JON CLEARY and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen

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Jon Cleary’s love and affinity for New Orleans music goes back to the rural British village of Cranbrook, Kent, where he was raised in a musical family. In 1981 Cleary flew to New Orleans and took a cab straight from the airport to the Maple Leaf Bar, where he soon graduated to playing piano. As word of Cleary’s burgeoning talent spread, he was hired by New Orleans R&B legends Snooks Eaglin, Earl “Trick Bag” King, Johnny Adams, and Jessie “Ooh Poo Pah Doo” Hill, while also gaining the respect of the great pianists Dr. John and Allen Toussaint. Cleary’s work pays obvious homage to the classic Crescent City keyboard repertoire while also using it as a launching pad for a style that incorporates such other diverse influences as ’70s soul and R&B, gospel music, funk, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Cuban rhythms, and much more.