Art Neville - Mardi Gras Rock'n'Roll

New Orleans native Art Neville first made a splash on the local recording scene as lead singer and pianist of the Hawketts on their disc “Mardi Gras Mambo” recorded for Chess in 1955. The following year Harold Battiste, Specialty’s man in New Orleans, signed Art to a solo deal and younger brother Aaron Neville took Art’s place in the Hawketts.

Only 3 Art Neville singles were released by Specialty – “Oooh-Whee Baby” / “The Whiffenpoof Song” in 1957, “Zing Zing” / “Cha Dooky-Doo” in 1958, and “Arabian Love Call” / “What’s Going On” in 1959. That means that the bulk of the tracks on this Ace LP were unreleased in the 1950s. Of particular interest to rock’n’roll fans is the shared vocal with Larry Williams on “Rocking Pneumonia”. This side originates from a series of sessions that the two singers shared at Cosimo Matassa’s studio in 1958 as Specialty owner Art Rupe attempted to get Williams’ career back on track following a slump in his record sales.

In 1961 Art moved to Minit Records owned by Joe Banashak. Younger brother Aaron had already signed for that label in 1960, which is actually a very good link to our next post …

There’s some good New Orleans rock’n’roll to hear on this 1986 LP, so download and dance your little hearts out, my fellow boppers!

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

Mardis Gras Rock'n'Roll (Mega)


1. Zing Zing
2. Oooh-Whee Baby
3. Bella Mae
4. I'm A Fool To Care
5. Cha-Dooky-Doo
6. Back Home To Me
7. What's Going On
8. Old Time Rock'n'Roll
9. Rocking Pneumonia & The Boogie Woogie 'Flu *
10. Bring It On Home Baby
11. The Dummy
12. Oooh-Whee Baby (No 1)
13. Let's Rock
14. Arabian Love Call
15. Please Listen To My Song
16. The Whiffenpoof Song

* with Larry Williams