New Orleans groove suits British-born Cleary well

British-born New Orleans singer-pianist Jon Cleary has no less than eight gigs lined up in the next eight days. His performance sprint begins Saturday with a set at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, continues with a Mid City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl gig that evening, a Sunday show at d.b.a. on Frenchmen Street, more appearances through the week and, finally, a CD release party at the Maple Leaf Bar next Sunday.

Looks like a lot of work, but Cleary’s marathon of New Orleans performances probably won’t even cause the funk and rhythm-and-blues musician to raise a sweat.

“It’ll be fairly easy compared to what we’ve just done,” he said last week from New Orleans. “We just did something like 35 gigs in 41 days in Australia and Europe. So this’ll be like a vacation.”

Following his New Orleans dates, Cleary immediately begins rehearsal for a month-long tour with Bonnie Raitt. He’s been a member of the roots-music star’s band for 10 years. More road work follows with his own band, the Absolute Monster Gentlemen.

Cleary wants to record a new studio album, but he’s so busy performing that finding time for such a project is a challenge. Mo Hippa, his splendid new inconcert CD, however, likely will please his fans.

“People have been asking for a live album for ages,” he said. “Generally, I don’t like live records, but this one captures the vibe.”

Cleary and his band recorded Mo Hippa at The Vanguard, a jazz club in Sydney, Australia, where the group played a twonight stand.

“They wanted to record one night for Australian radio,” he said. “So I said, ‘Well, let’s leave all the mikes up and record the second night, too.’ ”

Cleary didn’t listen to the performance until his San Francisco- based manager, Lee Frank (former promotions director at Tipitina’s in New Orleans), suggested he check it out. The next move was getting the recording to John Porter, a fellow Briton whose decades of credits includes Buddy Guy, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Billy Bragg and the Smiths. Porter is a Cleary fan and vice versa.

“By the time he put some studio wizardry on there it sounded really, really good,” Cleary said. “I thought, ‘Wow, maybe we should put this out as a live record.’ ” Mo Hippa mixes Cleary originals with renditions of New Orleans classics.

“I like to do some of our stuff and some of the old stuff,” he said. “If you tread in the footsteps of those people who went before, learn what they do and then try to do your own thing, hopefully, you add to the genre.”

The Cleary-composed title track, “Mo Hippa,” is his tip of the hat to New Orleans musicians Eddie Bo, Snooks Eaglin, Ernie K-Doe and Art Neville. “Guys I look up to,” he said. The disc also features Professor Longhair’s “Go To The Mardi Gras” and “Tipitina.” “I think I’ve played ‘Tipitina’ on every gig I’ve ever done,” Cleary said. King Floyd’s divinely funky “Groove Me” is another of the record’s New Orleans favorites. “Wardell Quezergue is credited as the arranger (of ‘Groove Me’), but he’s really a great composer,” Cleary said. “If you listen to the records, the reason they work so well is because of the way he put the individual parts together. That’s all the product of his imagination.”

Cleary migrated to New Orleans from England in 1980. He’d grown up with parents who loved American jazz. His parents, in fact, are traveling to New Orleans for this year’s Jazz Fest.

“Yeah, they’re very serious about music,” he said. “My mum was always passionate about New Orleans jazz and, at the time, there were jazz bands all over England playing traditional New Orleans jazz. I remember going to the village pub and hearing bands playing Kid Ory tunes.”

His peers in England, Cleary added, “they’re enjoying New Orleans vicariously through me. They’re very supportive, but I think they’re a bit jealous and wish they could have come over here and do what I did. “I got very lucky to be able to stay in New Orleans and play with people who were just names on records and in history books (in England). I actually got to play with all of these people. Now I count them amongst my friends.”