WGNO

How the Neville Brothers took the music from Valence Street to the world stage

NEW ORLEANS— Few groups have captured the New Orleans Sound and the spirit of the Jazz Fest like The Neville Brothers.

They took the music from Valence St. to the world stage, all the while combining R & B, jazz, rock, and even our Mardi Gras Indian chants everywhere they went, but they shined especially bright at the fest.

Quint Davis of Festival Productions explained, “Here you’ve got Charles Neville, who’s a Grammy Award winning saxophone player, you’ve got Aaron Neville, a Grammy Award winning vocalist, you’ve got Art Neville’s who’s the captain of the ship, that brought everything together, and last but not least the fiery prophet Cyril Neville. Now each one of these are Giants in and of themselves”

The brothers closed the main stage at the fest for many years, and some continue to perform, but their contributions won’t soon be forgotten.

They were synonymous with New Orleans music, and when you put them together, they four of them is like 200 years of New Orleans music because of New Orleans music because they’ve been doing this for 30-40 years,” said Davis.