New Orleans Funeral

I am back with a promised and necessary tribute to a titan of American music.

He passed away from pancreatic cancer just a couple of weeks ago, after a long career as a vital element in one of the world's most beloved bands.

As part of the unofficial first family of New Orleans, he sailed the world thousands of times over, bringing the Joy in a way that only they could.

Now that he's gone, I wonder whether they'll ever play again. I sure hope so.

They started out in style, as the backing band on one of the 1970s most indispensable records, documenting the lore of the Mardi Gras Indian tradition down in New Orleans with The Wild Tchoupitoulas.

That LP proved so massive that they branched out on their own, poaching various family members from The Meters, who were breaking up at the time. They even took their cousins -- those Mardi Gras Indians in full costume -- on tour with them.

Forty years on, here they are as one of the world's most beloved ensembles, thanks in no small part to the contributions of their Horn Man, Charles Neville.

To honor his life's work, I have placed into the cloud a composite of two Neville Brothers sets recorded in the old, now disused Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium right here on Lake Merritt in Oakland. These were taped on Mardi Gras 1986, a fact that will become evident upon approximately 17 seconds of listening.

Neville Brothers

Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center

Oakland, CA 

2.11+12.1986

01 Bill Graham intro/Mardi Gras Mambo

02 Hey Pocky Way

03 Willie & the Hand Jive

04 Africa

05 Mojo Hannah

06 Everybody Better Wake Up

07 Run Joe Run

08 People Say

09 Caravan

10 Sitting In Limbo

11 Fear, Hate, Envy, Jealousy

12 Tipitina/If You Go to New Orleans

13 New Suit

14 Meet de Boys On de Battlefront

15 Big Chief

16 Fiyo On the Bayou

Total time: 1:18:32

Tracks 01-06 & 12-16, 2.11.1986

Bill Graham intro & Tracks 07-11, 2.12.1986

Aaron Neville - vocals, percussion

Art Neville - keyboards & vocals

Charles Neville - saxophones, percussion & vocals

Cyril Neville - percussion & vocals

Brian Stoltz - guitar

Daryl Johnson - bass

William Green - drums

George "Big Chief Jolly" Landry & The Wild Tchoupitoulas - vocals & percussion

master cassettes from the soundboard feed of two consecutive nights, 

composited by EN into one long Mardi Gras set covering all titles performed

470 MB FLAC/May 2018 archive link

I am gonna make this the start of three consecutive weekend posts about three wildly different musos, so atay tuned. And do jam this Nevilles set as loudly as possible, as Charles the Horn Man would want you to let those good times roll.--J.

12.28.1938 - 4.26.2018