Lagniappe is a Louisiana French word, derived from American Spanish la napa, (with a tllde above the "n"), or the gift; a variant with Indo-European roots+ napa (variant of yapa, gift, from Quechua, from yapay, to give more).
Just because it's in the forties tonight, under cold drizzle in New York City on my first Funky Friday, and still in the mid-seventies in the heart of some of the best weather during the year down New Orleans way right now, here's another rarely-heard gem from 1975's Fire On the Bayou.
Leo Nocentelli often talks of his early aspirations towards jazz guitar, and counts Kenny Burrell, Barney Kessel, Johnny Smith, Charlie Christian and George Benson (pictured with Nocentelli, below) among his guitar heroes. Middle Of The Road shows off some of Nocentelli's impressive chops in an homage to his heroes.
Lagniappe came into the rich Creole dialect mixture of New Orleans and there acquired a French spelling. It is still used in the Gulf states, especially southern Louisiana, to denote a little bonus that a friendly shopkeeper might add to a purchase. By extension, it may mean "an extra or unexpected gift or benefit."
Mark Twain writes about the word in a chapter on New Orleans in LIfe On the Mississippi (1883). He called it "a word worth travelling to New Orleans to get":
"We picked up one excellent word - a word worth travelling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word --lagniappe. hey pronounce it lanny-yap. It is Spanish - so they said. We discovered it at the head of a column of odds and ends in the Picayune the first day; heard twenty people use it the second; inquired what it meant the third; adopted it and got facility in swinging it the fourth. It has a restricted meaning, but I think the people spread it out a little when they choose. It is the equivalent of the thirteenth roll in a "baker's dozen." It is something thrown in, gratis, for good measure. The custom originated in the Spanish quarter of the city. When a child or a servant buys something in a shop - or even the mayor or the governor for aught I know - he finishes the operation by saying — 'Give me something for lagniappe.' The shopman always responds; gives the child a bit of licorice-root, gives the servant a cheap cigar or a spool of thread, gives the governor - I don't know what he gives the governor; support, likely."
"When you are invited to drink - and this does occur now and then in New Orleans - and you say, 'What, again?-- no, I've had enough;' the other party says, 'But just this one time more - this is for lagniappe'."
The interplay between Leo and Art Neville on Middle Of The Road is especially sweet, and while George and Zig are away from their usual comfort zone, they're both no less solid in the pocket.
Porter, speaking in 1997 to Offbeat about his session work with Tori Amos, said "I tend towards being able to play in all the musical fields. I like playing, and I consider myself a musician's musician, I don't just play funk. Hey, if they've got a country and western session out there, I'll play it, and not only that, I'll know how to play it."
A little something extra...a perfect tune to end a Funky Friday, deep into Saturday morning on towards dawn...enjoy!
My Trusted MOGs
Awesome write-up. I can never,ever get enuf Meters. Zig is in my upper echelon of drummers..and I really like drummers. I know nothing about technique, but I have listened to a whole lot of drums and he noticably kicks ass.
My Trusted MOGs
Yeah, and it's impossible to codify the kind of stuff that he and people like James Black and some others did. I'm no musician myself, and can't really talk serious theory, but musicians down in New Orleans all talk about growing up around parade rhythms and Indian chants, and how that organically informs their chops. Guys like Zig are one-of-a-kind and don't come along often.
As far as Black goes, so precious little exists of him on record. He was an outstanding jazz drummer BESIDES being a great funk and R&B drummer; many say he was a better jazz player. Ellis Marsalis' early Sixties 1963 release Monkey Puzzle (which also was a Black composition) and Horace Parlan's 1960 Headin' South on Blue Note are excellent sources of James Black's jazz work.
The Marsalis release is now available as a Boplicity CD re-titled the Classic Ellis Marsalis. Black, who was Ellis' drummer of choice, also played on 1982's Marsalis Family Columbia release with Ellis, Branford and Wynton, and again on Ellis' 1985 Elm release Syndrome before an unfortunate overdose killed him in 1988.
Strangely, Black never recorded an album under his own name, though he played regularly with his own band in New Orleans, as well as with Eddie Bo.
As for Zig, he's back living in New Orleans again, and the four original Meters have been making a go of it again after Art had very serious back surgery that put him in danger of paralysis. They reunited to much fanfare for Jazzfest a couple of years ago, and then did a string of dates over the course of the next year or so, including the huge Halloween Vegoose festival in Las Vegas (reportedly at the behest of Widespread Panic). The string of dates culminated with a closing slot at last year's Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans.
I have to say, I was at one of the first shows in New York at Nokia Theatre when they first got on the horse, and you could tell it had been a while, but the show had it's moments. Zig in particular seemed to get winded, and needed a lot of hydration throughout the show. But almost a year later, I was at the Voodoo show, and they just tore it up--the difference was night and day! Was one hell of a show, and though I'm too young to have seen the Meters in their heyday, I'm glad to say I saw them at least once before I die, all back together again and on top of their game.
I'll keep dropping in some Meters stuff from time to time. They've always been one of my favourite bands, and I still have a decent collection of stuff with me here in New York.
My Trusted MOGs
Meant to include as well that James Black also played on a number of Yusef Lateef records as well in the mid-Sixties. I haven't heard them, but they're on my list.
My Trusted MOGs
Wow, sweet post, nice to have you aboard. Not familiar with "middle of the road" so thanks for educating me on that one.
So now when we want a little something more of what your dishing out, we just gotta say "lagniappe" in the comments, heh?
My Trusted MOGs
Awhile back I brought up James Black in an Eddie Bo post . Dude was an incredible funky drummer,but I didn't know nothin' about his jazz stuff. Thanks for that info. EMCD is a term we throw around here a lot. It means Evil Music Crack Dealer. I think you may have EMCD'd me here.
My Trusted MOGs
Yeah, James Black has an almost mystical, cult status for some musicians and music fans in New Orleans. Like I said, he's a hard one to track down on record, but worth the effort, at least from the very little I've heard myself.
As for the lagniappe, sure, you can ask for it, but bear in mind I'm no native New Orleanian, just lived there for many years, to the point that I really consider it home much more now than I do New York. Being back in New York again after being away for 20 years is very...odd, to say the least.
Speaking of EMCD's, been having lots of fun with this site. I stumbled upon it a few days ago trying to find a download source for a Betty Harris/Meters tune (Break In the Road), and I've gone to bed bleary-eyed and deep in the night the past couple of nights, way past my bedtime and sated with tons of stuff I've never heard.
I'm afraid I may become a war-time casualty of Funky Fridays at some point! lol I'm absorbing lots of shrapnel, but it's all good!
My Trusted MOGs
did you get break in the road, cause if you didn't lemme know and I'll multiply it..
My Trusted MOGs
I did NOT find a source I can download it from yet. I did find a great site called Paris DJ's, which has some awesome podcasts available for downloads, and I downloaded a pretty hot one that has the song in it's entirety, so I can listen to it all, at least. Supposedly, you can download invidual mp3's off of their podcasts, but I haven't been able to figure it out yet via their help instructions for Mac and iTunes. The site is worth checking out just for the podcasts, though. Downloaded a bunch of funk, Afro-beat, and reggae along with a few other things.
Betty Harris is staging a comeback of after an absence of 30 years, and has a new record about to drop, so yeah, Cody, if you can make Break In the Road available, would love to put up a post about her.
Incidentally, it is the Meters backing her on that tune. Another Sea-Saint production!
My Trusted MOGs
Wow, super writing. Great song also. Can't wait to see what you write next.
My Trusted MOGs
Here's a write up
I have it on the SSS International Comp-Shake What you brought on Sundazed