“The Bywater Sessions” (FHQ Records/Well-Kept Secret)
By Eleni P. Austin
If the world is getting you down, there’s a quick and painless remedy readily available. Slap a copy of Jon Cleary’s The Bywater Sessions on the turntable and you’ll immediately feel all that bad mojo wash away.
Even if you aren’t familiar with his name, chances are, you have heard Jon Cleary. He’s played with everyone from Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Taj Mahal to Bonnie Raitt, D’Angelo, Eric Burdon, Dr. John and Maria Muldaur. He makes his home in New Orleans, but his story begins in Cranbrook Kent in South East England.
Born in 1962, he began playing guitar at age five and formed his first band at 15. His dad had played guitar too, but Jon’s main influence came from an uncle that would bring records back following trips to America. Listening to Professor Longhair, classic R&B and Jazz, ignited his passion for New Orleans music. Once he finished school. He made his first pilgrimage to New Orleans. He hung out so much at the venerable Maple Leaf Club, that the owner offered him a job painting the place. His wages were free admission and free beer. Not long after, he realized his true calling was piano. The place where he lived had a piano, and began practicing on the reg. Pretty soon, he put down the guitar for good.
Returning to England, he formed a six-piece band that played traditional New Orleans R&B. He developed a reputation as a “talented and gentlemanly” musician. Despite success on his home turf, the lure of New Orleans was too great. He returned to Louisiana and began booking solo gigs and also became an in-demand sideman, playing with Bluesman like Smokey Johnson, James Singleton and the legendary George Porter, from the Meters. Walter “Wolfman” Washington was so taken with Jon’s playing that he offered him a permanent spot in his band. It was there that he received a master class education, absorbing more sophisticated forms of R&B and Blues and also began incorporating more Latin-tinged influences into his playing.
Around the same time, he started writing his own songs and decided to start a new band, The Absolute Monster Gentlemen. Soon, he was playing legendary clubs like Tipitina’s, Chickie Wah Wah and of course, The Maple Leaf, where he first soaked up the sounds of the Big Easy. Unfortunately, he encountered visa issues and temporarily returned to the U.K., but it was there he connected with producer John Porter (Roxy Music, The Smiths, B.B. King, Buddy Guy). He produced Jon’s 1999 solo debut, Moonburn. Three years later Jon reunited with the Absolute Monster Gentleman and recorded their eponymous effort. 2004 saw the release of their Pin Your Spin album. Bonnie Raitt dug their sound and invited the four-piece to go on the road with her.
All told, Jon has released ten albums. His 2015 effort, GoGo Juice, won a Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album. Now he’s returned with his 11th long-player, The Bywater Sessions.
The record springs into action on the opening cut, “So Damn Good.” a blowsy brass exhale and a piano fanfare are quickly supplanted by a punchy boom-cha beat, swinging bass lines, sanctified Hammond organ, brisk guitars, swaying horns, some rollicking piano and a tambourine shake. Jon explains that “Well, good just ain’t enough, I’ve got to have a little rough with the smooth, and if life’s too easy when I’m standing still, it’s time to get up and move.” Call and response backing vocals take us to church, and by the break, Jon unleashes a speed-shifting piano run that hugs the twists and turns of the hairpin arrangement.
Eight of the 10 songs on this record are originals, but Jon and the band manage to put their stank all over a couple of classics. First off, is The Meters’ “Just Kissed My Baby.” Wah-Wah guitars and greazy organ lay down a Swamp-Funk groove, augmented by a popping bass line, shaker percussion, syncopated horns and a tom-tom heavy beat. Although the song was originally featured on their 2002 album, and has been a staple of their live sets for decades, this take feels more urgent and souped-up. Jon’s vocals simply swagger as he humble brags: “I feel brand new, cause I just kissed my baby, Lord have mercy, and I’m going back for number two, cause I just kissed my baby, and I feel so doggone great, it just can’t wait, just kissed my baby, me and my girl need to hibernate, cause I just kissed my baby.” The break finds the drummer keeping it in the pocket, meanwhile, Jon unfurls a teardrop-tinctured solo on electric piano that’s punctuated by the vocal refrain “Loose booty” and a bit of vocalese.
Lee Dorsey’s “Lottie Mo,” first popped up on Jon’s So Swell When You’re Well album from a couple years ago, but here, the arrangement shifts into a tight Afro-Latin rhythm. A deft piano salvo dominates the extended instrumental introduction and is swiftly superimposed by a propulsive horn section, sleek guitars, sinewy bass, swirly organ and an akimbo beat. Lyrics confront a faithless woman: “Know you did me wrong, you know you did me wrong, you know you did me wrong, oh Lottie baby, oh Lottie baby, what are you going to do? You tell me that you love me, and not a word of it is true.” Jon’s aggrieved mien is handily papered over by the band’s joyful noise. Jon recently stated in an interview that “everyone playing on this recording is New Orleanian by birth or by choice.” On an album stacked with superlative tracks, four stand out from the pack because they’re NOLA to their core. Take “Bin A Lil Minit,” a sassy strut that weds an irresistible snare drum rat-a-tat to knockabout percussion, stickity bass, chunky guitars and a bit of baddass Boogie-Woogie piano. Lyrics like “Been a long mile, ain’t seen your smile, outta my mind like it’s outta style, bin too long since we all up in it, bin a lil minit since me and you diddly do,” celebrate a carnal homecoming of sorts. Stacked horns high-step it just ahead of the break, which drills down on a blitzkrieg barrage of piano and then the horns roar back, bobbing and weaving through the mix of fortissimos and pianissimos. To paraphrase another local, it’s gonna make you wanna Shake Ya Ass.
Then there’s “Zulu Coconuts,” which expounds on the Mardi Gras tradition of the Zulu Parade. Every year the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, give out hand-painted coconuts from their ginormous floats to lucky parade attendees. Pulsating horns are matched by tensile guitars, lithe bass lines, some rambunctious piano and a rattle-trap beat. Taking a page from The Rebirth Brass Band, Jon insists you can “Do Whatcha Wanna, except one thing, take your dirty hands off my Zulu Coconuts….you can come on in my house, and you can bang on my front door, you can drink up all my liquor and pass out on the floor, you can steal my gas money and the keys to my car, but you can’t touch, cause that’s too much, now you’ve gone too far, oh, baby, take your dirty hands off my Zulu coconuts, leave them nuts alone, aw, leave them nuts alone.” A virtuoso piano solo is bookended by blustery horns on the break, as rough-and-tumble percussion takes it home. Meanwhile, “Uptown Downtown” takes geography to a whole new level. A fractious jumble of notes kicks over into a triple-time tattoo, slinky organ fills, a staccato horn fusillade, gamboling guitars and sinewy bass lines, as Jon’s vocals leap into the fray. An exultant ode to Mardi Gras, the lyrics remind us that there’s a party to be found on every street corner: “Down in New Orleans, we know where there’s a good time, uptown, downtown, round town, back in town,” noting that come Ash Wednesday, “If you ain’t all a mess, you done failed the test.” As if to strengthen that claim, a wailing sax and a rippling piano run execute a unruly pas de deux on the break.
Finally, the record’s piece de resistance is “Fessa Longhair Boogaloo,” a spicy musical gumbo that blends the classic Professor Longhair cut, “Tipitina” with a hearty serving of Afro-Cuban/Creole-flavored Funk. An earnest read of “Tipitina’s” traditional chords are quickly upended, and the arrangement shapeshifts into a conga-fied rhythm that threatens to spontaneously combust (but in a good way). Stinging guitars, flirty Hammond organ and a swaying horn section encompass ticklish, prickly piano notes. Jon jettisons a majority of the Professor’s lyrics but inserts patois like “Hoola, tralla, walla, dalla” and “voodoo like hoodoo that you wanna do” at crucial intervals. It’s a smorgasbord of sound that incorporates a surfeit of styles. The calibrated chaos reaches a stunning crescendo before paring back to Jon, replicating Professor’s stutter-stepping left hand rhythm.
Other interesting tracks include the playful, double-entendre of “Pickle For A Tickle,” and “Boneyard,” which is built off a guitar lick Jon learned as a kid from Crescent City’s own Johnny “Snakehips” Johnson. The song first appeared on the Go-Go Juice album, but this rendition is a raw approximation of their live version, and it simply cooks.
The record closes with “Unnecessarily Mercenary.” Like “Boneyard,” an original edition exists on an older album. Plus, Bonnie Raitt took it in a Bluesier direction back in the early aughts. But this take is loose-limbed and sure-footed. A Soul groover powered by piquant horns, fluid bass lines, a wash of organ colors, staccato guitar riffs, warm piano notes and a Double Dutch beat. Gimlet-eyed lyrics take a grasping lover to task: “You’re a secret agent, got a hidden agenda, got me in your sights, think I’m a real big spender, stick around baby, pretty soon you’ll see I ain’t got no money, but my love is for free, you’re so very unnecessarily mercenary.” On the break, a riotous piano solo paves the way for slippery guitars and a sanguine tenor sax solo that brings it all back home. It’s a thrilling finish to a rollicking roller coaster ride of record.
Co-produced by Jon and John Porter, the album features Absolute Monster Gentleman Cornell Williams and A.J. Hall anchoring the low end on bass and drums respectively. Also along for the ride are Nigel Hall (Lettuce) on Hammond organ, Pedro Segundo (Ronnie Scott’s All-Stars) on percussion, Xavier Lynn (MonoNeon, Ledisi) on guitar as well as a superstar horn section comprised of Aaron Narcisse (Delfeayo Marsalis & The Uptown Jazz Orchestra). Charlie Halloran (Squirrel Nut Zippers, Preservation Hall All Stars) and Jason Mingledorff (Galactic).
Recorded in Jon’s home studio in the Bywater neighborhood. His goal was to capture the spontaneity of his live sets. So, he took the old-fashioned route, put everyone in the same room playing together and rolled tape. The results speak for themselves. Listening to The Bywater Sessions, you can’t help but smile. The music doesn’t make you wanna holler, it makes you shake your woes and shake ya ass. In these troubled times, sometimes that’s enough.
