Jon Cleary And The Absolute Monster Gentleman by Jon Cleary And The Absolute Monster Gentleman

25 Jan

Written by Mark Keresman
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This Jon Cleary fella is a shameless purveyor of New Orleans funk, a Captain of the cruise ship S.S. Get Down, a man in whose past lurks the sobriquet "Jellyroll" or "88 Fingers." He's a chap with a robust yet tasteful dexterity over piano, bass, guitar, organ, dobro, mandolin and his delicately yowling, hearty salt-of-the-earth voice (that resembles the late Lowell George, pre-cola-commercial Robert Palmer and a less raspy, more urbane Gregg Allman). He calls his band The Absolute Monster Gentleman with pride - as well he should, because they bring a gentlemanly, Saturday night swagger to their well-oiled, slinky-sexy, jazz-charged, old school funk-oriented, smooth-without-being-slick cross betwixt The Meters/Neville Brothers, Dr. John and Lowell George-era Little Feat. The great Bonnie Raitt stops by to lend her classy slide guitar to one tune and to sing a bit here ‘n’ there. But this is Cleary & co.’s show all the way: a program of easygoin’-but-not-mellow goodtime tunes from the funky side of the N.O. tracks that maintains a high level of craft and musicianship throughout. If you can afford a trip to where they filmed ‘The Big Easy,’ this’d be a nice consolation prize.