After thirty-five years of being at the forefront of the ever-evolving musical landscape of New Orleans, two-time Grammy Award winner Jon Cleary is hitting the road to bring audiences a musical tour-de-force that showcases the grit, funk and joy that’s packed concert halls from his home in New Orleans to London, Tokyo and beyond.  

“Sophisticated, nasty, good-time, low-down funk is the folk music of New Orleans,” Cleary says. “Everyone playing on this stage is a New Orleanian by birth or by choice, having learned their craft at the feet of the masters who in turn were taught by the old lions in their day - it's a tradition stretching back over two hundred years. The roots go deep, but each generation, growing up with street parades and second-lines, absorbs the old and introduces the new, gently coaxing the essential essence into and out of each succeeding decade.”

Born in London and on a plane to New Orleans before he turned twenty years old, he grew up absorbed by the sounds and rhythms of the Crescent City. His mastery of the city’s music landed him gigs playing as a session musician in the bands of local legends Earl King, Johnny Adams, Walter ‘Wolfman’ Washington, Snooks Eaglin, Ernie K-Doe, Jessie Hill– and as a guitarist for Dr. John. He later toured extensively with icons like Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal. His solo career began in earnest in 1989 and includes beloved records like their self-titled band debut and his 2015 Grammy winner, Go-Go Juice. 2024’s The Bywater Sessions, continued this legacy, strengthening the band to its largest version yet and generating the highest streaming and sales numbers of his career.

2026 will see the release of Live at the Royal Albert Hall, a solo performance and piano tour-de-force where you can hear Cleary invite the crowd at the venerable London institution to “stomp your hands, clap your feet, and turn this hall into a back alley juke joint in New Orleans.

It was quite a full circle moment, considering his first job off the plane to New Orleans from London was as a painter at beloved local club the Maple Leaf Bar. It wasn’t long until he was playing piano in that very room– just one of the countless halls that he and his band continue to pack all over the Crescent City, performing their unique and ever-evolving take on New Orleans funk and R&B.

“These grooves are not museum pieces, they are alive, breathing and fresh - and that’s why joints like Tipitina’s, The Maple Leaf Bar and Chickie Wah Wah are always packed when the locals, young and old, come out to hear the Gentlemen do they thang,” Cleary proudly adds.