How would you describe each other’s playing style?

JC: I admire him. I don’t understand what it is he’s doing—his mind is way beyond mine. I don’t understand him, I don’t know where these notes come from, but I love it. Being a musician, I know there’s a logic to them and there’s genius at work. But I think that’s kind of the glue that makes it work for me and him—that I have no pretensions to being a modern jazz musician [and] profess being a complete ignoramus when it comes to all that. I grew up in New Orleans and I know how to play the piano and get down, and I think he really digs that. We do two very different things, so I think it’s kind of refreshing for him, and it’s very entertaining and refreshing for me too. It’s an odd marriage, but it actually really works well.

JS: Cleary has devoted his life to [New Orleans music]. He’s really the successor to James Booker and to Professor Longhair and to Mac [Dr. John] Rebennack. He’s the guy, as far as I know, who really carries on that tradition—this kind of select New Orleans-style of playing that a lot of people in blues and stuff give a nod to. Cleary plays the whole tradition and is an expert at it.

JC: You know, we play R&B songs. He loves blues and R&B. The songs don’t have to be incredibly complicated to appeal to him, which I think is often the case with very clever jazz musicians. If you’re a linguist, you like to have lots of big words, but sometimes a brilliant linguist can express himself perfectly using the same vocabulary that you or I would use. It’s a bit like that. I think he likes a challenge, but he really gets the soul of down-to-earth rhythm and blues music. I think that’s probably what he started out listening to, so he gets it completely. And that’s really what New Orleans is. New Orleans has its degrees of sophistication in other areas of music.

But it’s fun for me, I basically play the material that I love. I’m singing, so the material is kind of down to what I like to sing. It’s quite an eclectic mixture—it takes in everything from Fats Waller tunes to Jelly Roll Morton tunes to Meters tunes to whatever we feel like playing. It’s slightly different every night. I’ve played with some great guitar players—I’ve played with Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal, B.B. King, Big D, Snooks Eaglin, Walter Washington, and also Bonnie Raitt—some great players. But John, he’s in a different category altogether. He spontaneously improvises and creates stuff, and it’s different every night. He’s going for something. So that aspect of it is very entertaining. I’m as entertained on the stage as the members of the audience are when John’s taking a solo, I’ve just got a better seat than they have [laughs].

Both of you have collaborated with countless artists. What’s your mindset going into a situation where you’re playing with another musician—especially if it’s their music, or if it’s the first time you’ve played together?

JC: In that respect, John and I are probably very similar in that we both have a lot of experience being sidemen in other people’s bands and being bandleaders too, and not many people get to do both, to occupy both those chairs. I’ve always felt it was an important thing for me to do, to embrace the discipline that’s required when you’re a sideman in somebody else’s band. You have to play in keys that you wouldn’t usually choose, you have to learn to take direction and memorize stuff and be quick, to know when to come up with suggestions if they’re helpful. As a bandleader, you have to give good direction, not to stifle the genius of the talents of your sidemen but to put your foot down when you feel strongly that something has to be this way rather than the other way. And so you learn to be something of a diplomat, but you’re also very concerned with being the one brain that’s looking over the finished sound that is your stock and trade, or whatever it is you’re actually listening to coming out of the speakers. I think it’s good to occupy both. It’s been a privilege to occupy both of those positions on and off in my career, and I think it’s probably been the same for John. Also, put us together, it makes it very easy. There’s no egos or anything, you just say “let’s do this,” or “this’ll be good.” “Alright, great.” “On this bit, let’s just do that.” “Alright, next song.” We’ve both been doing this a long time.

JS: Well if it’s somebody else’s idea, then you just try to play the music. Usually now, at this point, even if it’s somebody else’s idea, I only do it if it seems like it’s going to make sense. Even though it seems like these are completely disparate musics—like modern jazz and the stuff that I do and New Orleans R&B. I’ve been a New Orleans R&B fan for my whole life, and I feel very close to that music, even though it’s a little different from what I play, and I couldn’t claim to be the real-deal or anything. But I’m not the real anything—I’m just me. I just feel absolutely at home, playing this stuff with Jon.

Also, a lot of times when it’s just two guys, you feel like you have to make up for the lack of big band, but I don’t do this like that. I actually really like the naked quality that can come from two musicians playing without drums or bass, and also the chamber music aspect to it. But I don’t try to turn it into something else. I haven’t done that much without bass and drums, but doing it with Jon—again, he’s such a complete thing unto himself, he doesn’t even really need me. So I feel like I’m just kind of floating over this great big band, you know, playing my solos and comping my little rhythm guitar thing. Just getting in the groove.

JC: And there’s always room for things to change on the gig, there has to be—the belt has to be loose enough to allow you to move around a little bit. You tighten it up too much and you can’t breathe. So there’s that fun element too. So there’s humor in it. And sometimes I’ll fuck up and make a mistake and sometimes he’ll make a mistake. More often me, I’m sure of it. But when you loosen up a little bit, that’s the fun part, because then you can take your mistake and turn it into something hip, and we have a laugh about it when we get backstage afterwards. So yeah, we have a good time. It’s like two old mates getting together and having fun, really.

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