Introduzione:
Ci troviamo a 1Vew Orleans tra gli anni 60' e 70'. Un periodo particolarmente fertile e creativo, che favorì la nascita della musica R & B e Funk. E' la New Orleans delle band che nascono dalla strada, dei musicisti che imparano a suonare da qualcuno che sa suonare meglio di loro, conle una sorta di tradizione orale, di insegnamento non scritto e del tutto legato all'esperienza diretta. La sera si va nei locali, si suona, si fanno Jam Sessions, è cosi che nascono le nuove formazioni, i nuovi gruppi. Questa è la realtà in cui vive George Porter Jr.. Lui stesso in un' intervista racconta quanto sia stato importante, anche a livello umano, crescere in quell'ambiente. Tra le esperienze più sigriificative per George c'è sicuramente quella con "the Meters", definil:i una delle più grandi band rock-fusion degli anni 701,con all'attivo 11 dischi in 15 anni circa di attività. Loro sono stati la prima jam band della storia, come dichiara lo stesso George. Andavano sul palco e suonavano partendo da qualcosa di stabilito, per poi virare verso il riff o il carribio che qualche membro del gruppo aveva proposto sul momento.. .un perfetto esempio di interplay! I loro brani presentavano spesso delle parti "open", con dei pedali e con qualche solo di organo. Ai nostri giorni è usuale che rapper ed esponenti della musica hip hop, usino alcuni loro brani come basi per rappare sopra, vista la forte spinta ritmica da cui sono caratterizzati. Biografia:
George Porter Jr. nasce nel 1947 a New Orleans Louisiana. I suoi prirrii contatti con la musica, come solitamente accadeva nella sua città natale,avvennero per le strade. Cominciò, infatti, a studiare il pianoforte con suo cugino Zigaboo Modelliste. Il fratello di quest'ultimo, Clinton Joshua, era il loro insegnante. L' eccessiva corripetizione che si creò tra i due allievi determinò ben presto la fine delle lezioni. Poco dopo George intraprese lo studio della chitarra classica per poi interrorriperlo ed iniziare a suonare la chitarra con un suo amico di strada Benjamin Francis ( detto Popi). Erano gli anni della guerra del VietNam e, da una parte lo scarseggiare di bassisti in città e dall' altra la mancanza di ingaggi per un ct-iitarrista, lo spinsero ad avvicinarsi al basso elettrico. Tramite Herbert Wing, un amico di Popi, venne chiamato per una sostituzione, e li conobbe Art Neville. Un paio di anni dopo, nel 1967, si formarono "The Meters". La band, originariamente formata da Art Neville, George Porter Jr., Joseph (Zigaboo) Modelliste e Leo Nocentelli, registrò 4 singoli (Sophisticated Cissy, Cissy Strut, Ease Back e Look a Py Py ), che salirono rapidamente le top ten R&B chart di New Orleans. Tra il 1971 ed il 1979 registrarono 4 albums per la WarnerIReprise e collaborarono in studio con Dr. John, Robert Palmer, King Biscuit Boy, Lee Dorsey, Allan Toussaint, Paul McCartney and Wings. Nel 1975 il fratello di Art Neville, Cyril, entrò a far parte del gruppo come percussionista e nello stesso anno dopo aver suonato iii un party sulla "Queen Mary" per Paul e Linda McCartney, partirono per il Tour prima americano, poi europeo con i Rolling Stones. Nel 1979 la band si sciolse per problemi di natura economica e i membri presero direzioni diverse. George Porter Jr. fondò il suo primo gruppo i Joy Ride e collaborò sia in studio che dal vivo con David Byrne, Robbie Robertson, Harry Connnik Jr, Tori Amos. The Meters nel 1989 dopo una jam al New Orleans Heritage and Jazz Festival decidono di riunirsi; con qualche cambiamento nell' organico. Zigaboo vieiie sostituito alla batteria da Russel Batiste Jr. e successivamente, Leo Nocentelli, viene rimpiazzato da Brian Stoltz (chitarra). George Porter Jr., nel frattempo, suona anche in un' altra band: The Runnin' Pardners, che come lui stesso dichiara in un' intervista gli offrono molti più spazi come bassista, sia per l'aspetto compositivo sia per quanto riguarda I'improvvisazione. Attualmente George Porter Jr. vive sempre a New Orleans, quando non è in giro a suonare con Runnin' Pardners oppure in trio con Batiste e Stoltz. Attrezzatura:
Uno sguardo all'attrezzatura utilizzata da George Porter JR. evidenzia un fatto interessante: come sia "semplice" per lui I' approccio a questo aspetto tecnico della musica. Infatti, sfogliando un po' di foto e ascoltando qualche disco, vediamo che lui preferibilmente usa un basso Fender Precision, con manico scuro. Un basso che sicuramente non ha bisogno di presentaziorii e che sicuramente in quegli anni rappresentava uno standard. Estremamente basilare come concezione.. ..un corpo, un manico, un pick-up..! Altro basso che usa George è un G & L, sempre e rigorosamente 4 corde e con manico scuro. Per quanto riguarda I' ampli, rispettivamente usava all' iriizio una testata Gallen & krueger con sotto una cassa fender..4 x10; successivamente è passato a quello che è lo standard per chi suona quel genere e soprattutto per chi suona in America..un sistema cassa e testata Ampeg. Per finire ascoltando qualche brano.. soprattutto dei IVleters, possiamo sentire che il basso qualche volta ha un suono Enveloped probabilmente ottenuto attraverso un envelope filter o anche un semplice wha per chitarra.. .il tocco finale che rende le potenti linee di George ancora più cariche di Groove..! Brother' Jack McDuf f, eccellente organista degli anni 50' e 60'.
Stanley Turrentine, sassofonista degli anni 50' e 60'' ha suonato con Ray Charles
Jimmy Smith,organista anni 50' e 60, della scena R & B Analisi dello Stile:
Il riff è costruito principalmente sulla pentatonica minore (Em), ritmicamente si basa su una serie di sincopi di 16th e qualche anticipo.Ascoltando l'intero brano notiamo che poi c'è un cambio che porta a A7 e poi 87, il che potrebbe far pensare ad una struttura blues.
Il riffl è costruito sulla scala blues di E, poi con un obbligato si passa alla B del pezzo, in G. Il primo riff della i3 è più semplice, armonicamente, ma sempre ritmicamente interessante. La seconda B presenta lo stesso riff però questa volta più denso di note. Alla fine del brano c'è una coda su un pedale di E dove clè un' improwisazione di basso sempre sulla pentatonica minore. Il primo riff è praticamente costruito con una sola nota. Il secondo è una forma del primo rielaborata. Il terzo presenta un interessante gioco con le ottave. I riff di basso sembrano una risposta a quelli di chitarra, e viceversa.
Il riff è costruito con la scala maggiore e I' aggiunta di un cromatismo, sono presenti al solito le sincopi di sedicesimi. Il brano dopo modula in F7 quasi a voler richiamare una struttura blues. Il terzo riff costituisce un bridge; interessante la figurazione con cui è costruito, ottavo puntato + sedicesimo.
Conclusioni: dall' analisi dei frammenti, viene fuori che lo stile di Goerge Porter Jr è caratterizzato dall' utilizzo di elementi armonici non eccessivamente complessi. Non sono infatti asslutamente presenti scale alterate, neanche in qualche fill, e il fraseggio è praticamente sempre costruito sulla scala pentatonica. Con questo non si vuole certo dire che G.P. non sia un bassista interessante, anzi fondamentale nella storia del Furik. La potenza delle sue linee risiede infatti negli elementi ritmici che le compomgono, anticipi, sincopi e spostamenti. Direi per concludere che egli riesce a fare della semplicità e dell' essenzialità la caratteristica portante del suo modo di suonare. Discografia :
CON ALTRI AR TISTI 1 TITOLO I ETICHETTA 1 NOTE I ANNO 1 Eddie Bo l l I Registrazioni 1963-64 1 I varie l Seasaint Studios-t 10 anni di lavoro in l 966-76 i studio Street ~arade Black Top Records 1971 ~+~~euaITelepathrlwT6p Records m -) Black Top Records 1 1993 ~ I Oltre 100
Right Place, 1973-74 Wynq Time registrazioni
The Wild Island ~ecord; ~
Magnolias varie with Bo Dolk 1 Robbie -*e Robertson Snooks Eaglin Live at Tipitina's Bluesarama
Snooks ~a~fir David Byrne Luaka BopIWarner
' . Brothers --a bnnAuqust Creole ~ruiser 1 Black Top Records 1 i21 Terrance There's Room For ' Black Top Records ' Us All ~arker Southern
l l I Burke , - 1 Harry Connick Funk Album
Tori Amos 1 1 Choirgirl Hotel 1 I - DISCOGRAFIA I ' TITOLO
The Meters The Meters Cen 1970 1
Directions
fillmore Live Lundi Cras Vidacovich ; Performance Absolute Bar &
Johnny We Came TO- 1 Vidacovich 1 Trio
1 1995 I 1 Jr. Records 1 Ceorge ~orter Fat Bozom ( P-Vine 1 1996
J r. Healin' Ru n n i n
-- Pardners ( Pardners Record~ Ceorge Porter Count On You l
anche come Live Video l I horgePorter Funk N' Co 1 Jr-_ I ~uts Pro Links: Legend Locks a Groove: George Porter Jr.'s Runnin' Pardners and Funky Meters
By Ray Hogan
Had George Porter Jr. walked away frorn rnusic when the Meters, one of the inost grooving New Orleans exports of the last 30 years, originally broke up, his stature as the architect of funky bass would have been firrnly cernented. Meters' songs such as "Cissy Strut", "Look- Ka Py Py", "Hey Pocky A-Way" and "People Sayl'have becorne standards not only during Carnival and Jazz Fest tirne in the band's horne city but to a whole legion of rnusicians and fans who realize that soinetirnes a song's strength and beauty lie in the fat, greasy grooves that propel it.
However, instead of resting on his reputation when the origina1 Meters (Porter, Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli and Joseph Zigaboo Modeliste) irnploded in the late 1970s, he began the next chapter of his life. Porter got clean, forrned George Porter Jr. and the Runnin' Pardners in 1987 and slowly saw an irnprornptu jarn of the Meters rnorph into today's wildly popular funky Meters, a band consisting of Porter, Neville, guitarist Brian Stoltz and drurnrner Russe11 Batiste. Both groups tour regularly and the Runnin' Pardners have recently released the independent CD, "Funk N Go Nuts,"which is currently available only at www.1ouisianarnusicfactory.corn.Today the group not only stands as a rnajor influence on artists like Galactic, Ben Harper and many others, but also an equa1 force on the touring circuit.
This interview was originally scheduled for last rnonth but Porter's hectic schedule (cornbined with a phone outage in Louisiana) during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festiva1 (known throughout the world sirnply as Jazz Fest) didn't allow for that. So we waited for post-Jazz Fest dust to settle and called hirn at his New Orleans tri-plex under calmer circurnstances.
Q: You have said that rnany of the Meters best instrumentals carne out of a live setting where once a song was done you'd irnprovise in a new direction unti1 another song caine out of it. Do you think that the Meters were a jarn band before the terrn "jarn bandl'even existed?
A: I think so. We were definitely a jarn band. The reason why I say that is because when we first lefi New Orleans to go out and support this "Sophisticated Cissy,""Cissy Strut"alburn, al1 we had in our arsenal of rnusic of our own songs was only 12 songs. So we would go out and play those 12 songs for al1 of 46 minutes back then. So we started jarnming - this was in the rniddle of '68. I'rn thinking that very first album had to be 40-soine-odd rninutes. The songs back in those days was like two rninutes long.
Q: So in that live setting, it was kind of a sink or swim situation?
A: Correct. Either you stopped and did a totally new song or you went off and did sornething. We went off and did sornething. Basically that's what we do is go out and jarn. A lot of our own origina1 songs - we worked our songs into playing "Up, Up and Awayl'by the Fifth Dimension and things like that. We did a couple Booker T and the MGs songs and we recorded "Hang Ern High.llSo sornetiines our tunes would jain their way into cover songs. Q: Speeding up along to the year 2000, someone on the funky Meters message board once said soinething like "seeing the funky meters is like spending $25 to see their favorite band rehearse. And ,then when they left, they felt like it was the best they'd ever done."Is the informa1 and loose vibe you strive for in your perforrnances?
A: We don't strive for anything. We try to go out and walk off the stage and feel good about it what we've done. We don't go to a soundcheck and say this is a golden set, we just go out and play. We don't rehearse so whatever we play is just playing off each other's intuition in taking that two minute song and turning it into something else and keeping it useful.
Q: What's the size of your repertoire right now?
A: It depends on how long .the set is.
Q: I mean overall.
A: We probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 to 35 songs that we pick from. I guess the best to see how big our set list actually is to see us more than one night in a row because generally we play the same room two or three nights. If we do a two-night run, you'll probably only hear us repeat "Cissy Strut,""Africa"and "Fire on the Bayou,"but "Fire on the BayouMwedon't always play. So there's only three or four songs - "Funlsy MiracleMmightbe repeated. The rest of the night is playing al1 those other songs that we don't play. You know "Pungee,"I can name any of them.
Q: It's easy to see that you're usually having a great time on stage and Art is often caught smiling during your perfomances. After 30 years of playing with Art Neville, what keeps your musical conversation fun and exciting?
A: Just the fact that we're doing it. I think, man, what's exciting is the fact that it's an adventure every night because it's not a planned thing and I think the exciting thing is that it happens and it happens well. But we've played plenty of nights that were a train wreck and we al1 end up in different places and sometimes Art laughs a cornment over the microphone about it. We pay attention to each other and most of the time if anyone gets left out in the cold it's usually Art because we may make a move and he don't hear us as well as the other three of us hear each other in our monitors we have a better mix of each other than Art has because his rig behind him is bigger than his monitor. His keyboard rig is usually the loudest thing he hears so he doesn't hear us as well as we'd like to have him hear us. That's just because he has the great keyboard rig behind him. Sometimes we do things that might catch him unaware that we're making a move and usually he lets us know that he didn't like that we moved without him knowing.
Q: At .this point .the funky Meters have together for almost a decade. When can we expect a CD of new music?
A: Well, we're in that process right now: We've gotten approva1 from Art's record label to do a project and we've been in the studio recording demos and trying out some songwriting things. I would hope some time rea1 soon. Q: 1s there a label you've been talking to yet?
A: There are severa1 labels that have said, 'send us something,' you know? At this point those will probably be the labels that we won't send ailything to.
Q: You play with Zigaboo sporadically, late last year Art Neville caine out and played with you and Zig at a Super Jam and inost recently, a couple issues ago in Offbeat magazine, Leo Nocentelli said that an origina1 inembers Meters reunion is likely. 1s there anything in the works?
A: No, there's absolutely nothing that's on anyone's table saying that it's going to happen. I never say that anything won't happen but there's no confirmation saying something like that will happen. In other words, if that happens it's not on anyone's table right now.
Q: What do you think it is about the Meters' music that has made it so appealing to the hip- hop acts that sample it?
A: There are good grooves, there's great pockets waiting for something to go there. A lot of those songs don't have rea1 melodies they were just really nice, strong pockets and there was just an organ or a solo on top of a really strong pocket. The fact that it's a great reservoir to the rappers is because there are really so many hellacious grooves there that they can rap on top of.
Q: What kind of outlets does the Runnin' Pardners allow you that you don't find in the filnky Meters?
A: I guess that I can take more bass solos (laughing). Well I think Runnin' Pardners, at this point right now in my life, allows me more writing - the chance to play more music that I actually wrote then the funky Meters andlor Meters because in the origina1 band there was only two songs that I wrote. A bunch of stuff that was done in the late '60s - the first three albums - there was a great dea1 of band collaboration but a lot of stuff that was done in the Warner Bros. years was guys bringing in songs that were pretty much prepared so there wasn't a whole lot of collaboration. Ninety percent of the bass lines during the Warner Bros. records weren't my own bass lines. Some one would te11 me to play this bass line.
Q: What do you think the new disc, "Funk N Go Nuts,"says about the Runnin' Pardners at this point in time? The first switch many people have noticed is the switch from a horn section to dual keyboards?
A: What does it say? Um, I'm hoping it's saying that two keyboards is an acceptable thing. There was a good stretch in time when the two-keyboard concept wasn't doing as well as I was hoping. Our audiences are starting to grow back up to the numbers we had hoin players. The musician who replaced the horn section in this band is no longer there to replace horns. The stuff I am writing is being written for the keyboards not for a keyboard player to replace horns. This is the first project that we were focussing with two keyboard players in mind. This is a two keyboard band. And I'm not saying that I won't ever use horns again. I think if there's a piece of music that presents itself to horns being played - I might not ever tour section again but that's not to say they wouldn't cut the song. Q: I notice that with the Runnin' Pardners these days, especially live and on the disc, that you seein to give al1 the players a lot of room. Does that coine from being a bass player who's done sessions for other m~isicians?
A: I think so. I guess there's a lot more that a bass player or I can do but that's majorly not what I'rn about. Musically I've always been part of a rhythm section. It's never been a thing where I thought the al1 the music has to be generated and the bassist has to play the melody and be the pin. Although I think some of my bass lines are very strong and very dominant in the actual mix of the music. The other three guys in the band or the other melody makers, it's their job to keep the melody and it's my job lock in with the drurnmer and to keep the groove. That's what I think my job is and hopefully my vocals will help me be the front man.
Q: You use Russell Batiste in both the Runnin' Pardners and with the funky Meters, is it safe to assume that he's one of your favorite younger di-ummers?
A: By al1 ineans. Russell Batiste is a tremendous wealth of talent and he does well as a sideman. He's a bandleader also now. He has a solo album out of his own materia1 that he's been writing. As a member of the funky Meters and Runnin' Pardners and as a bass player that has to play with the drummer the person that has to play with me and be the closest related is the drummer so I feel fortunate enough to have him in both bands and I'm very comfortable with him.
Q: 1s it true that you were a guitarist before you were a bass player?
A: Yes, correct. Actually, I played piano before I was a guitarist. I wasn't really a good piano player, I was a fairly decent rhythm guitar player.
Q: What brought you around to playing bass?
A: I think Viet Nam, most of the bass players in town got drafted. There was a serious void of electric bass players in New Orleans because of the Viet Nam War. I was a year-and-a- half too young for the draft that was going on. I was a guitar player at the time arid there were less gigs available. I had been playing bass. I left frorn studying classica1 guitar to just studying guitar with a guy on the street named Benjamin Francis, his nickname was Popi. We would play a song and then he would teach me how to play the song on guitar and then he would turn around and teach me how to play that same song on bass. So I learned to play bass and guitar pretty rnuch at the same time on the street with Popi. I was a sponge when I was kid rnan. I mean this guy would be playing anything his grandfather would be playing and I would just be into it: al1 the movements and the rnelodies in my head. I would go home and just practice and practice and practice.
Q: Aside from him, who are some of the other earliest musicians you rernember as influences or those that you tried to pattern yourself after?
A: As a person I patterned myself behind a great dea1 of other New Orleans musicians that had influences - they were bigger than life. Chuck Badie, there was another bass player named Richie Payne who were just great people. I knew that somehow I would always want to be a good person. Even when I got crazy in the drug days and al1 that kind of stuff, I always hoped that I remained a good person and that the only person that I was hurting during al1 of iny dmg binges was myself. Of course, I was probably wrong about that. My father listened to a lot of keyboard players and organists - Jack McDuff, Jiminy Sinith aild he loved Stanley Turrentine. That was the only music I heard in the house. Arouild the city of New Orleans, there weren't that many guys that I was getting out to see. I was still young and wasn't going to a bunch of places. And by the tiine I got to go to the Drew Drop Inn, that era of music was dying off. I was 16-years-old and that was already in its 'going out of business' stage.
Q: 1s that the golden era of New Orleans R&B you're referring to?
A: Yes, it was considered the golden era of late-night jam sessions. That was the ending of that. There was a family called the Lastie family - David Lastie, Walter Lastie and their sister Betty Ann - that I played with a great dea1 on the street. I think those people were great influences on me again, more as a person. They were just beautiful people. They were in this business we call music which didn't al1 the tiine be very beautiful. There wasn't inuch prettiness in how we were getting it done. If you got through a gig and didn't die in the process of getting home aftenvards or playing on the street and having to walk to your vehicle with a pocket fu11 of change, then you done accomplished something. You actually got home with your money and that was a good thing.
Q: I wanted to ask you how you originally met Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli and Zigaboo Modeliste?
A: O.k., Zigaboo Modeliste is my little cousin. I inet him when I was probably 5 or 6 years old. His brother Clinton Joshua was our piano teacher when I was eight and Zig was 7. That was a very short-lived situation because there just was not enough cornrnunity between two Capricorns learning how to play piano from his older brother. His mom kind of stopped because she saw there was too much competition going on. That was the end of my piano lessons and that point I started studying classica1 guitar.
I didn't meet Leo Nocentelli unti1 Art brought us together as a band. But I had been talking to Leo Nocentelli on the phone - I had a friend of mine named Herbert Wing who was a guitar player (Popi played in Herbert Wing's band called the Royal Knights). I inoved around the corner from Herbert's house and Popi told me about Herbert so I got to go over and introduce myself. We got to be tight and got to be friends. Herbert knew Leo. Herbert used to call Leo and they'd be on the telephone - Herbert would set the telephone down, put a microphone next to the speaker and we would ask Leo questions about chord forms and stuff and Leo would te11 Herbert about those chord forms over the telephone, which was amplified over the room so I heard Leo's comrnents. I never knew what Leo looked like I had just heard his voice over the phone. This was probably six or seven years before I actually got to meet him.
I met Art Neville, again, through Herbert Wing. Herbert was a guy who knew different musicians like Earl King and Benny Spellman, who would call Herbert if they needed a musician. Herbert could play bass, saxophone, guitar, piano and dmms so he would get called for a lot of different gigs. If he couldn't make one of these gigs he would send someone else to play the gig. I got to luck into playing with Earl King, Benny Spellman, Ernie K-Doe and Art Neville. So it was through a sub gig that Herbert Wing couldn't make. The very first tiine I played with Art I played as a guitar player and that didn't go very well because both Art and myself - I wasn't a lead guitar and Art wasn't a lead piano player. The set kind of suffered - I played two gigs with him - because nobody would take solos. So Art thought I sucked as a guitar player, which 1'11 admit because I was a rhythm guitar player not a lead guitar player. And then severa1 years later, right during the Viet Nam thing, the guy who played bass with Art got drafted in the Marine Corps so Art called Herbert up again looking for a bass player. I got the phone call from Herbert and showed up at the gig and the first thing Art does is look up at me and say, "Oh, you again?"But he was a lot more pleased with my bass playing becaiise after he came back off the road with his brother - playing piano and tour managing Aaron on the "Te11 It Like It 1s"project - he went around looking for musicians to put together his own band, which eventually became the beginning of the of the Meters a year-and-a-half or two years later.
Q: And you were originally called Art Neville and the Neville Sounds?
A: That was originally called Art Neville and the Neville Sounds and there was only one Neville brother in that band.
Q: Sobriety has obviously played a huge in fulfilling your long-temi musical vision. What advice could you lend to younger musicians and do you think they'd even listen?
A: (Laughs). I did a session a couple of weeks ago with a group of young musicians who were al1 sober. It was a great honor to be around these guys. They were basically a garage band - songwriters recording a couple of sessions and they called me up and asked if I'd consider doing it. This is five days after Jazz Fest. I said, "I ain't got nothing to do this weekendWsoI went up there to do the thing. It was good songs and al1 these guys were sober and I was encouraged by the fact that not al1 musicians are thinking that the glamour of the music world is the dmgs or alcohol. So I was rea1 pleased to see that. Although I think that any young player that comes up thinking that dmgs is how it's going to work and how it's going to happen is seriously mistaken. It may work for a few years and may last 20 years like it did with me. It was 22 years before I decided I had to get out of it and made a change. The last two years of it was like working my way into the bottom or working my way through the bottom because I had already been down there for a couple of hours.
Q: Any last words?
A: Well, you know what? It's great. I'rn loving it. I'm playing right now with two very good bands that are a great dea1 of fun. I'm recording with one and hopefully the other will be recording very soon and give something to the world