CD Review

It’s been a long cold snowy winter up here in the Northeast. The birds stopped singing, the sun sank low in a gray sky and the TV commercials constantly played videos of tropical climates in the sunny south. When I first heard this album it was like the birds were finally singing and the skies were sunny again. Thank God for good old fashion, New Orleans funk.

You’ve probably heard Jon Cleary play - even if you don’t know it - in his role as Bonnie Raitt’s keyboard player. He is also a sought after New Orleans studio musician and has played with a wide range of talented musicians, from B.B. King to Taj Mahal. He also appeared in the PBS series “The Blues” and he’s a standard bearer of New Orleans funky jazz piano, a member of a long lineage that began far back in the beginnings of jazz history with Jelly Roll Morton.

Quite a resume, but of course, this music is more than just the New Orleans Blues. When I first heard Jon Clearly, he was actually billed as Jazz. But I would hesitate on that stamp, unless you lean to acid jazz. Or most certainly the funk side, which is the case with this album - filled with that wah wah, waka waka funk rhythm that just keeps the groove rolling along. Cleary provides both rhythm and color, as is customary, and most comes across at medium tempo, more Parliament than James Brown, heavily fortified with vitamin groove.

Cleary is a fine musician and songsmith, seldom showy, especially on smooth ballads like “Oh No No No” and “Smile in a While.” Completely funky, almost syrupy, even on the slow tunes, the band proves they can jam as well as lay a groove. “Got to Be More Careful” stretches out, and “Zulu Strut” strays equally as far. Though, for the most part, it’s straight ahead, consistent as a metronome, steady beat, medium tempo funk. And like all good funk, it just keeps rolling along.

Even with all of that tradition there are shades of the new. The beats are a little more modern than you might expect, offering a distinctly current feeling. Both drums (Raymond Weber) and Percussion (Daniel Sadownick) are present here, but the rhythm is so in step it feels more like a single drummer with four arms, or some kind of precise drum machine. That makes it easy for Cleary to place his funk on top. It is astounding to me when Cleary is thumping along, in some deep funky groove, and he slips in a solo that has a bit of Cuban flavor - which seems like it might be out of context, but it’s not - and then he slips right back in as if nothing happened. Even to the unfamiliar, it’s pretty clear that he’s a mighty player, without a flaunt, and he lets the band groove alongside. The music benefits from his humility, because it provides subtlety in what could easily become very, in you face, music. If there’s a stutter, it’s the almost completely vocal “Best Ain’t Good Enough,” which just doesn’t work very well. But one bad song does not make a bad album, especially in the world of instant CD access.

This is the best of the New Orleans jazz funk scene today, and it’s pretty damn good. I’m not saying that people will be talking about Cleary like Jelly Roll Morton a hundred years from now, but even if it’s nothing really new, it’s something from the best of an old school style. Even so, as the weather turns warmer and the beers turn lighter, I long for happy blues and New Orleans style jazz, and this is a fine example. It’s happy, it’s warm, and it’s finally getting to be summer.

So thank God for spring time, sunny warm weather and good old fashion new Orleans Funk. It was invented long before I was born and as long as great musicians like Cleary keep cranking it out, it will continue long after I die. It’s good to know that there is something constant in the world, besides war and chaos, and it’s good to know you can always find it in New Orleans.