Neville Brothers reign as first family of funk by Kim Ruehl (Billboard)When the last spit of Abita beer has been squeezed from a tap in the Jazz Fest 2008 food court next Sunday, New Orleans will get back to its roots -- celebrating the close of another Jazz Fest with the Neville Brothers, there to mark their 30 years as a band. "The Neville Brothers are not just local heroes," says Scott Aiges, director of programs for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, the group that sponsors the festival. "They're an institution. They've been the closing act on the biggest stage at Jazz Fest for as long as I can remember."
Indeed, for as long as they can remember, the Neville Brothers have been laying down the funk all over town. Even before they got together as a band, Art Neville says, "we were always the Neville Brothers. That was one of the biggest things we had." It all started one Friday the 13th in 1977, when 13 musicians from the 13th Ward -- four of them surnamed Neville -- took to the stage at a new club in uptown New Orleans called Tipitina's and proceeded to bring the house down. - complete article
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