"Make sure you get the name right," cautions Leo Nocentelli over the phone from his home in North Hollywood. "This isn't the Meters."

The former Meters guitarist is secure about the identity of his new band, Nocentelli. He is proud of his legacy with the Meters, but has a big problem with club owners who sometimes use old Meters photos to promote Nocentelli shows.

For Nocentelli's Jazz Fest gigs—at the Fair Grounds on May 4, at a guitar clinic at the Maple Leaf on the afternoon of...