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]

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

Unearthed live AUDIO of The Meters & The Metrics from 1980 and 1983

Zigaboo Modeliste by Henry Heikkinen

Happy 50th Jazz Fest everyone! Here are some very rare audio recordings of The Meters that I have cleaned up and corrected the speed on. Years ago I traded for 2 CDRs marked as “The Meters 11/28/80”, and it turned out to be 2 different recordings that seem to be incomplete. Also, both recordings were running fast, probably from a bad cassette transfer. I’ve slowed them down and cleaned them up as best I can. Enjoy this rare funk as you get your mind right for the 50th New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival this year!

Download the recordings here and here.

The Metrics
1983 or 1984
New Orleans, LA @ ???

SBD > ??? > cassette > ??? > CDR > EAC > FLAC > WAV > Cool Edit Pro (pitch slowed down 0.9 semitones) > CD Wave Editor (tracking) > FLAC

01. People Say 7:27
02. Cissy Strut > 3:57
03. Love The One You’re With > 2:57
04. Hey Pocky A-Way 7:18
05. They All Ask’d For You 7:00
06. Big Chief 5:48
07. Standing In Your Stuff // 6:00

George Porter, Jr. – bass, vocals
Zigaboo Modeliste – drums, vocals
David Torkanowsky – keyboards, ?vocals?
Scott Goudeau – guitar, ?vocals?
Tony Dagradi and/or Fred Kemp – saxophone

We know that this group played at Jazz Fest in 1983 and 1984. There is an audience recording that exists of their 1984 Jazz Fest performance. I have not heard it, but I have seen the info file and it’s a totally different setlist with no Meters tunes really except Gossip. So this recording could be from Jazz Fest 1983 or at some other time from 1982 to 1984. I presume and assume this was recorded in New Orleans.

I found this as filler on the 11/28/80 Meters CDRs I traded for years ago. Upon closer inspection of my CDR’s, it was actually about 45 minutes of 11/28/80 and then this Metrics recording on the other side of the cassette.
The tape was also running too fast. This is my first attempt at shifting/fixing the pitch, so it may not be correct, but it sounds closer to reality than it did. It’s also an incomplete recording. I don’t know how much is missing from the end. 2019-01-19 – Funk It Blog

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Funk It · The Meters – People Say > Try To Get Over > They All Ask'd For You 11/28/80 New Orleans @ Tipitinas

The Meters (with Sam Henry subbing for Art Neville)
November 28th, 1980
New Orleans, LA @ Tipitinas

FM/SBD (WTUL) > 3rd Gen (presumably a cassette) > DAT > ??? > FLAC > WAV > Cool Edit Pro (amplified) > CD Wave Editor (tracking) > WAV > FLAC

01. WTUL radio intro
02. Rigor Mortis
03. Fire on the Bayou >
04. Jungle Man
05. talk & tuning
06. Africa
07. Cissy Strut
08. Just Kissed My Baby
09. People Say >
10. “Try To Get Over” >
11. They All Ask’d For You

Sam Henry – organ & vocals (subbing for Art Neville)
George Porter, Jr. – bass & vocals
Leo Nocentelli – guitar
Zigaboo Modeliste – drums & vocals

They are announced as “The Funky Disgusting Meters”! It sounds like George Porter’s group, Joyride, was the opening act because Zig calls them out during the jam into Jungle Man.

Here’s a little more info on the history between Sam Henry and The Meters (courtesy of the Home Of The Groove blog):
https://homeofthegroove.blogspot.com/2006/08/gospel-bird-vs-soul-machine-updated.html

FunkItBlog · The Meters – Jungle Man 11/28/80 New Orleans, LA @ Tipitinas

The Original Meters & Papa Grows Funk – May 5, 2012 New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf

When you’re in New Orleans for Jazz Fest, there’s nothing like catching a Funky Meters show to reassure you that you’re in the right place at the right time. But, as we know, the Funky Meters only contain 2 of the original Meters band members, namely Art “Poppa Funk” Neville and George Porter, Jr.

That’s why the 2012 Jazz Fest became so exciting when it was announced that all 4 of the Original Meters would be playing their first club gig in New Orleans in over 30 years! Yes, we’re talking about all 4 original members: Art “Poppa Funk” Neville on organ, George Porter, Jr. on bass, Leo Nocentelli on guitar and Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste on drums.

Yes, these 4 original Meters members have reunited sporadically for shows in 2005, 2006 and 2007 (and for a few festival gigs in 2011). Yes, they’ve played New Orleans before. But this felt like the real homecoming. The price was steep, but for the few that could get in, it was worth every penny. Art showed that he can still play ferociously, despite his age of, in his words,“74 fuckin years old”. Although Zigaboo did joke about the senior citizen status of the band, they hardly played like it. Judge for yourself, because here I bring you 47 minutes of footage from this now legendary show.

The Original Meters
May 5, 2012 New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf
Fire On The Bayou, Africa > Look-Ka Py Py > Funky Miracle, Encore: People Say:

Also, here is the set closing Ain’t No Use, shot by photographer Marc Millman. I strongly suggest that you check out some of his photos from this show and even consider purchasing framable prints of his beautiful imagery.

By the way, you can download the full audio from this show here.

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Finally, here are a few videos of the opening act, Papa Grows Funk, featuring Raymond Weber (ex-Dumpstaphunk drummer) subbing on drums.

Papa Grows Funk
May 5, 2012 New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf
Shakin’:

Papa Grows Funk
May 5, 2012 New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf
Planet of Love & Hate:

Papa Grows Funk
May 5, 2012 New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf
unknown tune:

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