RHYTHM AND METERS GUITARIST LEO NOCENTELLI BRINGS BACK THE SOUND OF HIS LEGENDARY BAND FOR A SPECIAL PRE-MARDI GRAS SHOW.

Byline: Fred Shuster Music Writer

It was carnival time in New Orleans and future guitar great Leo Nocentelli was plain scared out of his wits. Just a kid, he would get a lasting impression of one group of parade participants called the Skeletons.

The tribe, among many colorful marching groups with names like the Indians, the Baby Dolls, the Shake 'Em Down Second Liners, and the Kings and Queens of Zulu, presented a frightening face to an artistic 10- year-old.

Wearing huge papier-mache skulls and rubber suits decorated with painted-on bones, the Skeletons would saunter down the avenue, Day of the Dead-style, on Fat Tuesday.

``One year I dressed up as Hopalong Cassidy,'' Nocentelli remembers. ``I had the double six-shooters, the leather wristbands. And one of my big fears was seeing those Skeletons with the skulls coming down the street. Every time I'd see them, I'd hide. They really were scary. The suits looked like deep-sea diving outfits but they probably didn't have money to buy those. I think they made the outfits out of inner tubes and sewed them together and colored the white bones on.''

Years later, Nocentelli drew upon the mystery of the Crescent City and its rituals in his work with the Meters, one of pop history's great rhythm sections. The original quartet, formed by keyboardist Art Neville in 1967 and sounding like a paranoid answer to Booker T. & the MG's, was called often by legendary producer and studio owner Allen Toussaint for sessions with acts from around the world seeking the ensemble's earthy syncopation.

``The Meters was the original jam band,'' Nocentelli mused from his North Hollywood home. ``We played what we felt and extended it from there. A lot of that stuff was created in the studio with the tape rolling. We'd just play and it locked together somehow.''

After the Meters disbanded at the end of the 1970s after five frequently brilliant albums for Reprise (plus the timeless ``Wild Tchoupitoulas'' disc), Nocentelli took record dates, toured with the Neville Brothers and launched a solo career. He appears tonight, just a few days before Mardi Gras, in a rare local show at L.A.'s Conga Room.

``It's the same instrumentation as the Meters,'' Nocentelli says. ``That's what I'm known for, that's the signature sound. I carry on the tradition, especially now that more people are finding out about that style of music.''

That means you can expect both a well-lubricated crowd in a party mood and gritty readings of classic Meters material including ``Sophisticated Cissy,'' ``Cissy Strut,'' ``People Say'' and ``Hey Pocky Way.''

Living in Los Angeles for about 20 years, Nocentelli has found the city's thriving studio and club scene fertile ground. In the mid-'80s, he could be seen playing weekends with Etta James in a memorable residency at the now-closed Vine Street Bar & Grill. He also appeared on acclaimed albums by Peter Gabriel and Robbie Robertson, among many others.

Nocentelli has been able to contribute to so many musical styles because of his background in jazz, an element that becomes apparent in stage performances. While there were few guitar teachers available to him as a youngster, he soaked up the sounds of Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell, Johnny Smith and Charlie Christian.

``It wasn't easy but I stretched my fingers to try and get what they were doing,'' the musician said. ``It hurt, but it's helped me over the years.''

Since the popularity of such younger bands as Galactic, Medeski Martin & Wood, Widespread Panic, the Red Hot Chili Peppers (who covered two Meters songs on their second album in 1985 and still perform them in concert) and a recent tribute to the Big Easy funk by jazz-rock guitarist John Scofield, Nocentelli has enjoyed worldwide interest.

``I could work 850 days a year if I wanted to, but I prefer to play less regularly,'' Nocentelli said. ``But, when I do, I go for the more prestigious places where I'm able to get the money I feel I deserve. So I try and make every gig a special event. And because of the sampling of the Meters material I wrote, I'm able to live out of the mailbox.

``At long last, the Meters are getting some financial recognition.''

LEO NOCENTELLI

Where: Conga Room, 5364 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

When: 9 tonight.

Tickets: $15 to $40. Call [phone] or visit congaroom.com.

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Photo:

- Leo Nocentelli

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer