I was going through my CD collection today and stumbled upon a couple of Jon Cleary albums that I hadn’t listened to in a couple of years. If you’re unfamiliar with Cleary, he’s a New Orleans funk-R&B-stride piano master who has played on many other artists’ records, including Bonnie Raitt’s. His band, The Absolute Monster Gentlemen, is funkier than should be legally allowable – right up there with vintage Tower Of Power. But while Cleary’s albums are quite listenable, they don’t quite capture the energy that his band generates live. I was lucky enough to catch them in Chicago a few years ago at the House of Blues. Here’s one of the better videos I could find of the band on YouTube, with a rousing rendition of “Groove Me”-