Jon Cleary (musician)

This article is about the British-born musician. For the Australian writer, see Jon Cleary. For other uses, see John Cleary (disambiguation).
Jon Cleary
Cleary in 2008
Cleary in 2008
Background information
Born August 11, 1962
Cranbrook, Kent, England
Genres Funk, R&B, soul
Occupation(s) Musician
Instrument(s) Piano
Years active 1980–present
Labels FHQ, Single Lock, Basin Street, Virgin/Point Blank, Ace
Website joncleary.com

Jon Cleary (born August 11, 1962) is a British-born, American funk and R&B musician, based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Cleary is an accomplished pianist as well as being a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter.

Cleary has performed with a number of prolific musicians including Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, B.B. King, Ryan Adams, and Eric Burdon. Compositions by Cleary have been recorded by such notable musicians as Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt, and John Scofield on his 2009 album Piety Street.

Cleary's current band is Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen, who have released six albums. Their album Go Go Juice won the Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album in the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.

Early life

Cleary is originally from Cranbrook, Kent, in the south-east of England. He attended Colliers Green Primary School, Angley Secondary and then Cranbrook School. His father played guitar but it was his uncle, returning from trips to America bringing recordings of Professor Longhair and others, who inspired his love for R&B. Cleary's focus was always more on art and music and everything that goes with it, than academic pursuits, and he soon left schooling behind to develop a life in music.

Career

Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen

Jon Cleary, Cornell Williams (b) & A.J. Hall (dr) at INNtöne Jazzfestival, Austria 2016

Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen consist of Cleary on keyboard and vocals, Cornell C. Williams on bass and backup vocals, and A.J. Hall on drums. All of the band members, except for Cleary, were born in New Orleans. The Absolute Monster Gentlemen can swell to an 8-piece band, often including musicians like Nigel Hall on keyboards, Pedro Segundo on percussion, Xavier Lynn on guitar, and the Absolute Monster Horns.

The band tours worldwide and regularly performs at classic New Orleans venues like Tipitina's and the Maple Leaf Bar. They are also a mainstay at the annual Jazz and Heritage Festival and have played at Bonnaroo as well as other music festivals. Rolling Stone's David Fricke wrote of the Pin Your Spin album: "Cleary can be an absolute monster on his own, but Cleary’s full combo R&B is as broad, deep and roiling as the Mississippi river, the combined swinging product of local keyboard tradition, Cleary’s vocal-songwriting flair for moody Seventies soul and the spunky-meters roll of his Gentlemen".

Other

Cleary is interviewed on screen and appears in performance footage in the 2005 documentary film Make It Funky!, which presents a history of New Orleans music and its influence on rhythm and blues, rock and roll, funk and jazz. In the film, Cleary performs a piano duo of "Tipitina" with Allen Toussaint.

Cleary played piano on Annika Chambers' 2016 album, Wild & Free.

Cleary was featured frequently on HBO's Treme.

Discography

Albums
  • Alligator Lips & Dirty Rice (Ace, 1994)
  • Moonburn (Virgin/Poinblank, 1999)
  • Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen (Basin Street, 2002)
  • Pin Your Spin (Basin Street, 2004)
  • Do Not Disturb (EP) (FHQ, 2007)
  • Mo Hippa (FHQ, 2008)
  • Occapella (FHQ, 2012)
  • Go Go Juice (FHQ, 2015)
  • Dyna-Mite (FHQ, 2018)
  • So Swell (Single Lock, 2023)
Appearances