Jon Cleary, Back to School

Queen’s Hall Theatre, Cranbrook – 5 September 2024

A piano sits in the centre of the stage at the unassuming Queen’s Hall theatre in Cranbrook in the heart of the Kentish Weald. It’s a nice space, often frequented by tribute acts and comedy shows, stage plays and the occasional Cranbrook School production. It is also fair to say that it doesn’t often have Grammy Award winning globally recognised, multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriters performing to this 350 seater theatre. However, tonight sees the return of ‘local boy’ Jon Cleary who attended Cranbrook School in his childhood.

As he walks across the stage and sits in front of his piano, Cleary comments how strange it feels returning to a room that he hasn’t set foot in for some 45 years, joking that he has played the Hollywood Bowl, The Royal Albert Hall and Sydney Opera House but feels that there is quite a bit of pressure on him in this school theatre to play a good gig, for fear of his parents receiving a bad report!

Cleary starts the evening with an upbeat bluesy number ‘Loberta’ by the 30’s piano great, Huey “Piano” Smith, followed by the intricate jazzy blues of ‘Just Because’ from Cleary’s 2023 Album, ‘So Swell’. At times pounding away on the keys,and but at others intricate and delicate. By the time the song comes to an end, the crowd are starting to get the idea that their appreciation is required and the cheering and encouragement starts to build in volume.

Next followed the soulful ‘Still Water’ by blind blues guitarist Snooks Eaglin who Cleary used to play with back in New Orleans. Another soulful old tune, 1961’s ‘Cuttin In’ by Johny ‘Guitar’ Watson followed. Cleary then played the ‘funky’ Jelly Roll Morton cover, ‘The Crave’ with a very different feel from his more traditional Jazz and Blues tunes

Cleary’s songwriting prowess shone through with “Frenchman Street Blues,” a melancholic ode to the heart of New Orleans featured on the HBO series “Treme.” This introspective piece was followed by the infectiously jazzy “When You Get Back” from his 2002 album ‘Jon Cleary and The Absolute Monster Gentlemen’, getting the crowd clapping along nicely. Then followed Cleary’s version of Professor ‘Fess’ Longhair’s 8-bar blues which really got the crowd going.

After a short interval, Cleary returned with the more bouncy ‘Slippin In’ swiftly followed by the Mickey Gilley tune ‘Talk To Me’. Huey Smith’s ‘Farewell to Storyville’ was next, a song about the demise of the district known as Storyville in New Orleans where many of the more nefarious bars of the time were to be found. We were then treated to a great version of Fats Domino’s rocking ‘Blue Monday’.

Throughout the evening, interspersed between songs were anecdotes about his legendary collaborators, now gone but never forgotten. Jon Cleary is not just a musician it seems, but a dedicated custodian of New Orleans music. He even playfully confessed to feeling like one of the “old cats” himself, continuing to ‘hand down’ the songs like those before him.

Cleary then liven’s things up with his take Chuck Carbo’s ‘Second Line On Monday’ a medley to celebrate his friends recent passing. By now the crowd were nicely warmed up and clapping and cheering along. Dr John’s ‘Such a Night’ followed shortly which had a fair few of the Cranbrook audience up and out of their feet, dancing in front of the stage

Cleary ‘finished’ his set with ‘I Get The Blues When it Rains’, another fine track from 2023’s ‘So Swell’, with a nice bout of crowd participation, as everyone sang along at the end of the track before things came to a close… But the night wasn’t over. Returning for an encore, Cleary delivered a great rendition of “Po’ Boy Blues,” leaving the audience on a high.

Throughout the night night, Jon Cleary showed what an amazing musician he was, and what a love he has for the music of his home, New Orleans. Jon usually plays with his band, The Absolute Monster Gentlemen with himself on keyboard and vocals, Cornell C. Williams on bass and A.J. Hall on drums and depending on where they play, up to eight members can fill their ranks but tonight, it was just Jon Cleary, a singularly monster gentleman and a monster talent.

Catch Jon Cleary on tour with his band The Absolute Monster Gentlemen
Check out his website www.joncleary.com or his social media @jonclearymusic