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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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

VIDEOS: NOLA Crawfish Festival 2017: George Porter Jr., John Medeski, Eric Krasno, Terence Higgins, Jon Cleary, Nigel Hall, Tony Hall, Raymond Weber & Big D Perkins

NCF Funk Squad, George Porter Jr., Eric Krasno, John Medeski, Terence Higgins, NOLA Crawfish FestNCF Funk Squad: George Porter Jr., Eric Krasno, John Medeski & Terence Higgins

NCF Funk Squad 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 1 of 5:
Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything) [Donny Hathaway cover] > Keep On Marching [The Meters]

NCF Funk Squad 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 2 of 5:
Keep On Marching [The Meters], ?Art [The Meters]? > Dancing In The Street [Marvin Gaye / Martha And The Vandellas cover], Pungee [The Meters]

NCF Funk Squad 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 3 of 5:
Pungee [The Meters], Sugaree [The Grateful Dead cover] (with ???) > The Dragon (He Bite Me) [The Meters]

NCF Funk Squad 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 4 of 5:
The Dragon (He Bite Me) [The Meters], Turn On Your Lovelight [Bobby Bland / The Grateful Dead cover] (*In Tribute To Col. Bruce Hampton*), People Say [The Meters]

NCF Funk Squad 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 5 of 5:
People Say [The Meters] (with Derrick Freeman & ???)

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MVP, Jon Cleary, Nigel Hall, Tony Hall, Raymond Weber, Big D Perkins, NOLA Crawfish FestMVP: Jon Cleary, Nigel Hall, Tony Hall, Derwin “Big D” Perkins & Raymond Weber

MVP 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 1 of 4:
Sometimes I Wonder [Jon Cleary], Don’t Change For Me [Nigel Hall], Night People [Allen Toussaint / Lee Dorsey cover]

MVP 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 2 of 4:
Moonburn [Jon Cleary], Color Blind [Frankie Beverly & Maze cover], Clean Up Woman [Betty Wright cover], Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine [James Brown cover]

MVP 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 3 of 4:
Running Away [Frankie Beverly & Maze cover], When You Get Back [Jon Cleary], Getcha GoGo Juice [Jon Cleary] (with Terence Higgins)

MVP 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 4 of 4:
Can’t Hide Love [Earth Wind & Fire cover], Groove Me [King Floyd cover]

New Orleans Jazz Fest Late Night: Break Science Live Band at The Blue Nile 2016

Break Science Live Band 2016 New Orleans Blue Nile

Break Science Live Band
April 30, 2016 New Orleans, LA @ Blue Nile
Part 1 of 2:
Owner Of A Lonely Heart [Yes] > Goin ‘Down [Michal Menert collab], In Full Effect (clip), Hand Clapping Song [The Meters] > Funky Style (clip), Brain Reaction, Intergalactic

Bee Getz as quoted in his NOLA Jazz Fest After-Dark 2016 overview review at Live For Live Music:

Break Science is trendsetter in realms of live electronic music; implementing avant garde approaches to technology while retaining core identity and original sound. The duo comprised of Adam Deitch and keyboardist/sampler/producer Borahm Lee have begun to reinvent themselves as a live band, drafting Lettuce crew Jesus Coomes (bass), Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff (guitar) and The Shady Horns (Ryan Zoidis & Eric “Benny” Bloom) to make a formidable dance music dragon.

Break Science Live Band 2016 Blue Nile

It’s clear that familiarity and trust are crucial to the duo’s transition into a full live band. Deitch remains a force behind the kit, propelling the breaks, programming pads, and setting the ultimate tone; while Lee is mad professor, furiously twisting knobs, painting Rhodes colors, and layering the synth waves. Shmeeans and Jesus would lay back, low-down dirty and deep in the cut, serving the songs and keeping it vibey with disciplined restraint.

On the other hand, saxophonist Ryan Zoidis was levitation station, a dude not of this earth. The Shady Horns veteran hellraiser married imaginative melodies with sinister, psychedelic tones; all done through his Korg analog guitar-synth triggered by a custom-equipped mouthpiece. Eric
Benny” Bloom
is well versed in live-band electro-soul from his tours of duty in Pretty Lights Analog Future Band, and his stimulating, muffled wah wailing remained a perfect Zoidis foil in yet another compelling context.

The undeniable Tycho/Kendrick Lamar mashup “Vibe Walk” was a moving expedition, paired with familial collaborations with Michal Menert (“Goin Down”). Two tracks from the recent Manic Science project were reinterpreted: the Nice & Smooth-sampled “Funky Style,” and the haunting Pretty Lights remix “I Can See it in Your Face.” In mixing older Break Science originals like “Zion Station”, re-working NOLA classics (The Meters “Hand-Clapping Song”), and powering through AOR radio staples (Yes‘s “Owner of a Lonely Heart”), the omnifarious Break Science personalities were revealed. A smattering of new songs were interspersed within the set, only adding to the promising potential of this larger unit. Break Science Live Band surpassed many expectations, and chaperoned an enchanting journey down the wormhole of organic electronic music in 2016.

Break Science Live Band
April 30, 2016 New Orleans, LA @ Blue Nile
Part 2 of 2:
Throwback [Michal Menert collab] > I Can See It In Your Face [Pretty Lights], Let’s Go, Vibe Walk [Kendrick Lamar vs Tycho]

NOTE: Please excuse the fact that the audio on these is subpar. I think my Sony ECM-MS908C external video cam microphone started to crap out in a weird way (after extended use in the humidity I guess?). Luckily it didn’t happen until the 8th night (of 8 nights) so it didn’t affect too much of my footage. I promptly replaced the mic. I actually I picked up two because it is no longer being manufactured. I’ve been using these mics since 1999 and they still do a great job. I think I’ve owned 5 of them, if you count the 2 I have now.

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