Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen
Waterfront Blues Festival
Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Portland, OR.
July 2, 2005

Recorded from KBOO FM, a local all volunteer radio station. There is some inherent reception problems scattered throughout these recordings. The station is not very powerful and the team had some problems on the first day of the festival getting everything "plugged in". All in all some great music with a few tolerable "blurps".

FM > MD > HDD > CDWav (for splitting) > FLAC

No set lists or art. Hope you all enjoy the shows....twofthrs.


Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen

"Cleary demonstrates the well-rounded musical chops, soulful singing, and terrific songwriting that caused [Bonnie] Raitt to deem him 'The Ninth Wonder of the World." - Amazon

"...an absolute monster on his own...Cleary's full combo R&B is as broad, deep and rolling as the Mississippi River..." - RollingStone

"...this is an absolute monster band, as funky as they come, and they've created an album that is an absolute joy to hear. " – Paste

New Orleans' Jon Cleary is a triple threat—with a salty-sweet voice, a knack for stacking infectious grooves with melodic hooks and sharp lyrics, and masterful piano skills that he's demonstrated for the past several years as a member of Bonnie Raitt's band. All of his talents are manifest on Pin Your Spin, his tough new Basin Street Records release. Backed by his Absolute Monster Gentlemen band, Cleary delivers a dozen original songs with cool conviction and expertise and reminds us that soul can be spoken in a variety of dialects. Tight-and-right funk, sophisticated balladry, and Big Easy-via-Cuba piano —all of these seem to be Cleary's native tongue.

While Cleary is the prime motivator throughout, his Absolute Monster Gentlemen do their share of the work to bring Cleary's musical vision to life.

"Living in New Orleans," Cleary says, "I've always been spoiled for choice with great rhythm sections." Before assembling his band, he used to enjoy the challenge of putting together different rhythm sections for each gig, hiring Fats Domino's guys one night, Professor Longhair's band the next, members of the Meters on the next gig and so on. "But one night, on my way home from a gig, I stumbled across the Friendly Travelers—a gospel band—playing for tips in a coffee bar. I dug them and went back to their gigs many times, sitting in sometimes, and ultimately we became friends. Then I moved to New York for a while but kept in touch with the guys and would visit whenever I was back in town." In 1994, Cleary was invited to perform for the first time at the famed New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Instead of hiring all-star session musicians, he decided to try hiring Big D and Cornell from the Friendly Travelers. Adding drummer "Jellybean" Alexander, whom the Friendly Travelers knew from working on Bourbon Street, the band was born.

Cleary was recently featured in Martin Scorcese's seven-part PBS Blues series "The Blues." The series' sixth film, "Red, White and Blues," catches Cleary performing with Van Morrison, Tom Jones and Jeff Beck. Cleary's impressive past credits include work with Taj Mahal, B.B. King, and Bonnie Raitt—whom he continues to tour and record with. But, as Pin Your Spin makes abundantly clear, it's with the Gentlemen that his triple-threat flame burns brightest.