The Charmaine Neville Band
"We get a kick from Charmaine"
- Vogue -
Charmaine Neville
As the daughter of one of the highly acclaimed Neville Brothers, Charmaine is heir to a rich New Orleans musical legacy but is busy putting her own stamp on this musical heritage. Neville and her band dish out a spicy mix of the best of New Orleans music, from the nastiest of blues to some V 8-driven R&B. Add a funky rhythm and some jazzy ballads, and you’ve got yourself one helluva Crescent City gumbo!
“All music is good music,” she says firmly. “I try to cover the whole spectrum and do just everything. I don’t want to be stagnated and stuck in a rut... people ask, 'Oh, what category would you put your music in?, and I say, 'Good’"
Born into the third generation of the New Orleans legendary musical family, Charmaine has, nonetheless, worked hard to get where she is and make her music Known as her own. The work has paid off - as one reviewer recently wrote, "Charmaine Neville is beginning to rival her father and uncles in terms of popularity in New Orleans.'' She started out backing up the Neville Brothers and went on to perform with the survivors, a band whose alumni list includes Harry Connick Jr. and Bobby McFerrin. It was here that she first started working with saxophonist Reggie Houston.
The band, certainly one of the best to come out of New Orleans, is co-led by natty piano wizard Amasa Miller and Fats Domino graduate Reggie Houston on sax.
“Devoted fans worldwide acclaim the Charmaine Neville Band. They’ve played festivals and clubs in Rome, Paris, Copenhagen, Germany, Japan, and Barbados. High-styled vocalizing member of the Crescent City-s illustrious Neville family, this group gave a packed house one of the best jazz/pop cabaret concerts to grace the city in some Lime". CHARLESTON POST
Charmaine Neville can pluck a guitar well enough to write original lyrics
and music, but her dramatic vocal range and endless energy are what audiences
remember most.
The Band
Amasa Miller
Amasa has been hailed as 'one of the must sought after pianists in the City,
and one of the freshest contributors to the New Orleans tradition." A
New York transplant, he got hooked on New Orleans music after hearing the
piano playing of Professor Longhair, Dr. John and James Booker. He has played.
with Aaron Neville, Linda Ronstadt, Steven Stills and Maria Muldaur, among
others. He has recorded with Bob Dylan, Lil Queenie, Pfister Sisters, Peter
Stampfel, Spider John Koerner and Makoto Kubota of Japan. His musical influences
are as varied as his talents, from classical to pop, from country / western
to jazz. and back to rock-and-roll, from the piano playing of Abdullah Ibrahim
to tango, klezmer and Gypsy swing. To put it simply, this cat can play it
all!