Results for "The Meters"

The Meters

The Meters created a unique sound that lasted through the sixties and seventies and was reborn in the late eighties. Their trademark sound blends funk, blues, and dance grooves with a New Orleans vibe, where they have become an institution. The history of this native New Orleans band dates back to 1967, when keyboardist Art Neville recruited George Porter Jr., Joseph (Zigaboo) Modeliste and Leo Nocentelli to form The Meters. When Neville formed the band, he had already been a prominent member of the New Orleans music community for 15 years. He was still in high school when, leading The Hawkettes, he cut the 1954 hit single "Mardi Gras Mambo", which is still pressed every year at Carnival time. After working with Allen Toussaint on some Lee Dorsey tracks, The Meters were told to lay down some tracks of their own

Brandon “Taz” Niederauer: A Minor with a Major Future

By ALAN BRYSON

Though only seventeen, guitarist/singer/songwriter Brandon Niederauer has amassed a staggering list of accomplishments. At age ten he was a guest and performer on The Ellen DeGeneres Show—the YouTube clip of which has over 3,200,000 views. Two years later he landed a role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway Musical, School of Rock. He has performed a Hendrixesque version ...

Funky Chemist: Groove Generator

By CHRIS MAY

You know where you are with organ / guitar / drums trios. The genre is among the most rigorously codified in jazz and has remained fundamentally unchanged since Jimmy Smith erupted on the US scene in the mid 1950s. In large part this is because the tonalities and textures of the Hammond B3 are finite and ...

Disaster Relief: Disaster Relief

By PAUL NASER

While there are many bands, such as Vulfpeck and Snarky Puppy, playing modern funk with astonishing precision and technicality, it is less common to find one playing the loose, greasy style pioneered and perfected by groups such as The Meters. Disaster Relief is just such an outfit and, on their debut record, they showcase ...

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2018

By MARK ROBBINS

Yes, Virginia, there is jazz at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. From it's inception in 1970, George Wein, mastermind of the Newport Jazz Festival and the Newport Folk Festival, created a festival that was indigenous with New Orleans. Whether it was the music, food, arts and crafts everything was New Orleans. That first year ...

Gregory Lewis: Organ Monk Blue

By JEROME WILSON

Organist Gregory Lewis gained the nickname “Organ Monk" due to his specialization in the music of Thelonious Monk. Known for his exaggerated, florid playing, this is the third CD he's done of Monk's music and this time he has teamed up with a musician who can match him flourish for flourish, chameleon guitarist Marc Ribot.

Mondo Jazz: Walking

By LUDOVICO GRANVASSU

Welcome to the first Mixcloud podcast on All About Jazz. It contains the first episode of Mondo Jazz, a new radio show devoted to international jazz airing every Wednesday night from 10 PM to midnight on Radio Free Brooklyn. Mondo Jazz is dedicated to the proposition that jazz is a language that originated in ...

Foundation of Funk at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom

By GEOFF ANDERSON

Foundation of Funk Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom Denver February 11, 2017 Foundation: the base upon which something is built. From houses to skyscrapers, foundations are essential. They must be solid, strong and most of all, immovable. A funk foundation? That, too, must be solid and strong. But immovable? No, quite the ...

Groove Legacy: Groove Legacy

By CHRIS M. SLAWECKI

Built around the core of saxophonist Paulie Cerra, keyboardist Bill Steinway and bassist Travis Carlton (son of legendary guitarist Larry Carlton), Groove Legacy is just as much a sound and feel as it is this band and the title of their eponymous debut. Although they've collectively played with everyone from Al Green through Stevie Wonder to ...

India to Italy, Brazil to Slovenia–Where WON'T Jazz Go?

By CHRIS M. SLAWECKI

Avataar Petal Self-Produced 2016 While growing up in the Northern Ontario mining town of Sunbury, he was known as “Sam." But in his early twenties, Sundar Viswanathan reconnected with his Indian name and heritage, and, through several conservatory courses spanning North Indian classical to Turkish maquam music, dove ...