Leo Nocentelli

Leo Nocentelli (born June 15, 1946) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member and lead guitarist of the funk band The Meters. He wrote the original versions of several funk classics such as "Cissy Strut" and "Hey Pocky A-Way". As a session musician he has recorded with a variety of notable artists such as Dr. John, Robert Palmer and Etta James. He is the recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as a member of The Meters.

Leo Nocentelli
Nocentelli performing in 2006
Background information
Born (1946-06-15) June 15, 1946[1]
New Orleans, Louisiana
GenresFunk, R&B, soul, rock, jazz
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter
InstrumentsGuitar
Years activeLate 1950s–present
Associated actsThe Meters, Neville Sounds, The Funky Meters, The Meter Men

Career

Nocentelli grew up in the Irish Channel and Seventh Ward neighborhoods of New Orleans. He was encouraged by his father to pursue music. He played ukulele at an early age and started on guitar at age twelve.[1][2] He gravitated to jazz and was influenced by jazz guitarists Charlie Christian, Barney Kessel, Johnny Smith and Kenny Burrell.[3] His first professional gig was at age thirteen.[1] By age fourteen he was backing notable musicians such as Otis Redding and Clyde McPhatter.[2] He played jazz, Dixieland, rhythm and blues, and rock.[4](p2) He joined the Hawketts and developed a reputation as a guitarist. At age seventeen he did session work for Motown acts including the Supremes, Temptations, and Spinners.[1][5]

In 1964 he was drafted and served in the army for two years. During leaves he did session work in New Orleans. After the service he joined Art Neville and the Neville Sounds, at the time a recently founded seven-piece band. By 1968 the band consisted of four members: Nocentelli, Art Neville, George Porter, and Ziggy Modeliste.[1] The band had a fluid style and each instrument was free to go anywhere musically.[2] The band performed dance-style rhythm and blues at the Ivanhoe nightclub six nights a week. On Sundays, Nocentelli, Porter, and Modeliste performed jazz gigs.[1][5] Nocentelli said his bandmates were his biggest influence and called his experience up to this point in time the learning phase of his career.[6][7]

The band released two singles as The Meters, "Sophisticated Cissy" and "Cissy Strut", both originally written by Nocentelli.[8][9] The commercial success of "Cissy Strut" became an impetus for the band's subsequent recording career as The Meters.[9] From 1969 to 1977 the band released eight studio albums, with Nocentelli as one of the primary songwriters.[10] He wrote the original versions of funk songs such as "People Say" and "Hey Pocky A-Way".[6][11] Early on, improvisation was a major part of song development.[12](p2) Though the band gained notoriety in the music community, the lack of commercial success along with managerial and artistic factors gave way to their disbandment in late 1970s.[13][5]

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Nocentelli wrote, co-wrote and did session work – mostly in Cosimo, Sansu, and Sea-Saint studios.[1][3][6][14] As songwriter and producer, he learned from and was influenced by Allen Toussaint.[15][16] He backed a variety of artists such as Dr. John, Robert Palmer, Albert King, Etta James, Joe Cocker, Earl King, Chris Kenner, and Betty Harris.[14][3][6]

In the early 1980s Nocentelli toured with Jimmy Buffett. He moved to Los Angeles in 1982.[16] He continued to do session work and performed regularly with former bandmate George Porter as GEO/LEO.[9][11] He also remained close with Modeliste, who had moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. They performed in various quartet formations and released a live album titled Nocentelli: Live in San Francisco.[17][18] At one of their shows in 1989, Nocentelli and Porter invited Modeliste and Neville on stage. The impromptu performance was the first reunion of the original Meters.[9] The same year Nocentelli, Neville, and Porter formed The Funky Meters with Russell Batiste on drums. Nocentelli performed with the reincarnated lineup until 1993.[19]

He briefly moved back to New Orleans in the early 1990s and returned to Los Angeles in 1992.[17] He continued to perform with two Meters-inspired lineups: The Meter Men and The Meters Experience. The Meter Men are Nocentelli, Porter, and Modeliste with Page McConnell on keyboards; variations included keyboardists Rich Vogel, John Gros, and drummer Russell Batiste.[12][20] The Meters Experience is Nocentelli in various quartets with Bernie Worrell, Bill Dickens, Oteil Burbridge, Al Di Meola, Jason Crosby, George Laks, Albert Margolis, Jamal Batiste, Ricky Cortez, Felix Pollard, and others.[4][11][21]

Early on, Nocentelli used a Gibson ES-175 hollow body guitar. He switched to a semi-hollow Fender Starcaster in mid-1970s. Around 2001 he switched to the semi-hollow Gibson ES-335.[9][14] Nocentelli has performed in several reunions with the original Meters lineup.[22][21] He moved to New Orleans in 2015 and continues to perform.[16] He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 as a member of The Meters.[23]

Style

Nocentelli was self-taught. In his early teens he emulated jazz guitarists while listening to phonograph records.[3][6] He was drawn to jazz, but to survive professionally he had to become proficient in multiple genres.[3][4] In 1960s and 1970s he was part of an era in which New Orleans jazz gave way to rhythm and blues, and funk.[1][24] Nocentelli's band, The Meters, were innovative and set the stylistic tone of New Orleans funk.[1][13] The band's early works were rooted in improvisation.[12][25] According to Nocentelli, genres are relative and he alludes to incorporating different genres in his style.[7][4] He said in funk as well as in rhythm guitar you have to complement and react to what you hear, and said that is not a teachable skill.[11] In addition to live performance and session work, songwriting was a significant part of Nocentelli's contribution.[10][9]

Discography
See also: The Meters § Discography

As leader

With others

Credits partly adapted from AllMusic.[28]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

References
  1. Jason Berry; Jonathan Foose; Tad Jones (1992). Up from the Cradle of Jazz. Da Capo Press. pp. 190–200. ISBN 9780306804939. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  2. Rick Koster (2002). Louisiana Music: A Journey from R&B to Zydeco, Jazz to Country, Blues to Gospel... Da Capo Press. pp. 97–105. ISBN 9780306804939. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  3. "Allmusic: Leo Nocentelli – biography". Allmusic.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  4. Randy Ray (January 25, 2011). "Leo Nocentelli and That Original Spark". jambands.com. Archived from the original on May 4, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2017. Archive page 2
  5. Grace Lichtenstein; Laura Dankner (1993). Musical Gumbo: The Music of New Orleans. W.W. Norton. pp. 153–160. ISBN 9780393034684. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  6. Andy Tennille (May 29, 2004). "Used with Leo Nocentelli". jambands.com. Archived from the original on August 14, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  7. Michalis Limnios (March 4, 2013). "Marvelous Leo Nocentelli of Meters talks about New Orleans culture, his experiences, and Muhammed Ali". blues.gr. Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  8. Dan Phillips (June 18, 2011). "The Sissy variations or The Queen of Funky Dances". Home of the Groove. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  9. John Heidt (September 2002). "Leo Nocentelli – A Meter Keeps Running". Vintage Guitar. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  10. "New Orleans Drum Summit: David Kunian with Joseph "Smokey" Johnson, Zigaboo Modeliste, Bob French – video, recorded 2008". Youtube.com, Ponderosa Stomp Channel. December 15, 2016. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved June 28, 2017. Leo Nocentelli was one of the premier writers of the group and he always had this, this real, aggressive with songwriting and stuff like that.
  11. Bryan Wawzenek (July 16, 2010). "The Gibson Interview – Leo Nocentelli of The Meters". Gibson.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2016. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  12. "When Leo Met Leo: A Conversation with Leo Nocentelli, Page McConnell and George Porter Jr". jambands.com. November 7, 2012. Archived from the original on November 26, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2017. Archive page 2, Archive page 3
  13. "Allmusic – The Meters – biography". AllMusic. Archived from the original on October 16, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  14. Efram Turchick (January 22, 2002). "Leo Nocentelli". sundazed.com. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  15. Tom Murphy (December 23, 2009). "Q&A with Leo Nocentelli of the Meters". Westword. Archived from the original on January 21, 2017. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  16. Chelsea Brasted (December 8, 2015). "The Meters' guitarist Leo Nocentelli returns home with the same passion for New Orleans' music". nola.com. Archived from the original on November 5, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  17. Keith Spera (May 1, 1995). "Leo Nocentelli's Nocentelli". OffBeat. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  18. John Koetzner (Summer 1998). "Nocentelli – Live in San Francisco". Blues Access magazine. Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  19. Dave Thompson (2001). Funk, Third Ear: The Essential Listening Companion. Hal Leonard. pp. 164–169. ISBN 9780879306298. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  20. Keith Spera (November 10, 2014). "The Meter Men, featuring Phish's Page McConnell, to headline Joy Theater during 2015 New Orleans Jazz Fest". nola.com. Archived from the original on May 31, 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  21. Dylan Muhlberg (May 11, 2015). "Grateful Web Interview with Leo Nocentelli". gratefulweb.com. Archived from the original on September 25, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  22. Keith Spera (August 17, 2011). "Latest Meters reunion to roll on at least through Voodoo Fest". nola.com. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  23. Renée Fabian (January 9, 2018). "Tina Turner To Queen: 2018 Recording Academy Special Merit Awards". grammy.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2019. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  24. Berry 1992, Up from the Cradle of Jazz, pp. 16, 192, 196.
  25. "Meter Men: An OffBeat Interview with Art Neville and George Porter, Jr". OffBeat magazine. May 1, 1995. Archived from the original on December 7, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  26. "New Release from Meters Guitarist Leo Nocentelli". New Orleans Music Online. May 29, 2009. Archived from the original on June 16, 2009. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  27. "Rock House Method: The Secrets of Funk Guitar DVD". cduniverse.com. Archived from the original on October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  28. "Allmusic: Leo Nocentelli – credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on May 5, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  29. Steve Haggett (2006). "Allmusic: Sing Me Back Home – review". AllMusic. Archived from the original on September 6, 2017. Retrieved October 8, 2017.

Further reading
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