George Porter Jr.: The Meters' Bass Man Who Helped Invent Funk

The Funkiest Bass Player in New Orleans

George Porter Jr. is one of those musicians whose name might not be immediately recognized by the casual listener but whose playing has been heard by virtually everyone with ears. As the founding bassist of The Meters — alongside Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli, and Zigaboo Modeliste — he helped create funk music. Not influenced it. Not contributed to it. Created it. The Meters laid down the rhythmic blueprint that James Brown refined, that Parliament-Funkadelic expanded, and that hip-hop would eventually sample into infinity. And at the foundation of all of it was George Porter's bass.

The Meters formed in the mid-1960s in New Orleans and quickly became the most in-demand rhythm section in the city. Allen Toussaint used them as his house band, and their playing appears on hundreds of recordings from the era. But it was their own material — instrumental funk tracks like "Cissy Strut," "Look-Ka Py Py," and "Hey Pocky A-Way" — that established them as one of the most important bands in American music history.

The Session King

Porter's bass playing is a study in the power of restraint and groove. He does not play notes so much as he places them — each one exactly where it needs to be, with the perfect amount of space around it, creating bass lines that lock in with the drums so tightly that the rhythm section sounds like a single organism. His style is deeply rooted in New Orleans second line rhythms, but it is also influenced by R&B, jazz, and the intuitive musical conversation that happens when four musicians who have been playing together for years can anticipate each other's every move.

As a session musician, Porter has appeared on more recordings than he can probably count. His bass has provided the foundation for artists across every genre, from rock to soul to jazz to hip-hop. He is one of the most prolific musicians on the New Orleans scene, a man who seems constitutionally incapable of not playing.

The Runnin' Pardners and Beyond

After The Meters disbanded, Porter started a new group called The Runnin' Pardners, releasing an album on Rounder Records in 1990. But the project that has defined his post-Meters career is his seemingly endless schedule of live performances. Porter plays year-round in New Orleans, often multiple nights a week, sitting in with virtually every musician one can imagine. He is the connective tissue of the New Orleans music scene — the bassist who has played with everyone, who knows every song, and who can lock into any groove at a moment's notice.

At an age when most musicians have slowed down, George Porter Jr. shows no signs of stopping. He is still on stage, still laying down the groove, still proving that the bass is not a supporting instrument but the foundation on which everything else is built. The Meters may have invented funk, but George Porter keeps it alive, one gig at a time.