ALBUM REVIEW: Jon Cleary’s ‘The Bywater Sessions’ Celebrates New and Classic Crescent City Music
Grant Britt
Posted On April 25, 2025
Jon Cleary is a monster. Devouring the sounds of New Orleans piano legends including Professor Longhair, James Booker, and Tuts Washington from his Cranbook, Kent home, the funky English pianist left for the Crescent City in 1980 in search of fresh hunting grounds for his insatiable musical appetite. Landing a job as a painter at the city’s famous Maple Leaf Bar, Cleary was able to interact with the piano-pounding legends he had previously only heard on record. As his reputation spread, he was invited to tour with artists including Taj Mahal, Dr. John, and Bonnie Raitt, with whom he is currently touring with as a special guest for selected dates.
As a solo artist, Cleary has released nine previous albums, winning a Grammy for Best Regional Roots Music Album for 2015’s Go Go Juice. Joined by a fleshed-out version of his long-time band, the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Cleary and co. recorded The Bywater Sessions in Cleary’s home studio in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans. The album sounds more like a live performance than a studio effort, thanks to the Monster Gentlemen — Cornell Williams (bass and vocals, A.J. Hall (drums and vocals), Pedro Segundo (percussion), Xavier Lynn (guitar), Nigel Hall of the band Lettuce (B3 organ and vocals), Aaron Narcisse (alto saxophone), Jason Mingledorf of Galactic (tenor saxophone), and Charlie Halloran formerly of Squirrel Nut Zippers (trombone).
The 10-track The Bywater Sessions is comprised mostly Cleary’s originals, as well as a few interpretations of select New Orleans classics. Lead single “So Damn Good” takes clear influence from Little Richard, zipping down the streets of the Crescent City at breakneck speed.
Snatches of Professor Longhair’s classic “Tipitina” are woven into a tribute on “Fessa Longhair Boogaloo.” Cleary spouts fractured Fess-speak, holding onto the elder New Orleans statesman’s calypso/rhumba strut, while adding a bit of slinky funk and Latin rhythms. It’s a roiling, multi-cultural stew with snippets of Champion Jack Dupree’s Junker’s Blues” tossed in for flavoring. Another choice cover comes in Lee Dorsey’s “Lottie Mo,” as the band puts in a Fess-inspired roll and wiggle into the song that could disjoint hips attempting a second line strut in the streets.
But it’s New Orleans itself that brings The Bywater Sessions together. “Uptown Downtown” is a high-steppin’ second line jangle with Cleary tinkling madly, spittin’ out a tongue-twisting travelogue of New Orleans topography — “uptown/downtown/around town/back-of-town” — as the Absolute Monster Gentlemen blast a brassy path through the city. Later, Cleary warns listeners to keep their dirty hands off his “Zulu Coconuts.” And while that might sound like double entendre to non-New Orleans residents, Zulu Coconuts are, in fact, prized keepsakes thrown from a float in New Orleans’ Zulu parade on Fat Tuesday, hollowed out shells adorned with gold and glitter. It all just goes to show that once again, Cleary and his Absolute Monster Gentlemen have come up with a celebration of New Orleans’ culture sure to cause dancing in the streets.
Jon Cleary’s The Bywater Sessions is due out April 25, 2025 via Well Kept Secret.
