Lost Album by Leo Nocentelli of The Meters

[c-towns]

https://afropop.org/articles/the-meterss-leo-nocentellis-long-buried-solo-debut-comes-out-nov-19

[Jay Funk Dawg]

Thanks for posting Ctowns!

I'm a huge fan of Leo's guitar playing.  He's a legend.  One of my top 10 guitar players of all time. 

His credits are unparalleled: The Meters of course but also recorded with Dr John, Robert Palmer, Patti Labelle, Sarah McLaughlin, Peter Gabriel, Joe Cocker, the Neville Brothers, Taj Mahal, Etta James, Albert King.... 

....here comes the but.

He's been a steady deterioration for some time, I suspect from hard drug use.   

When I was in NYC, I used to catch him play occasionally, once at BB KIngs in a super-group of Pee Wee Ellis and Bernie Worrell.  While it was great to see these legends on stage, Leo rocked up all his famous songs and the backing musicians tried to pull of a fusion sound which I thought was off.  He didn't seem all there either. 

I don't know the reason, but he's been on the outs with the rest of the Meter's crew for some time, replaced in The Funky Meters. Members of the funk musician community in NYC would tell me how sad it was to see their hero like this.

That being said, I played on a gig with him 2 years ago in Brooklyn.  It was his 72 birthday.  Mind you he only played 2 songs as a special guest to Zapp, but I thought he did a good job, singing "Fire on the Bayou."   He was also great to hang out with, reminding me the he had just won a Grammy lifetime achievement award.

Back to the new album, if this was a brand new album, I wouldn't have high hopes, but the fact that this is from his peak period in 1972, I'm super excited to hear it.

Apparently, he and the Meters recorded two instrumental albums in Detroit in 1979 with Stevie Wonder that have also never been released... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Wonder's_Superego 

Did anyone catch the East Coast Canadian Tour he did as the Meter's Experience about 15+ yearss go?  I heard that was a bit of a gong show.

 

 

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by Jay Funk Dawg