On Broadway - Jess Roden solo (1):

With both Bronco and The Butts Band having run their respective courses, Jess was once again at something of a musical cross-roads.

Equals - time for a change of scene. And, with those tape boxes dusted off...

CB had picked up an album by a chap from Sheffield, Alabama - name of Swamp Dogg who he thought might be a good producer for me. So plans were being made for me to go out there to work with him.

The Dogg's only Island album was, itself, released early in '74 and Blackwell's instincts may well have been pretty close to the button given Swamp Dogg's reputation for edgy proto-funk (cf Sly Stone), lyrical absurdism (cf Frank Zappa) toward soul with a pop sensibility.

However, in retrospect, it might not have been an ideal match as, reminiscing during 1998, Swamp Dogg mentioned: 'When I was in the '70's, I was very fucking wealthy. But I was a fucking basket case. I had a nervous breakdown, I had an identity crisis, I didn't know who the fuck I was''.

Swamp Dogg was also high on President Nixon's enemy of the state list - alongside the likes of Jane Fonda.

I don’t exactly remember why that didn’t happen but it may have had something to do with the fact that it was Christmas time (1973) and Elaine was in the advanced stages of pregnancy. And then, on February 19th 1974 - Jamie our son was born.

Anyway, with that plan shelved, an even tastier one was being worked out.

A few days later, I got a plane to New Orleans to work with Allen Toussaint and the Meters. Phil Chen flew out with me - he was just passing through but when he heard I was going to work with those guys he thought it would be a good time to come and meet them too.

Allen, The Meters, Marshall Sehorn and all of the Sea-Saint Studio crew were just fantastic to me because, having just become a dad for the first time, I was a little homesick right from the start.

Allen sent a huge bouquet of flowers to Elaine back in England offering congratulations and promising that the entire gang would take good care of me.

Marshall Sehorn had been a driving force in the evolution of the New Orleans R&B sound, having spearheaded hits for Lee Dorsey in his own right prior to teaming up with Allen Toussaint to co-found Sea-Saint on the city's Clematis Avenue during the late-sixties.

The studio already had a reputation as a heady creative environment that embodied a whole new sound - as much as Stax and Motown had their own 'sound', so did Sea-Saint - not least due to the exemplary semi-house band that featured The Meters.

The studio was also famed for its recordings by Dr John, the Wild Tchoupitoulas (one of whose albums found its way onto Island), The Meters (who's Cissy Strut also came out on Island UK) as well as The Neville Brothers themselves and would, in time, spawn LaBelle's Lady Marmalade as well as Wings' Venus And Mars.

I sat with Allen and played him my songs on acoustic guitar.

The next day, the recording sessions began. Allen had worked up arrangements for a couple of the songs (I think, Reason To Change and Sad Story) and he and the Meters were so fantastically tight, that I don’t recall any song taking more than three takes to complete.

Considered by many to be the founding fathers of funk, The Meters created a unique sound blending New Orleans blues with dance grooves that lasted through the sixties until they disbanded in 1979.

Their history stretches back to 1967, when Art Neville (keyboards - and already a veteran of the South's musical community) recruited George Porter, Jr. (bass), Joseph (Zigaboo) Modeliste (drums) and Leo Nocentelli (guitar) to form The Meters.

In 2009, The Meters (now having reformed) continue to dazzle audiences all over the world; the adjective 'supergroup' is far too widely utilised but, in their case - entirely apposite and they continue to exert an unparalleled influence on contemporary music.

So that’s how it went, Allen would disappear for a while and then return with more of the songs arranged and ready to cut.

We always started the sessions around Midday - we’d break for dinner around 6-7ish (usually something delicious that had been cooked up by one of the Seahorn crew) and then sort of review or dub a few bits.

After a week, all the tracks had been recorded. I spent a couple of days over-dubbing some vocals and then the whole thing was mixed.

Returning to England, I had a little time off to do some serious family bonding and then went back into Basing Street Studios to finish up the album with CB.

At that time, there was just so much going on. Island were going to get right behind the album and also, plans were being made to get me out on the road to promote the record when it was released.

My thoughts turned to Phil Chen and all the guys that I’d worked with making the album. Of course, this proved to be a non-starter because most of those guys were in constant demand one way or another.

A demo tape had been sent to Island A&R by a six piece band called Iguana.

At the time, they were playing in a style not unlike The Crusaders (melodic/jazzy/funk). I don’t know who it was in the A&R department at Island who thought it up, but... it was suggested to me and Iguana that we might like to meet up.

I suspect there may have been a little reticence on their part, after all they were looking to get a record deal in their own right, but they didn’t say no to the idea.

I went down to Southampton to meet them in a pub where they rehearsed. We spent the afternoon together and just chatted about what we liked etc. and, I must have played them tapes of my upcoming record.

We all seemed to be getting on really well and agreed to rehearse some stuff. And, that’s exactly what we did.

Anyhow... CB wanted one more song to add to the album (for the American version) before release and hopefully, a single.

So, I went into the studio with Iguana and we cut ‘Under Suspicion’.

With the album ready to be released and a tour supporting Roxy Music lined up, Jess Roden and Iguana became... The Jess Roden Band.

Thrust into it like that, we soon found our feet and after a month of pretty constant gigging, the band had shaped up really well.