The song selection reflects the essence of Cleary’s sensibility: borrowing from commercial material to make a decidedly one-of-a-kind, one-man-band record. But on the title cut-an a cappella, percussive tour de force-that’s Cleary all by himself overdubbing two, three, four, five, who knows how many vocal tracks. John show up on the opening track, “Let’s Get Low Down,” as if to establish Cleary’s top-notch credentials, and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen provide impeccably smooth backup vocals on several key tracks. He chose the tunes, worked up the arrangements, recorded the songs in his studio at home, played nearly all the instruments on just about every track (his first instrument was, in fact, the guitar), and continued working on the final selection and order right up to the moment of commercial release on his own label, FHQ (Funk Headquarters). This despite the fact that Cleary has been a relatively prolific and successful songwriter and has already released four studio projects and one live outing of mostly his own tunes, backed on the last three by his band The Absolute Monster Gentlemen.īut Occapella is a Cleary record in nearly every sense.
So what does Cleary, now approaching 50, choose as his first project out of the gate? An album composed entirely of songs by someone else: New Orleans pianist/vocalist/composer Allen Toussaint. Recently retired from extended stints as a featured keyboard sideman for Taj Mahal and Bonnie Raitt-who’s called him “the ninth wonder of the world” and let him go after nearly a decade, reportedly with great reluctance-Cleary is ready to concentrate on his own music. British-born, New Orleans-based pianist/vocalist/composer Jon Cleary is a study in contradictions.
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