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It may have been cold outside, but Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen kept it hot and heavy with tight beats and ivory slamming funk this past Monday at the Iron Horse in Northampton.
It was a treat to see such a great band from New Orleans playing the music they know best. Each member seemed to be enjoying the experience thoroughly and had a smile the whole time. Obviously virtuosos, these guys could switch musical styles at any given second going from a march waltz to a Latin montuno.
Cleary was particularly impressive and throughout the set had many piano solos that could have kept the crowed moving all night. The rest of the band had amazing chops too. The drummer, Eddie Christmas, couldn't have held the band together any better and displayed a solid style that you would have had to hear to comprehend.
The relationship between the bassist Cornell C. Williams and guitarist Derwin "Big D" Perkins was phenomenal. At parts in the show a break would occur and the two would play a complex riff together completely in sync. It seemed impossible for this group to drop a beat. Their relationship was impressive and created another level onto why this group was so great.
The band nailed a cover "Just Kissed My Baby" and a few other songs by The Meters, another funk band from New Orleans.
Cleary took it down a notch in the middle of the show with a song called "Port Street Blues." The amount of emotion emitted from that song was staggering. Cleary introduced the song by saying that it is about a place that he used to live. After hearing the soulful piano it left the feeling that something bad happened there. Not much of a break was had before the next song set the pace back into funk.
In the song "Help Me Somebody," Perkins had an amazing guitar solo. The first time he stepped out in front of the band he blew the crowd away. The solo was appreciated by the crowd, earning him a thirty second round of applause afterward.
The Iron Horse was surprisingly filled for a Monday night. The crowd mostly consisted of the usual middle-aged Northampton yuppies. Most of them were into the music and dancing, however, some people watched the show as if it were watching an opera. That is understandable though, considering that this type of music is an acquired taste especially because it gets little exposure in this area.
The only negative aspect about it was the opening act. The band named after its front man, Matt White, absolutely did not fit in with John Cleary's music. The music was performed to an audience that didn't receive it at all. White spewed his plastic slog for what was, thankfully, a short set. His music could be compared to a theme song for a Lifetime channel made-for-TV movie. An example of some of his lyrics: "I believe in miracles, I believe in you and me" and "Those are the best days of my life." It would have been very hard for this group to be anymore fabricated, whiny, commercial and average. The only redeeming quality to their performance was the screaming done by two girls who seemed to be friends of the band. Their screaming was actually funny since it was loud enough to cover up the emotionally canned noise that was coming from the stage.
Fortunately the money spent on the ticket was saved by Cleary and his amazing group. Very few bands from New Orleans show up around the Valley. When they do, you know you will be in for a treat.
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