The Drummers

1- THE DRUMMERS

#1

 

As per Art Neville in the Nevilles’ group biography, “The Brothers Neville”: “After Cyril and I were out of the Meters and The Wild Tchoupitoulas had been released, we needed a backup band for our tour. With the Meters gone, where would the funk come from? It came to me one night in a New Orleans club and it hit me right in the gut, The band was called Blackmale. These cats were badder than the Meters; I mean, they were playing Meters shit funkier than we’d played it…” The drummer for Blackmale (Newton Mossop, Jr.) became the drummer for the Neville Brothers!!

#2

After Mossop’s departure, the drum chair was filled by James Ledet (June 16, 1956 – October 2, 2020) who was a veteran of Ivan Neville’s first band, Renegade.

In a Facebook post, just after Ledet’s passing in October 2020, Ivan wrote: “James Ledet : A Friend/Brother & the Drummer for my 1st band Renegade. Played with The Neville Bros, Uptown Allstars, & many others. He was also respected & loved by many great New Orleans drummers. I’m sure that Mean Willie Green, Russell Batiste, Raymond Weber, Stanton Moore & others would attest to that.”

#3

A veteran of Ivan’s original Uptown All-stars, Willie Green joined the Neville Brothers Band after Ledet’s departure. In a 1990 interview for “Modern Drummer” magazine, Willie said that, before joining the Neville Brothers band, “I did some local New Orleans stuff. I played in a bunch of small bands, including the Uptown All-Stars. Ivan Neville was a big part of that group. He was one of the guys who got me into the Neville Brothers band…” The Uptown All-Stars of that era played “Funk. We were so ahead of our time we had nowhere to go. We used to back up the Neville Brothers. After the album Fiyo On The Bayou, A&M brought in studio cats to back them up, and we were dropped.

#4

As Willie Green was quoted as saying above, “The Uptown All-Stars… used to back up the Neville Brothers. After the album Fiyo On The Bayou, A&M brought in studio cats to back them up, and we were dropped…”

Enter into the fold, one of New Orleans’s most highly respected studio (and live) drummers, Herman Ernest III (August 12, 1951 – March 6, 2011.) Best known as Dr. John’s long-time musical director and drummer, “Roscoe” (as he was known) played on hundreds of recordings by a wide variety of artists: Johnny Adams, Marcia Ball, Lee Dorsey, Snooks Eaglin, Etta James, Earl King, Joe Krown, Patti LaBelle, Maria Muldaur, Anders Osborne, Kermit Ruffins, Irma Thomas, Allen Toussaint, Marva Wright, and countless others. For a detailed look at Ernest’s recording history, check out these two articles on the Home of the groove Blogspot: https://homeofthegroove.blogspot.com/search…

At the time when the Meters were the studio band for Allen Toussaint’s productions, Ernest took over for Zigaboo Modeliste when the latter decided that he wasn’t interested in playing on such rigid/creatively restrictive sessions. (Toussaint knew what he wanted and the band members were expected to play what he wanted.) The biggest commercial hit that was backed by Art, Leo, George & Rosco was LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade.” Here is a brief, educational video in which Ernest demonstrates the groove he played on that song. https://youtu.be/SRvigr7Gqr0

Ernest also played on Aaron’s “Orchid In The Storm” EP as well as the Neville Brothers’ critically-acclaimed “Fiyo On The Bayou” LP. In addition, he toured with the group in support of that album, thus becoming the Nevilles’ 4th official drummer.

#5

– DARRELL “PRIME” (aka “PRIME TIME”) WINCHESTER

Darrell Winchester joined the Nevilles’ band after Herman Ernest completed the “Fiyo on the Bayou” tour. (Both Ernest and Winchester had brief tenures with the band.) Winchester was with the Nevilles in November and December 1981 during their tour with the Rolling Stones (according to Glen Himmaugh, the Nevilles’ sound engineer at that time.) The photo above is a performance at Jimmy’s music club, with Ivan [kbds], Gerald Tillman [kbds], James Hutch Hutchinson [bass], Darrell Winchester [drs] and [presumably] Brian Stoltz [gtr.]) on December 31, 1981.

In early 1982, Winchester left the Nevilles’ band and joined the band, Windjammer, along with Kevin McLin (gtr), Roy Paul Joseph (gtr), Carl Dennis (vocals), Fred McCray (kbds), and Chris Severin (bs). (Severin played bass for the Nevilles near the end of their time together.) Windjammer released three albums between 1982 and 1985 (“Windjammer,” “Windjammer II,” and “Windjammer III.”) Another (possible) Neville-connection… one of the tracks on “Windjammer III” (“I Thought It Was You”) was arranged by someone named Michael Goods. (It seems reasonable to assume that this is the same Michael Goods who played with the Brothers and Aaron)

#6

When Winchester left, “Mean” Willie Green returned to the drum throne and remained with the band for three decades, until the band retired!