Ivan Neville comes from New Orleans royalty. The veteran keyboardist and singer is the son of famed singer Aaron Neville and the nephew of Cyril Neville of Royal Southern Brotherhood, saxophonist Charles Neville and founding Meters keyboardist Art Neville. Ivan learned about funk, soul and R&B from a young age and hasn’t stopped pursuing his musical muse since. From sitting in with his father’s Neville Brothers as a teenager to playing with The Rolling Stones and Keith Richards’ solo records (including last year’s Crosseyed Heart ) to his current work with NOLA-based Dumpstaphunk, which continues the family tradition with his cousin Ian, Ivan’s musical pedigree and resume are unmatched.
This weekend, Ivan will play an intimate run at New York’s Blue Note for what is billed as the Piano Sessions, a three-night, six-show affair that will feature Dumpstaphunk bandmates Tony Hall and Nick Daniels, along with drummer Raymond Weber. Ivan talked with us this week about the upcoming run, his rich musical career—including a triumphant battle with addiction—and how he sees New Orleans and funk music fitting into today’s musical landscape.
What kind of relationship did you have with your uncles when you were a kid, along with your father?
We were a very musical family, a very close family. Me and my dad, as I got to be a teenager, we were kind of like brothers. He was like a big brother to me, and my uncles as well. It was just very cool growing up watching them do what they were doing, with the music thing, and eventually becoming a part of their thing, and performing and playing with The Neville Brothers as a teenager was a big deal to me. It definitely helped shape who I was to become musically.
Was music something that your family pushed or pulled you into?
Nobody nudged me that hard. Nobody had to twist my arm, because it was something that was very appealing to me to begin with. So when my interest in music elevated to the point where I was thinking, “Maybe I want to be a musician,” it was a no-brainer. It was like, “Oh, I get to play music, and this could be my job? Shit yeah I want to do this. Oh yeah. Sign me up. Let’s do it.”
When was the first time you played with The Neville Brothers?
I don’t remember that first exact time, but I remember any time in the early days it was absolutely a blast. It was some fun stuff, being a teenager. I mean, I was in my upper teens, like 19, 20 years old. Nothing like it being up there playing with my dad and my uncle. It was something special.
Back then, when you were starting out, were you set on the idea that you were going to do music for your life and continue this legacy that your family started?
At that point, I pretty much knew that was my calling and that there was nothing else for me. That was what I think I was put on this planet to do.
And now you’re playing with your cousin Ian who is a little bit younger.
By the time I pulled him in to start the Dumpstaphunk band, he had been playing guitar for a while. He’d been playing often with his dad, and he’d been sitting in with the Funky Meters as a youngster as well. When I started Dumpstaphunk, I mean, it was pretty much a no-brainer that Ian was going to be a part of this. And he was definitely down to do it, and he was definitely up for the task. And we’ve been rolling together ever since.
With you playing with The Neville Brothers and him playing with the Funky Meters—what is it like for such a young musician to be able to play with legendary artists like that?
They were just like my uncles and my dad, so I didn’t really look at them like they were legends. They were just were my family. Everyone else looked at them with the legendary status attached, but I looked at them like, “Oh, there’s uncle Cyril and uncle Art and uncle Charles. Oh, and that’s my dad,” you know?
Speaking of playing with legends, I’m curious how you started playing with The Rolling Stones.
The connection was actually made through The Meters. The Meters had opened up for The Rolling Stones, I think in 1975, and then The Neville Brothers opened up for The Stones in 1981. That’s when I first met them, in 1981, and I got acquainted with Keith and Ronnie Wood and those guys. And basically I ended up singing some backups and playing on a recording called Dirty Work, and that was in mid-‘80s. And then Keith started a solo band. He started working on a solo project around ’87, ’88, and I ended up being a part of that. Basically we just got tight. He’s a good friend of mine. In those times, I was an aspiring, young aspiring musician trying to just do a little bit of everything I could get involved with. I was fortunate enough to spark up friendships with Keith Richards and get to do stuff with The Rolling Stones. I ended up being a member of this band, The X-Pensive Winos, and that’s nothing short of— I’m blessed.
I’ve gotten to do stuff like that. I’ve participated on the Voodoo Lounge album with The Stones as well, and I did a little something on Keith’s latest solo record that he just put out this past year. It’s just the stuff that you aspire to do as you coming up playing music. You want to hopefully form some relationships with the special musical friends, and I would definitely consider that a special thing I got to do. To play with Keith Richards and The Stones and consider him a friend is an amazing thing, an amazing blessing. You know, growing up wanting to be a musician and you never dream that you’ll get to play with somebody like The Stones, stuff like that. So it’s all gravy, man, all gravy to get to do this stuff.
What would you say you’ve learned from them, especially Keith? What do you think you learned as a musician?
Mostly what I got from Keith was that it’s all about the music and it’s all about the songs. It’s all about putting yourself into the music, and that’s what we’re blessed to get to do. I mean, that’s what it’s about. Being a music lover, you get to realize this. So put your all into it.
You’ve had some issues with addiction in your past. Obviously drugs and alcohol and things like that go hand in hand with music more than some people like to admit. I read an interview you did where you’re talking about right before you went into rehab. You had heard that Dr. John and your father were about to set up an intervention for you.
Yeah that’s a true story.
What was it like crawling out of that sort of thing while still being in the music culture, especially in New Orleans which is known for its parties?
Well, I was living in California—Los Angeles to be exact—when I got sober. The Neville Brothers were playing a show, and Dr. John was on the show as well. They were scheduled to perform at Universal Amphitheater the weekend that I ended up going to rehab for the last time. I had previously gone to rehab maybe five times before, just for the record. Then I finally went that last time in 1998, and I’ve been sober ever since, 17 plus years. I had a lot of fun over the years, dibbling and dabbling all that shit, but it kind of comes [to a point] where if it’s not working for you and you’re becoming more of a detriment and a liability, you gotta figure something out. I was lucky. I was able to figure it out. Some people don’t figure it out, and they end up dying or their life ends up being pretty fucked up. I was lucky, and I caught it. That’s basically it.
When I got sober I was worrying about my musical situation, and what I was going to do. How was I going to get back and play music without doing all the crazy shit I used to do? But over a period of time, you get back into it and you learn a new way. Basically it’s a new existence. I don’t have anything against the idea of people partying, drinking and smoking and whatever the fuck they wanna do. They do whatever they want. But just for me, I already did that, and I did my share. I don’t get to do that anymore. Now I’m getting high off the music. Which, I mean, everybody could get high off the music, and that’s where I get my stimulation, so to speak. So I figured that out, I started playing and performing and I actually started to feel better about my abilities to play and sing and stuff like that, when I had been sober for a while. And gradually it just stuck with me. I’ve been sober for a long time, so it goes without saying. I’m in situations where I’m hanging around festivals and all the places we go to play music, and people are doing what they’re doing, and I have nothing against them. I have nothing against people doing what they doing and enjoying themselves. But, like I said, I used that card up. I don’t get to do that anymore, and I’m fine with it. I’m heather now than I’ve ever been. That’s the bonus, I get to live a little longer now—hopefully.
What do you think that allowed you to climb out of it, where so many people don’t get that?
It’s a lot of things. It’s part luck, I think. And you gotta do some stuff. You gotta go figure out your path. I went to some 12-step programs, some stuff like that. I continue to do that stuff. I have a lot of friends who I share that path with, that have that in common with me, who I stay connected to. That’s how you keep that going.
Moving on to the present, what are your plans for this upcoming run at the Blue Note?
I’m looking forward to it. I got Tony Hall playing with me, and Raymond Weber playing drums. My friend Nick’s gonna help sing some background vocals with us. It’s a different kind of set than people normally see me do. It’s not the Dumpstaphunk thing. It’s a more low-key thing. It’s me playing piano and me doing a lot of songs I wrote over my years in this music thing. I’ve written a lot of songs. Most of them have been on records. I don’t get to do this very often, so it’s very special to me. I get to do it at the Blue Note in New York, which is a great place, amazing place—a legendary place. A lot of great, amazing musicians have played there, and I’m honored to get to play there. It’s going to be really special. I get to do what I don’t normally do all the time. I get to play songs that I’ve written in a more intimate setting. I can probably tell a few stories, as well, about some of the songs. It’ll be a fun time. I’m really looking forward to it.
Was this your idea to do more of a low-key thing?
What happened was, I did a piano set on Jam Cruise a few years back. I ended up doing another one the following year, and I’ve been doing them ever since. I think I’ve done them four times. I’ve also started doing a local gig in New Orleans during the weeks in the middle of the weekends of Jazz Fest. On the Wednesday I’ve been doing one of piano sessions, gigs at this place called the Blue Nile in New Orleans, and it’s been going over pretty good. So I got to talking to someone about how they wanted to bring me to New York to do this particular thing at the Blue Note. We figured out a way to make it work.
For your other projects, what’s going on with Dumpstaphunk?
Dumpster has been working on some new records, some new material. We’ve been in the studio as well, here and there. I have another side project that I’ve been developing for a while. It’s with a guy by the name of Cris Jacobs from Baltimore. He has a band called The Bridge. He and I started working on a project a few years ago, and we have a record that we recently completed. We’ve done one or two shows with that group. I think one of the nights he’s coming out and we’re going Neville/Jacobs, a little preview of some of that music that’s more singer-songwriter kind of stuff. That’s what I got going on these days.
Do you think a Dumpstaphunk record is forthcoming any time soon?
A Dumpstaphunk record is definitely forthcoming. I don’t know when it’s gonna happen. We may release a single or something, put something out there to whet the appetite a little bit, sooner rather than later. We’re gonna be working maybe on getting a video or something together with that. We got a probably albums-worth of material in the can, and we’re still finishing up. But we’ve got a few things that are closer to being finished than others. We’ve got some live stuff in the can that we’re talking about releasing as well. We’re looking forward to putting some fresh music out there for the ears.
Obviously you’re very steeped in the New Orleans music tradition, and New Orleans is such a unique place, musically and culturally. What do you think New Orleans music brings to American music at large?
Oh man. Well that’s a fucking loaded question. New Orleans is like the gumbo. Gumbo is a signature New Orleans dish, and the gumbo is basically—you take all your ingredients. You take a bunch of different stuff and you put it all together, and it makes this amazing dish. You got your seafood, you got your chicken, you got your sausages, you got your vegetables, your seasonings and all that stuff, and it makes this great stew, this great soup. That’s what New Orleans’s music is. It’s a mixture of everything. You got the uptown funk, you got the brass band, 6th Ward, Treme styles of music. You got the jazz. You got the Caribbean influences. You got the African influences. You got all this shit mixed up, and it creates this syncopated thing. Like when you hear The Meters, you hear this syncopation that’s not like a lot of other funk music you hear. And when you hear bands like the Rebirth Brass Band or the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, you hear that shit and you’re like, “That sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard.” And then you take a band like The Neville Brothers. It’s a mixture of the soul, the funk, the Caribbean, and that’s what New Orleans brings to the rest of the world. It brings this mixture of all of these different genres and styles of music that just come out as this one sound, you know? There’s nothing like it in the entire world. It’s nothing— Everybody loves it. Everybody wants a piece of it. Everybody’s influenced by it in some way or another. We just try to bring it everywhere we go, and New Orleans is a place where, if you love music and you love culture, you love food, you love people, you need to go there. You need to come to the Jazz and Heritage Festival. You need to soak up some of this shit. There’s nothing like it.
What is it about New Orleans that makes it such a breeding ground for this kind of music?
I don’t know, maybe it’s something in the water. I don’t know. You got the Mardi Gras spirit, the Mardi Gras Indians. You got the spirit of the second line and just how we celebrate everything—we celebrate life. When somebody dies, we celebrate that with a second line. It’s all about enjoying life and enjoying life to the fullest, and you hear that when we play the music. That’s what it’s about.
As someone who is so close to The Meters and the guys in that band, what do you think of the current landscape of funk music that is so influenced by that? Especially coming from other places like Lettuce and New Mastersounds and new guys like Vulfpeck?
Everybody’s borrowing a little bit from back in the day. All this shit comes from somewhere. I grew up listening to music on the radio in the ‘70s, and that’s what all this shit comes from. And that stuff comes from somewhere else, as well. We think James Brown is the one who kind of started this shit. And then The Meters took it and picked it up and took the New Orleans flavor and their brand of funk and brought it out there. And George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic put their thing out there. So you get all this shit and it’s all based on something else. You got the blues that came before it, and you got the rock-and-roll music that was growing out of that. Everything comes from this other stuff. Basically, we’re all just following. We’re borrowing the little pieces from here or there, trying to keep this shit alive. All the other bands who are out there doing it, like Lettuce and Dumpstaphunk, we’re all just trying to keep this thing going.
