Unearthed live AUDIO of The Neville Brothers from Tipitina’s 1977

The Neville Brothers

Happy Jazz Fest 50! Here are some very rare audio recordings of The Neville Brothers on their home turf, live and raw, early in their career. I’m talking about 5 and a half hours of pristine soundboards! These are revelatory recordings and absolute gems with just the right amount of analog hiss. There are jams, ballads, jazzy work outs, fierce soul, hushed doo wop, and New Orleans rock n roll stompers. It’s a pleasure to find treasures like this and put them out into the world for others to enjoy!

Download both recordings together as MP3 or FLAC and FLAC.


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The Neville Brothers
November 12, 1977
New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s

SBD > ??? > CDR > WAV > FLAC

01. (fades in) “Don’t Push The Button” > Jam
02. Fly Like An Eagle [Steve Miller Band]
03. Sitting In Limbo [Jimmy Cliff]
04. Baby What You Want Me To Do [Jimmy Reed]
05. The Greatest Love
06. instrumental
07. Tell It Like It Is
08. Africa
(set break)
09. (fades in) A Night In Tunisia [Dizzy Gillespie]
10. Be My Lady
11. Fiyo on the Bayou > Ain’t No Use tease > Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) [Sly & The Family Stone]
12. All These Things [Allen Toussaint]
13. Fever [Little Willie John]
14. Woman’s Gotta Have It [Bobby Womack] > Love Ballad [L.T.D.] > Woman’s Gotta Have It
15. Here Dey Come, Meet The Boys On The Battlefront (with Big Chief Jolly & The Wild Tchoupitoulas)
(set break)
16. Ode To Billie Joe [Bobbie Gentry] (Instrumental)
17. Shake Rattle and Roll [Big Joe Turner], “Louisiana Woman”
18. Sitting In Limbo [Jimmy Cliff]
19. Hey Pocky A-Way

Aaron Neville – vocals, tambourine
Cyril Neville – vocals, percussion
Charles Neville – vocals, saxophone
Art Neville – vocals, keyboards
Gerald Tillman – organ
Newton Mossip or James Ledet – drums
Roger Poche or Hutch Hutchinson – bass
Renard Poche or Victor Sircoff – guitar

At the end of track 16, Art announces that New Orleans has a new mayor, “Morial”, Which confirms that the dates of these recordings are correct, as November of 1977 was when Mayor Ernest N. Morial was elected.

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The Neville Brothers
November 26, 1977
New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s

SBD > ??? > CDR > WAV > FLAC

01. Shake Rattle & Roll [Big Joe Turner] > I Take What I Want [Hayes – Hodges – Porter] > Sexy Ways [Hank Ballard]
02. I’m Leaving It Up To You > Momma Don’t Allow [Hank Thompson] > Jam
(set break / end of the night?)
03. Fly Like An Eagle
04. // Pocky Jam (inc. Wop Wop Wop Diddly > Suzie Q [Dale Hawkins] > I’m Your Captain [Grand Funk Railroad] > Cisco Kid [War] > Get Down [War] > Wop Wop Wop Diddly > It’s Your Thing [Isley Brothers])
(set break)
05. // Down By The Riverside
06. Let’s Start All Over Again [Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra / Clyde McPhatter] > Tell It Like It Is
07. Cabbage Alley (inc. Gossip > Cabbage Alley > Give Up The Funk [Parliament] > Louisiana Woman > Fear Hate Envy Jealousy (as Love Hate Envy Jealousy) > Don’t Push The Button (many of the same lyrics as “Wake Up”) > Respect Yourself [Staple Singers])
08. Junco Partner (with alternate lyrics) (with Big Chief Jolly) //
09. // Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (Grateful Dead) > A couple lines of “Soothe Me” [Sam Cooke / Sam & Dave] are sung > jam/ending (there is another song during the jam that I can’t put my finger on)
10. The Greatest Love, Sitting In Limbo [Jimmy Cliff]
11. Be My Lady
12. Baby What You Want Me To Do [Jimmy Reed]
13. Stormy Monday [T-Bone Walker]
(set break)
14. Fiyo On The Bayou (inc. Hi-Heel Sneakers [Tommy Tucker]/ Ooh Poo Pa Doo [Jessie Hill], Burning Up In Love For You (?), Pressure Drop [Toots & The Maytals], My Bonnie, Down By The Riverside, I Been Hoodooed [Dr. John], Breakaway (?))
15. Arianne [Roudey / Martin]
16. Fever [Little Willie John]
17. All These Things [Allen Toussaint]
18. Instrumental
19. This Is My Story [Gene & Eunice]
20. A Night In Tunisia [Dizzy Gillespie]

Aaron Neville – vocals, tambourine
Cyril Neville – vocals, percussion
Charles Neville – vocals, saxophone
Art Neville – vocals, keyboards
Gerald Tillman – organ
Newton Mossip or James Ledet – drums
Roger Poche or Hutch Hutchinson – bass
Renard Poche or Victor Sircoff – guitar

This recording, unlike the 11/12/77 recording, has cuts between many of the songs, so the order of some of the songs or segments could be wrong.

Big Chief Jolly

Members of Dumpstaphunk & The Neville Brothers pay tribute to The Meters at private jazz fest party at the Maple Leaf

Nearly a year ago, during the 2nd weekend of the 2011 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the 4th Annual SF Management Crawfish Boil kicked off at the Maple Leaf Bar. The music started at 7pm, so you’d have to forego your after-jazz fest nap if you wanted to see this show. All proceeds from the event were donated to the New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation.

Shari Frank, the event coordinator, always makes it a point to put together a unique combination of musicians. For 2011, it was Ivan Neville, Ian Neville, and Tony Hall (from Dumpstaphunk) with David Russell Batiste (from The Funky Meters). Mark Rechler’s Circus Mind opened the show with choice covers such as Bill Wither‘s Use Me and Joe Cocker‘s version of Traffic‘s Feelin Alright. Midway, Gaynielle Neville, Cyril Neville‘s lovely wife, and her entourage stormed the stage for a few originals and a romp through the Sly & The Family Stone classic, Everyday People.

Video 1 of 4: Ain’t No Use (To Cut You Loose) [w/ Mark Rechler & Steve Finkelstein],
Doodle Oop (The World Is A Little Bit Under The Weather) [w/ Steve Finkelstein]

Slowly, the musicians filtered in and out, before we were left with 3/4th of Dumpstaphunk (Ivan Neville, Ian Neville & Tony Hall) + 1/4 of The Funky Meters (Russell Batiste). This is when things got interesting with some very deep cuts from The Meters‘ time-honored back catalog. What’cha Say. Gettin’ Funkier All The Time. These are Meters tunes that rarely if ever have been played live by either the original lineup or the Funky Meters lineup. Ivan and his friends put forth faithful interpretations that also expanded into heavy funk improvisations. Mojo Hannah, a Tami Lynn tune that was a staple of The Neville Brothers‘ repertoire was particularly soulful.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get much funkier, Cyril Neville busted onto the stage with an exhilarating performance of The Meters’ Chug A Lug, which then turned into a percussion jam between Cyril and Russell Batiste. Then Ivan teased in the chords of Zigaboo Modeliste‘s crescent city anthem, Welcome To New Orleans. That’s when my crew and I knew that we’d arrived.

Video 2 of 4: Chug A Lug [w/ Cyril Neville] > Welcome To New Orleans [w/ Cyril Neville]

Video 3 of 4:Gettin’ Funkier All The Time, Just Kissed My Baby

Video 4 of 4:What’Cha Say, Mojo Hannah,
The Same Thing (Makes You Laugh, Makes You Cry) [w/ Steve Finkelstein]

The full audio recording of this performance is available to stream or download over at Live Music Archive.

And if you’re interested in the 2012 SF Management Crawfish Boil, to take place on Saturday, May 5th, go to the SF Management website.

The Funky Meters October 8, 2000 Cincinnati, OH (VIDEO)

About ten years ago I packed some friends in my car and drove up to Cincinnati, Ohio to see The Funky Meters perform. The festival was free and they performed during the daytime, down by the river. The situation was ripe for my old Sony Digital Hi8mm video camera to capture it all. Ten years later it’s still one of my favorite videos. I used an external microphone (the same mic I still use today) so the sound quality is great, despite being a little “hot” due to the extreme volume (I can’t believe I didn’t wear earplugs back then!).

Poppa Funk Art Neville was still in good health and George Porter Jr was ten years younger. Russell Batiste played with focus and Brian Stoltz shredded with experience. I’ve decide to post the entire 80 minute video on youtube in 7 parts, and I am also seeding the full DVD here: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=347253
and here: http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=89869.

If you made it this far, then you probably know that The Funky Meters have been doing some shows recently with Brian Stoltz returning (after Ian Neville took over guitar duties for about 4 years). Here are links to some recent recordings:
1/14/11 NOLA @ Tipitina’s (Louie’s SBD + onstage matrix!!)
2/16/11 NYC @ Brooklyn Bowl
2/17/11 NYC @ Brooklyn Bowl

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