JC brings the funk back home to the Crescent on January 31st at Tipitina's for Papa Mali's 1st Annual Supernatural Ball along with other special guests including Anders Osborne, Stanton Moore, and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux.   On February 3rd, Cleary plays a special solo piano show down in the Marigny at Snug Harbor with 2 shows at 8 and 10 PM.  Rounding out the weekend, JC and his Monster Trio featuring Cornell C. Williams on bass and Eddie Christmas on the drums celebrate Lundi Gras, February 4th at The Howlin' Wolf joined by the wicked funk of Bonerama for a Midnight show after the parades.  Click here for all tour dates. Happy Mardi Gras y'all!

Jon Cleary and The Absolute Monster Gentlemen will open for Bonnie Raitt November 13th at King Center in Melbourne, FL, and November 14th at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, FL. You can buy tickets here by clicking on the venue names. Jon will also be playing these shows as a member of Bonnie's band.

Friday October 26th, Jon Cleary will be playing in Lafayette, LA at Downtown Alive. This is a free event, and will take place on the Parc Sans Souci corner of Polk and Vermilion. Concessions open at 5:30 pm, and the music will begin around 6:00 pm. For more information, click HERE.

Sunday, October 28th, Jon Cleary will play at the 2007 Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans. With a lineup that includes Dr. John, Ben Harper, Hot 8 Brass Band, Spoon, and Wilco, this is the festival to be at. Jon Cleary will be on at 4:15 in the Preservation Hall tent. You can get tickets HERE, or see the full event schedule HERE.

Due to unprecidented demand, Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen have moved some Sydney, Australia shows to accommodate eager fans after tickets. The Basement is now officially on sale for OCT 11TH and all fans who bought tickets to the Will and Toby's shows scheduled on OCT 12TH + 13TH will be refunded in full and have first chance to grab tickets to The Basement. Check out the updated calendar HERE.

Catch JC & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen at the Water Rats Theatre in London on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 8:45pm. Don't miss your opportunity to see the band's only UK performance! For detailed show information, please visit the Water Rats Theatre site.

Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen will embark on a tour of Australia, featuring several shows in Sydney and Melbourne between October 10th - 22nd. JC and The Gents will also be appearing at the Caloundra Music Festival near Queensland's beautiful Sunshine Coast, on October 20th and 21st playing alongside Australian favorites Jimmy Barnes and Darryl Braithwaite. Visit Jon Cleary's tour dates for complete listings.

Jon Cleary joins Galactic as special guest in New York's Central Park Central Park SummerStage in New York City, the flagship performing arts festival of City Parks Foundation, celebrates New Orleans with a FREE performance by Galactic featuring special guests Donald Harrison, Jon Cleary, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & The Golden Eagle Mardi Gras Indians, and Soul Rebel Brass Band on Saturday, August 11, 2007 at 3pm. For more info visit www.summerstage.org.

On Saturday, May 5, at Tipitina's, Jon Cleary will open for new British soul singer, Corinne Bailey Rae headlining her only US show on break from a tour with John Legend. Joining JC will be Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Cornell C. Williams and Derwin "Big D." Perkins. Get tickets while they last.

Laurie doesn’t just look the part — he also weighs in on music the show features. “[Hugh] is my secret weapon,” House executive producer and musical supervisor Katie Jacobs tells us, adding that she often asks Laurie to help select songs the show might potentially use. He’s even brought lesser-known artists to her attention: because of Laurie, Jacobs used the Jon Cleary track “Got to Be More Careful” in an episode during the first season.

READ THE ARTICLE ON ROLLINGSTONE.COM

On the road to New Orleans Jazz Festival 2007, Bonnie Raitt will play dates in the Southeast and Jon Cleary will open on April 21, 22, 24, 25, and 26, with a special band featuring Cornell C. Williams on bass and Ricky Fataar on drums. Fataar is the veteran drummer of Bonnie Raitt and he has a rich rock and roll pedigree working with The Rutles, Beach Boys, Boz Scaggs, and more. Check out his production credits here. For venue and ticket information for these tour dates please click here.

JC will be back on keys with the Bonnie Raitt band for a tour of Australia in April 2007. Check Bonnie's site for details as the dates are confirmed.

VISIT BONNIE'S WEB SITE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Jon Cleary will perform a variety of night shows around the Crescent City during Jazz Fest 2007 starting with a 2-night residency at Preservation Hall as part of the Midnight Preserves Concert Series. Friday, April 27 JC has assembled a special all-star aggregation featuring funky bassist George Porter, Jr. (The Meters), veteran drummer Shannon Powell (Harry Connick, Jr., Kermit Ruffins, Diana Krall), howling R&B legend Walter "Wolfman" Washington on guitar, and the sweet saxophone of Amadee Castenell (Allen Toussaint). Saturday, April 28, JC and The Monster Gents will take the stage at Preservation Hall. Tickets to The Hall are limited and we suggest you purchase tickets in advance here. JC will play a host of other night shows including Instruments A Comin', WWOZ Piano Night, The House Of Blues Parish, The Mapleleaf, and The Louisiana Music Factory. Check out the Shows page.

Catch Jon performing at this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival with The Gents on Saturday April 28th and again on Sunday April 29th playing keys with the legendary Bonnie Raitt.

It may have been cold outside, but Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen kept it hot and heavy with tight beats and ivory slamming funk recently at the Iron Horse in Northampton.
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In March JC and The Gents invaded the Midwest with performances at the The Gibson Lounge in Memphis, The Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, and Fitzgerald's in Berwyn, IL near Chicago.

March 25, JC & AMG returned to the St. John Blues Festival held in the US Virgin Islands presented by music impresario Steve Simon. We look forward to re-visiting the sunny Caribbean and sharing a good time with the people of St. John.

In March 2006 the Bonnie Raitt band played 2 sold out shows at the House of Blues donating the proceeds to a few New Orleans charities for Katrina Relief. During this stop on the tour in JC's hometown they did a student seminar at the famed New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), an arts school whose alumni include Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick, Jr., Terence Blanchard, and Nicholas Payton. Check out the photos from the seminar and visit NOCCA's web site.

Check out Jon playing with Bonnie Raitt's band on AOL Sessions. The performance kicks off with Stevie Wonder sitting in on his own "I Wish". Also sitting in with Bonnie and the band are Maia Sharp, and Jackson Browne.

Click here to watch the performance on AOL Sessions

We were lucky enough to capture some video of Jon and The Absolute Monter Gentlemen during this Summer's hi-energy West Coast Tour. Check out "Groove Me" filmed live at the Mystic
Theatre in Petaluma, CA. WATCH THE VIDEO

Check out the links up top for new good stuff including a Band Personnel page, a complete listing of each and every recording Jon has ever made, and a photo gallery (that will be ever-growing)! Check back often as we continue to add to the web site.

Tracks like "Crooked Crown," "God Was in the Water," "Hear Me Lord," and "Trinkets" are deeply moving. Of her guest performances, "I Don't Want Anything to Change" with Norah Jones is stellar, as is "Unnecessary Mercenary" with funky-as-hell keyboardist Jon Cleary and "Two Lights in the Nighttime" with Ben Harper (all three appear on both discs). There's plenty here to like.
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A two-hour film by Robert Mugge about the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans music community starring Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Cyril Neville, Marcia Ball, Eddie Bo, Theresa Andersson, Kermit Ruffins, The Iguanas, ReBirth Brass Band, Cowboy Mouth, Jon Cleary, Papa Grows Funk, Papa Mali, World Leader Pretend, beatinpath, Stephen Assaf, and many others. Now showing on Starz. Click here to view the trailer.

National Public Radio, July 7, 2006 · Check out audio from Jon's recent performance on NPR's Talk of the Nation with nine-time Grammy winner Bonnie Raitt. Raitt performs songs from Souls Alike and chats with callers, live from NPR's Washington studios. She talks about her music, her career, and the interplay between her work as an artist and her social activism. Click here to listen.

Posted July 3, 2006 · Raitt sang a duet with her longtime band leader, Cleary, on his song ‘‘Unnecessarily Mercenary,’’ with lyrics that deal with a greedy lover, as Cleary crafted Professor Longhair grooves. That pair again swapped verses on a heated boogie-woogie treatment of Kim Wilson’s ‘‘I Believe I’m in Love with You.’’ Read more >

Jon sang a duet on 'Unnecessarily Mercenary' with Bonnie Raitt on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on June 27th.

Times Picayune Music Writer Keith Spera speaks with JC about Bonnie Raitt, New Orleans, and music.

Jon Cleary and The Absolute Monster Gentlemen perform 'When You Get Back' during 'Second Line on Sunset' at the House of Blues in L.A. Oct. 27, 2005 to benefit the MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund.

A concert was staged in New Orleans during the spring of 2004. Performers from all walks of music came together to perform in a show that followed the course of New Orleans music. It is history you can dance to - from the traditional rhythm of Mardi Gras Indians, to early New Orleans  jazz,  rollicking piano renditions and  classic rhythm & blues - to contemporary funk.

In the days of rock stars who play shows like they’re counting the minutes until they can get back to the groupies in the tour bus, it’s nice to see performers on stage who look like they are genuinely having a good time.

Bonnie Raitt rocks the House of Blues, with a little help from her New Orleans friends.

Opener "Unnecessary Mercenary," written and co-sung by British-born keyboard player Jon Cleary, featured his gruff vocal and a romping solo that left little doubt as to where he's from.

Jon Cleary once again has the keyboard chair on the road with the world class Bonnie Raitt touring band in support of her new album SOULS ALIKE, released on SEPTEMBER 13, 2005. Jon has two of his original tracks on the new record - "Love on One Condition" and "Unnecessarily Mercenary". Check out the venues, dates, and cities here: www.bonnieraitt.com.

ALL MUSIC GIVES SOULS ALIKE 4 STARS. Souls Alike is the first album in Bonnie Raitt's 18-disc catalog to bear her own name as producer with some assistance from Tchad Blake. It is also the first album in her career absent a 12-bar blues.

Jon Cleary’s uncle, Johnny Johnson, is a traveler, so the Cleary family could expect the unexpected when Uncle Johnny called to announce his latest whereabouts.

Jon's first CD Alligator Lips & Dirty Rice is now available for download exclusively through Jon's web site. This CD is out of print and soon to be a collector's item. Click here to download the CD. Alligator Lips & Dirty Rice is also available on CD exclusively through Jon's online store. This CD is out of print and soon to be a collector's item.

"'These tunes were cut with some of my favorite New Orleans Musicians...... we played everything live in the studio, just one take stuff, the general idea being that if we put enough of that certain special magic ingredient down the microphone at our end, then you would pick it up coming out of the speakers over at your end." - Jon Cleary, New Orleans, 1989

Check out the new Jon Cleary "More Hipper" T-Shirts in Jon's store! Both are Standard American 100% combed cotton t-shirts - brown with Cleary 'More Hipper' logo on front or light brown Orange 'More Hipper' logo on front. Click on each shirt for a larger image.

Welcoming the new age of digital music Moonburn, the eponomous Jon Cleary & the AMG, and Pin Your Spin are now available on iTunes for your pleasure. Jon's first album Alligator Lips and Dirty Rice is available for download right here on JC's site.

New Orleans-based keyboardist Jon Cleary releases his tough new album, Pin Your Spin (Basin Street Records), on April 20, 2004. Backed by his Absolute Monster Gentlemen band, Cleary will perform a number of headlining gigs to support his new release.

Pin Your Spin is Cleary’s fourth solo album, and his second on Basin Street Records. Produced by veteran John Porter, Pin your Spin soulfully displays Cleary’s outstanding musicianship and song-craft expertise. Cleary effortlessly dishes out a variety of musical dialects: tight-and-right funk, sophisticated balladry, and Big Easy-via-Cuba piano, reminding listeners why he is hailed as one of the very best of his field.

New Orleans' Jon Cleary is a triple threat—with a salty-sweet voice, masterful piano skills, and a knack for stacking infectious grooves with melodic hooks and sharp lyrics. All of his talents are manifest on Pin Your Spin, his tough new Basin Street Records release, produced by John Porter.

Jon is featured in, and appears on the cover of, the April 13th issue of Gambit Weekly. "Whether in the studio or on the stage, Jon Cleary strives to keep the balance between polish and grit. The voice pipes into the studio from the control room: "That sounds a bit weird this time." It's a Wednesday afternoon in November, and Jon Cleary is working with his back-up band, the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, on an instrumental inside Piety Street Recording studio in Bywater. The song, co-written by Cleary and guitarist Derwin "Big D" Perkins, is called "Ain't Nuttin' Nice," from one of the burly guitarist's cachet of favorite phrases."