Meters

Debut 1969 album by New Orleans' The Meters. Led by organist Art Neville, the quartet was rounded out by jazz-influenced guitarist Leo Nocentelli, along with the bubbling rhythm section of bassist George Porter, Jr. And drummer Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste. Their regional influences were a smashing together of rock n' roll, syncopated 'second line' rhythms from Mardi Gras parades, and jazz improvisations that only could have come from the New Orleans music scene. The Meters helped move R&B music toward the heavier direction of funk-complicated rhythms meeting economically powerful riffs that were the wave of what was to come.