Happy Birthday, Zigaboo Modeliste!

Drummer and songwriter Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste was born in New Orleans on December 28, 1948, and is best known as a founding member of New Orleans funk band The Meters. He grew up in New Orleans’ 13thWard and was nicknamed Zigaboo at 10 by his teens the name had stuck. His first drum set was a three-piece bought by his grandmother, and he learned by watching and emulating New Orleans drum greats such as Smokey Johnson. He started playing gigs at an early age, including with Art Neville’s band that evolved into The Neville Sounds, and ultimately, The Meters in 1965. Allen Toussaint’s record label eventually signed The Meters, and in 1975 and 1976 they opened for the Rolling Sotnes, and they also backed acts such as Dr. John, Robert Palmer, Lee Dorsey, and Paul McCartney. In the late 1970s when The Meters disbanded, Modeliste toured with various musicians, including The New Barbarians, featuring Keith Richards and Ron Wood. 

Modeliste's work is credited on hundreds of recordings by a variety of artists, including hip hop artists such as Run DMC, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Ice Cube, LL Cool J, Queen Latifah and Salt-N-Pepa, who have all sampled his drum patterns. Modeliste released three studio albums and a live album as a leader, and in 2011 he collaborated with producer-musician Mark Ronson, Erykah Badu, Mos Def and Trombone Shorty for the song "A La Modeliste", named his influence on funk drumming and the New Orleans sound. 

In the 1980s Modeliste moved to California, ultimately settling in Oakland He got involved in the business side of the music industry, starting the label, JZM Records, and a music publishing company, Jomod Music. Fortunately for music fans, he continues to perform regularly, and in 2018, as the Recording Academy honored Modeliste and The Meters with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award. Today we celebrate this innovative musician’s many achievements and wish him a happy birthday!

Photo: Carnaval.com Studios

Celebrating the Birthday of Charles Neville

R&B and jazz Saxophonist and vocalist Charles Neville was born in New Orleans on December 27, 1938, and was part of the Grammy Award winning Neville Brothers band. Known as “Charlie the horn man”, he was the second oldest of the four Neville brothers, including Art, Aaron and Cyril, he left home when he was 15 to play saxophone with the Rabbit’s Foot Minstrel Show. After serving in the Navy, he toured with B.B. King and Bobby (Blue) Bland, later joining the band of fellow New Orleanian Larry Williams. Struggles with addiction resulted in trouble with the law, landing him in jail and later in Louisiana State Prison for three and a half years for possession of marijuana. After his release in the mid-1960s, he moved to New York City and explored modern jazz. In 1976, he returned to New Orleans to record with his brothers and their uncle George “Big Chief Jolly” Landry’s Mardi Gras Indian group, blending traditional and funk music on the iconic “The Wild Tchoupitoulas” album.  

Shortly afterward, the four brothers formed The Neville Brothers and recorded over a dozen albums and built a following all over the world. Charles's saxophone playing was especially notable on the title track of their best-selling album, Yellow Moon. He moved to rural Massachusetts in the 1990s with his wife, Kristin, and children and continued to perform and record with family members and a wide variety of musicians for the rest of his life. Sadly, he passed away from pancreatic cancer on April 26, 2018. On his birthday today, we celebrate the life of Charles Neville with great appreciation for how his music has enriched our lives.  

Photo: https://www.flickr.com/people/30595457@N00

Happy Birthday, George Porter, Jr!

Bassist and songwriter George Joseph Porter, Jr, was born in New Orleans on December 26, 1947. Best known for his work in the Meters, progenitors of funk and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners, George has performed and recorded with a Who’s Who list of artists from around the world, as well as performing regularly in several bands.

Porter grew up in New Orleans next to Joe "Zigaboo" Modeliste, his future Meters bandmate, and as teenagers, they played jam sessions together with Porter playing a box guitar. Porter was inspired to play bass guitar by another New Orleans native, Benjamin "Poppi" Francis, and when Porter was still in his teens, he sat in with legendary New Orleans R&B and blues guitarist Earl King. The beginnings of The Meters came after one of those shows when Art Neville approached Porter to start a band called Neville Sound. After a short time, the band’s four core members - Art Neville, Zigaboo Modeliste, Leo Nocentilli and Porter Jr., played six nights a week at a bar called Ivanhoe on Bourbon Street. Allen Toussaint ultimately signed the band to a record deal, but changed their name to something that better reflected their sound, “The Meters”. 

In 1975, they opened for the Rolling Stones, but by 1977, The Meters broke up, and Porter Jr. formed a band called Joyride. He played with Joyride and other New Orleans musicians in the 1980s, and in 1989 he reunited with Art Neville and Leo Nocentelli as The Meters, with Russell Batiste, Jr., on drums in place of Zigaboo Modeliste. In 1990, he started The Runnin Pardners, and he also became a highly sought after studio bass player. In 1994, Porter and Neville formed The Funky Meters to carry on The Meters sound, including Brian Stoltz on guitar and Russell Batiste Jr. on drums. 

In 2000, the original four Meters reunited for a show, and they did not reunite again until the first New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival after Hurricane Katrina in 2006, which meant a lot to the city. Porter, Leo Nocentelli, Joe Modeliste, Phish keyboardist Page McConnell, have performed a limited number of shows as The Metermen in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Sadly, Meters keyboardist Art Neville passed away on July 22, 2019. Porter still performs with Joyride and The Funky Meters, and tours consistently with the Runnin Pardners. Porter also frequently collaborates with other musicians, many from New Orleans, to the delight of his many fans. Happy birthday, George! 

Photo: Masahiro Sumori

Celebrating the Birthday of Kid Ory

Influential early jazz trombonist, bandleader and composer Edward "Kid" Ory was born on December 25, 1886, on Woodland Plantation, near LaPlace, Louisiana. Ory started playing music with homemade instruments in his childhood, was leading a band by his teens, and moved his band to New Orleans when he was twenty-one.  Ory played banjo in his youth, which helped him develop a particular style of trombone playing called “tailgate”, with a rhythmic line underneath the cornets and trumpets. Ory was discovered by Buddy Bolden, and by the 1910s had one of New Orleans’ most well-known bands. He hired many of the City’s greatest jazz musicians including Joe “King” Oliver and Louis Armstrong. 

In 1919, he moved to Los Angeles, and in 1921 his band recorded a number of songs, including two instrumentals, “Ory’s Creole Trombone” and “Society Blues”, which were the first jazz recordings made on the West Coast by an African-American band from New Orleans. Ory paid the recording company Nordskog for the pressings and then sold them at Spikes Brothers Music Store in Los Angeles with his own label, "Kid Ory's Sunshine Orchestra". Ory moved to Chicago in 1925 where he worked and recorded with Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Bessie Smith, and many others. He also mentored Benny Goodman and, later, Charles Mingus. Ory retired from music during the Great Depression, running a chicken farm in California during that period. But he returned to music in 1944, leading one of the premier New Orleans-style bands of the time. 

The Ory band helped to revive interest in New Orleans jazz, appearing on popular 1940s radio broadcasts, and in 1944–45 the group made a series of recordings for Crescent Records. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Ory and his group appeared in Los Angeles, and in 1958 he played at 'On the levee' on the San Francisco waterfront. Ory retired from music in 1966 and spent his last years in Hawaii, where he passed away January 23, 1973. He led a remarkable life, which we celebrate today!

Celebrating the Birthday of Dave Bartholomew

David Louis Bartholomew was born on December 24, 1918, in Edgard, Louisiana. He was a musician, bandleader, composer, writer, arranger, and producer in many musical genres including Big Band, swing, R&B, rock and roll, New Orleans and Dixieland Jazz. Bartholomew is best known for his numerous successful collaborations with Fats Domino and other artists, as well as for his significant and influential role in the transition from swing and jump blues to rock and roll. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and recognized for these achievements, being dubbed “one of the Crescent City’s greatest musicians.” New Orleans music legend Dave Bartholomew passed away on June 23, 2019, at the age of 100, but his music lives on. Today, on his birthday, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dave Bartholomew!

Photo by Klaus Hiltscher; SpinningSpark

Celebrating the Birthday of Lee Dorsey

R&B, soul and funk singer-songwriter Irving Lee Dorsey was born in New Orleans on December 24, 1924, and his biggest hits were "Ya Ya" (1961) and "Working in the Coal Mine" (1966). Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint, with instrumental backing provided by The Meters.

Dorsey was a childhood friend of Fats Domino before moving to Portland, Oregon when he was ten years old. He served in the United States Navy in World War II, and in the 1950s he boxed as a lightweight in Portland under the name “Kid Chocolate”. He retired from boxing in 1955 and returned to New Orleans, where he opened an auto repair business, as well as singing in clubs at night. His first recording was in 1958, and his first hit came with “Ya Ya” in 1961, which went to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over one million copies. His later releases were not successful, so Dorsey returned to running his repair business, but continued to release singles.

He was approached again by Allen Toussaint and recorded "Ride Your Pony", which reached number seven on the R&B chart in late 1965. He followed it up with "Working in the Coal Mine", his biggest hit, touring internationally, and also recording an album with Toussaint, The New Lee Dorsey in 1966. In 1970 Dorsey and Toussaint collaborated on the album Yes We Can; the title song was Dorsey's last entry in the US singles chart, after which he returned to his auto repair business. In 1976 Dorsey appeared on the album I Don't Want to Go Home by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, which led to more recordings, including the album Night People. In 1980, he opened for  The Clash on their US concert tour, and also toured in support of James Brown and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Dorsey's songs have been covered by artists as diverse as the Pointer Sisters (“Yes We Can”) and Devo ("Working in the Coal Mine"). "Ya Ya" was covered on John Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll album, and Robert Palmer had a hit with "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley". Dorsey’s version of the Allen Toussaint song "Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky (From Now On)" is referenced in the Beastie Boys' song "Sure Shot", with the lyric "Everything I do is funky like Lee Dorsey." Clearly, Lee Dorsey’s talent is timeless and his fans span across varied musical genres.

Sadly, Dorsey contracted emphysema and died on December 1, 1986, in New Orleans, at the age of 61. His music has had a significant and enduring influence, and today, on his birthday, we remember Lee Dorsey and celebrate the joy he brought us by sharing his talent.