Where to start with Zigaboo Modeliste?

I'd be going with his oldest stuff first. It might be easier to get into his head? The Cissy Strut is probably the most recognized track outside of his native city. I can sort of mentally figure out his playing, but I can't replicate it at all.
 
I would go with "The very best of the meters" 9.99 on iTunes. It has 16 tracks. 'Cissy strut' and' sophisticated cissy' and 'fire on the bayou" and" they all asked for you" and "hey pocky a way". THats most of there big hits around here.
 
Okay, so I’ve heard the name Zigaboo Modeliste for years, and I’ve heard snippets of his playing here and there, but I don’t have any of his work in my collection. So what’s a good album to start with?

His page is here: http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Joseph_Modeliste.html

His discography is here: http://www.zigaboo.com/discography.html

It’s pretty extensive.

Anybody got suggestions?

I would just grab a Meters first record...self titled from '69

his feel is off the charts

sounds like he is falling off the throne sometimes his back beat is so "late"....I love it

Cissy Strut is a great groove to learn .....great hi hat patterns, unique kick placement, fantastic late back beat

ZIg plays it hand to hand on the hats but I prefer to play it with one hand on the hats
 
I like Rejuvination the best...but you can't go wrong w/ The Meters. Check out Stanton's DVD/Book combo "Groove Alchemy", too - lots of focus on Zig in there.
 
The first one I got was Look Ka Py Py (their 2nd album), when it first came out on CD. It's an absolutely killer album, and every tune has great grooves from Zig. Then I picked up the 2 CD anthology Funkify Your Life when it became available several years later--I second Todd's recommendation of this.

The Meters' sound changed a bit over the years. The first two or three albums were almost all instrumental, and then they added vocals and percussion to subsequent albums in the 70's. I only have the two albums mentioned above, so I can't speak beyond what's on them, but some of the later 70's material got a bit more rock oriented and a little less syncopated (I think the change in sound sort of began when they switched from the Josie label to Warner Brothers, if I'm not mistaken). I tend to prefer the earlier stuff, for the drumming and for the overall sound, but most all of their stuff is pretty killer. For whatever it's worth, their early 70's album Rejuvenation has been cited by some critics as perhaps their best. But I don't think you can go wrong with Look Ka Py Py or Funkify Your Life. The famous tune "Cissy Strut" is from their first album I believe, but its probably on just about any of their compilation albums as well.
 
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