Neville Brothers

(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)

The funk music of New Orleans, and its very history, is embodied by the black Neville brothers, Arthur and Aaron.

Art got his start back in high school with a small band of friends, the Hawketts. In 1955 they had a national hit with Mardi Gras Mambo, and when Art had to leave for military service, his place was taken by Aaron. Aaron became famous with songs that fused rhythm and blues with the country yodeling style, such as Over You (1960), Waiting At The Station (1962), and Tell It Like It Is (1966), while Art stayed behind the scenes despite having stronger material (Zing Zing, 1958; and All These Things, 1962). By the late 1960s, the two brothers were hired by Allen Toussaint (whose songs were credited to a fictitious Naomi Neville) to serve as the backup band for his studios.

In 1966 the Meters were born, a lineup modeled after Booker T & The MG's, with one of the greatest rhythm sections in black music (drummer Joseph "Ziggy" Modeliste and bassist George Porter), who adapted the old, heavy piano-based rhythm and blues to the electric funk of Sly Stone, especially in their dance instrumentals (Cissy Strut, from their self-titled 1969 album, their masterpiece). Through albums like Look-A Py Py (1970) and Struttin' (1972), they became the traveling ambassadors of New Orleans music, without a national hit but with dozens of regional hits. Cissy Strut (Island, 1975) is a collection of Meters instrumentals. The Original Funkmasters (Instant, 1992) collects their singles. Good Old Funky Music (Rounder, 1990), including the jazz-psychedelic jam Voodoo, and The Meters Jam (Rounder, 1991) collect unreleased material.

In 1975 the Nevilles were among the musicians who recorded the country-rock Brother John and the drunken reggae Meet The Boys with the Wild Tchoupitoulas (1976), a tribe of black Indians responsible for the carnival ceremonies (led by the “grand chief,” Uncle Neville). From that experience, Art got the idea for a modern rhythm and blues group that would incorporate reggae and parade rhythms—the Neville Brothers (himself, Aaron, saxophonist Charles, and drummer Cyril). Their style is a “gumbo” of genres with dark inflections, confirming how the Nevilles embody the New Orleans melting pot.

Fiyo On The Bajou (1981) includes the title-track, Hey Pocky Way, Brother John. Neville-Ization is a live album. Despite the start-studded cast of guests, Uptown (1987) is a mediocre collection.

History 1955-85 (Rhino, 1986) is a career retrospective of the Neville Brothers. Treacherous Too (Rhino, 1988) is an inferior follow-up, spanning the same years.

On the album Yellow Moon (A&M, 1989), with the Afro-Cuban tribalism of My Blood, the reggae of the title track estranged by a free jazz clarinet, the funky fanfare Wild Injuns, the political rap of Sister Rosa, the Caribbean soul of Voodoo, and the torpid jungle bebop instrumental with a voodoo chorus Healing Chant, their spirited fusion of soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, African rituals, and tropical rhythms reaches formal perfection.