Schedule
Friday, August 9, 2024 at 8:00 pm (Main Stage)
To open the conversation about this act, it is necessary to go back to 1974 in New Orleans, when The Meters released their fifth studio album, a funk-filled collection of tunes they called Rejuvenation. Produced by Alan Toussaint and featuring Ziggy Modeliste on drums and vocals, Art Neville on keyboards and vocals, Leo Nocentelli on guitar, and George Porter Jr on bass, the record has since become a funk classic. Sampled by Public Enemy and with a slew of its songs covered by the likes of Widespread Panic, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dirty Dozen Brass Band and The Grateful Dead (Hey Pocky Way), Rejuvenation made a splash from the get-go. Rock critic Jon Pareles called it “a high point of 1970s funk,” in his review for Rolling Stone.
Fifty years on, Dumpstaphunk — Art Neville’s son Ivan’s band — is throwing a party in honor of this seminal album and we’re all invited. Joining the celebration will be none other than George Porter Jr and Leo Nocentelli. Dumpstaphunk’s funky pedigree is evident in its “colossal low end and filthy grooves,” as Bass Player magazine put it perfectly. That’s how we like our funk – filthy and bottom-heavy. We’ll need it to celebrate Rejuvenation, the funkiest of the funky.
Dumpstaphunk
Dumpstaphunk stands out amongst New Orleans’ best, cementing themselves as one of the funkiest bands to ever arise from the Crescent City. Born on the Jazz & Heritage Festival stage, and descended from Neville and Meters family bloodlines, these soldiers of funk ignite a deep, gritty groove that dares listeners not to move. Their performances combine ingenious musicianship through complex funk, rock, and jazz arrangements accompanied by soulful melodies and Big Easy traditions.
The band released their 4th studio album Where Do We Go From Here on April 23, 2021 featuring Marcus King, Trombone Shorty and Chali 2Na on double bronze vinyl, CD and all digital platforms. Dumpstaphunk culled material from many different sources over the past few years, creating during downtime and rare off tour cycle stop-gaps at various studios in New Orleans: some songs were born on-the-spot in the studio, others as a drum beat or a groove at sound-check. A few were simply covers that were already in the band’s live repertoire. The songwriting was largely collaborative, with all band-members contributing their own respective stylistic nuances.
For the past 17 years, Dumpstaphunk has earned its reputation as the most well-regarded next-generation New Orleans live powerhouse, the type of band whose live shows attract sit-ins from legends like Carlos Santana, Bob Weir and Trombone Shorty. Alongside Tony Hall, Nick Daniels, Alex Wasily, Ashlin Parker and drummer Deven Trusclair, cousins Ivan and Ian Neville have built upon their family’s iconic NOLA legacy as they’ve transformed Dumpstaphunk into the city’s pre-eminent 21st-century funk-fusion export. As a result, recent career highlights include supporting Dave Matthews Band at Madison Square Garden in NYC (2022), Trombone Shorty’s Voodoo Threaudown with Tank and the Bangas, Big Freedia and The Soul Rebels (2022), Allman Family Revival Tour (2022), supporting the Rolling Stones on their home turf at the Superdome in New Orleans (2019), and touring with George Clinton & The Parliament Funkadelic for his farewell tour (2019).
Dueling baselines from Tony Hall and Nick Daniels III set off one of the dirtiest rhythm sections on the planet, while Ivan Neville lights up the Hammond B3 keys and cousin Ian Neville’s funky guitar riffs send the groove into overdrive. Dumpstaphunk tosses around lead vocals and four-part harmonies the way Sly & the Family Stone did, but with three studio albums under their belt, Dumpstaphunk stands on the merit of their own material.
Dumpstaphunk has performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival every year since 2001 and continues to tour all over the world. They have performed on hundreds of festival stages like Jam Cruise, Dead & Company’s Playing in the Sand, Lockn Festival, NYC’s Summerstage, Byron Bay Bluesfest and more – and you never know who may appear as a guest on stage with the band on any given night. Guest appearances have included Santana, Bob Weir, John Oates, Lucas Nelson, Deen Ween, Blackbyrd McKnight, Jerry Harrison, Marcus King and Nicki Bluhm.
George Porter Jr.
New Orleans music royalty and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
George Porter Jr. founded The Meters in 1965 alongside Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli and Joseph Zigaboo Modeliste. Known as one of the progenitors of funk with Sly & The Family Stone and Parliament Funkadelic, The Meters carved their own place in history with syncopated polyrhythms and grooves inherited from New Orleans’ deep African musical roots. Porter’s heavy pockets and fat notes created the rubbery bass lines behind anthems like “Cissy Strut” off the group’s self-titled 1969 debut — The Meters’ greatest commercial single that reached No. 4 on the R&B chart and No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Meters became the house band for Allen Toussaint’s recording label and studio in New Orleans, backing records for Dr. John, Paul McCartney, Lee Dorsey, Earl King, Robert Palmer and Patty Labelle’s No. 1 hit, “Lady Marmalade”. They toured with the Rolling Stones and influenced everyone from Led Zeppelin and Bob Marley to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Beastie Boys. Porter’s rhythmic work with drummer Modeliste became the building block behind scores from hip-hop artists A Tribe Called Quest, Run DMC, N.W.A. and Queen Latifah, all of whom sampled The Meters.
The band broke up in 1977, after Toussaint claimed rights to the name, but reformed in the 1980s as the Funky Meters following an informal jam during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Porter went on to become a highly coveted session bassist. He notched studio sessions with David Byrne, Jimmy Buffet, Tori Amos and Taj Mahal; and live performances with John Scofield, Warren Haynes, members of the Grateful Dead and countless others.
Porter started his own long-term project, the Runnin’ Pardners, in 1990. The group’s studio releases include Funk This (2000) and Can’t Beat the Funk (2011), as well as live albums along the way. The current lineup features drummer Terrence “Groove Guardian” Houston, Michael Lemmler on keyboards and guitarist Chris Adkins.
In 2000, the original Meters lineup reunited for a one-night stand at the Warfield in San Francisco, and again in 2006 to headline Jazzfest in the wake of Katrina. The group sporadically performed as The Original Meters to elated crowds between 2012 and 2017. Art “Poppa Funk” Neville retired from performing in 2018 and passed away the following year. But the Meters’ music and their heritage of funk lives on in George Porter and his bandmates – past, present and future.
Born and raised in the Crescent City, Porter, now in his 70s, calls New Orleans home to this day.
Leo Nocentelli
Guitarist Leo Nocentelli reigns as one of the founding fathers of funk. The guitarist is the recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for his work with The Meters, and he has recorded and performed with top artists such as Etta James, Dr. John, The Supremes, Jimmy Buffett, and Patti Labelle. Nocentelli, born in 1946, was raised in New Orleans’ Irish Channel and Seventh Ward. By his early teens he was playing and recording professionally with a long list of local and national artists, including Otis Redding, Earl King, Chris Kenner, Albert King, and Clyde McPhatter, and Motown greats like The Supremes, Temptations, and Spinners. He soon hooked up with Art Neville, Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste, and George Porter, Jr. in the group that eventually became The Meters. Their early releases – the singles “Cissy Strut,” “Look-A-Py-Py,” and “Sophisticated Cissy,” as well as the albums “Cabbage Alley” and “Fire on the Bayou” – have become classics, and their funky grooves built a foundation for a large swath of today’s American popular music. The Meters disbanded in 1977 but have played together in reunion shows and in various configurations over the years. (Art Neville died in 2019.) Nocentelli is regarded as a top-notch side man, composer, and session player. He toured with Jimmy Buffett in the early ‘80s, and recorded albums with Patti Labelle, Etta James, The Winans, Peter Gabriel, Kip Hanrahan, Robbie Robertson, Maceo Parker, Keb Mo, The Soul Rebels Brass Band, Bonnie Raitt, Trombone Shorty, and his mentor, Allen Toussaint. He performs with his own group and as a guest artist with a number of bands. He has composed numerous songs, and contributed to movie soundtracks, including “White Men Can’t Jump,” “Blaze,” and “Heartbreakers.” He has appeared on TV’s “An Evening at the Improv” and on “Saturday Night Live.” In acknowledgement of their seminal role in the genesis of today’s modern funk sound, The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presented The Meters with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. The group has also been nominated four times for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.