Event

Notes on Seating: The Jack London provides two options for ticket purchasers. Reserved Seating is purchased on a table-by-table basis in the central part of the venue and is only available for select shows. Seating in the General Admission section is limited, first come first served, and may be standing room only.

After 35 years at the forefront of New Orleans’ music scene, Grammy Award winner Jon Cleary brought that sound back home. He gathered his all-star band, the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, in his Bywater home studio, picked a setlist of fan favorites and new songs, and rolled tape.

“We set out to capture that sound in the old-fashioned way: everybody in the room, playing together,” Cleary says.

The result is The Bywater Sessions, co-produced with John Porter (Roxy Music, Taj Mahal). It’s a raw, joyful showcase of the funk and soul that’s filled clubs from New Orleans to Tokyo. The album expands on Cleary’s signature piano trio sound with rich new textures—horns, guitar, percussion, and another keyboard player—allowing the music to “blossom in new directions.”

The band features longtime Gentlemen Cornell Williams (bass) and A.J. Hall (drums), with Nigel Hall (Lettuce) on Hammond organ, Pedro Segundo (Ronnie Scott’s All Stars) on percussion, Xavier Lynn (MonoNeon, Ledisi) on guitar, and horn players Aaron Narcisse, Charlie Halloran, and Jason Mingledorff (Galactic).

“Sophisticated, nasty, good-time, low-down funk is the folk music of New Orleans,” Cleary says. “Everyone on this record is a New Orleanian by birth or by choice. It’s a tradition that stretches back over 200 years. Each generation absorbs the old and introduces the new.”

Cleary was born in London and arrived in New Orleans before age 20. He quickly became a go-to sideman for legends like Earl King, Johnny Adams, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Snooks Eaglin, Ernie K-Doe, Jessie Hill, and Dr. John. He later toured with Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal. His solo work began in 1989 and includes the Grammy-winning Go-Go Juice.

His first gig in New Orleans was painting the Maple Leaf Bar—before long, he was playing inside it. He and the Gentlemen still fill that room today with their evolving take on New Orleans funk and R&B.

“These grooves aren’t museum pieces—they’re alive and breathing,” says Cleary. “That’s why Tipitina’s, the Maple Leaf, and Chickie Wah Wah stay packed when the locals come out to hear the Gentlemen do they thang.”

The Bywater Sessions captures the band as intended: live, in the room, and as funky as ever. “Close your eyes,” says Cleary. “Turn it up. I hope you have as much fun listening as we did playing.”