellent choice of a New Orleans singer whose talent far exceeds her current public recognition. But perhaps not for long. Here’s an article that got her on the cover of Offbeat.
Erica Falls, a talented New Orleans singer who has performed with Irma Thomas, John Fogerty and Sting, is the lead singer for Galactic on its current tour.
Individually, Galactic band members are highly active musicians and music producers involved in a wide range of other projects, including some with Seattle saxophonist Skerik (who will be in Portland Maine on Saturday). This week’s I-5 tour is an excellent chance to catch them live. But if you can’t do that, I’ll be playing my favorite Galactic numbers on Sweeney’s Gumbo YaYa on Monday. (Sneak tip: I will have tickets to the Portland show to give away.)
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A recent NPR story about 
Sweeney's Gumbo YaYa 