Mike McKenna

Nineteen ninety-seven promises to be another notable year on the Toronto scene, especially if the local veterans continue to resurface with interesting new recordings. Among the first out of the box is Mike McKenna and Slidewinder, a band that includes three top-notch members of the Toronto rockin’ blues elite of decades past: guitarist Mike McKenna, saxman Ron Jacobs and bass legend Denny Gerrard. TBS contributor Bill Munson has followed McKenna’s career and offfers this insightful piece.

While Mike McKenna is best known as one of the principals of the legendary McKenna Mendelson Mainline, he’s been playing steadily – and with some exceptionally talented musicians – since the early ’60s. One of his first groups was Whitey and the Roulettes, the house band at the seminal Bluenote after-hours club on Yonge Street, with Dianne Brooks (see last October’s TBS Newsletter) on vocals. Minus McKenna and Brooks, but plus guitarist Domenic Troiano, the Roulettes evolved into the Mandala, Toronto’s biggest soul act of the time.

McKenna, for his part, took a little coffeehouse gig in Yorkville, playing Jimmy Reed tunes and stuff like “Walkin’ The Dog”. Other musicians signed on one by one to form Luke and the Apostles, who played hard electric blues in the style of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, their contemporaries and Electra label-mates.

A couple of years (and bands) later, a newspaper ad put Mike in touch with Joe Mendelson, leading to the formation of the brilliant Mainline, whose arrestingly earthy Stink album remains a Toronto classic. Mainline also released McKenna Mendelson Blues (soon to be reissued by Pacemaker), Canada Our Home & Native Land, The Mainline Bump `n’ Grind Revue and No Substitute (a reunion album).

McKenna has been with a number of notable groups through the years since then: Downchild, Diamondback (with Scott “Professor Piano” Cushnie – see last December’s TBS Newsletter) and the Guess Who among them. But none managed to touch Toronto’s musical heart as Mainline had in its few years together.

At this point it is too early to say how the new group will fare, but McKenna certainly has a strong supporting cast in Slidewinder; both Denny Gerrard and Ron Jacobs are former members of Mainline – and much else besides.

The brilliant Gerrard’s ambitious solo with the Paupers at the Monterey Pop Festival was (and still is) considered a highlight of that classic event. As a frequent McKenna associate in the early days, Gerrard also contributed his punchy style to the stunning McKenna Mendelson Blues. Also worthy of note are albums with Jericho (produced by Todd Rundgren) and the Great White Cane (with future punk-funkster Rick James).

That Gerrard has resurfaced after a long absence from the public eye is mainly due to the efforts of Slidewinder’s third old-timer – saxman Ron Jacobs. It seems that when Jacobs ran into Gerrard a couple of years ago the man hadn’t played bass in eight years and didn’t even own an instrument! Ron quickly changed that situation, to his everlasting credit, and talked McKenna into giving Gerrard a shot at playing in the band. As Ron pointed out, Denny could forget more than most bassists know and still know more than most bassists. But considering how sure handed he sounds here, it seems that Gerrard hasn’t forgotten much at all.

Ron Jacobs shouldn’t be overlooked as a player either. In addition to his aggressive tenor work, Jacobs shares in the vocal burden with Slidewinder, turning out a strong performance on “Ain’t Nobody’s Business” on the CD. Ron’s resume includes a couple of extended stays in Chicago, backing people like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Rush and Carey Bell. On the local scene, he played greasy Yonge Street bars in the early ’60s in a group with both David Clayton Thomas and Kelly Jay (imagine!), was a founding member of the Downchild Blues Band, and is another Mainline alumnus – from the Bump `n’ Grind days.

Considering the Mainline connections, it is fitting that the new Mike McKenna and Slidewinder CD opens with a hot version of the Mainline favourite, “She’s Alright”. While that one’s a Mendelson composition, seven of remaining ten songs on the CD, on the Pacemaker label, are McKenna originals.

There are also three old standards: “Ain’t Nobody’s Business”, “Bright Lights, Big City” and “Wild Wild Women”. Those and Mike’s “Hanging On A Wire” and “Let Me Luv You” are the crowd pleasers at live gigs, but what comes across best on disc are the instrumentals: “Dreams”, “Cherry Beach Shuffle” and an untitled bonus track.

“Dreams” is in the style of the emotional outpourings that graced Roy Buchanan‘s early solo albums. (Generally speaking, Mike now favours a richer sound than in his earlier days.) “Cherry Beach Shuffle” allows McKenna, Jacobs and keyboardist Rob MacPherson (who has since left the band) to strut their stuff over the solid foundation laid by Gerrard and drummer Bruce Brooker – who’s played with Buddy Guy, Dutch Mason and Kenny Neal.

The third instrumental is a beautiful solo by McKenna on acoustic bottleneck. Oddly enough, the song is not listed on the program and is separated from the previous song by two full minutes of silence. While it may be some time before listeners even realize that the song exists, they’re sure to come back to it once they do. Just like they do for so much of the earlier work of Mike McKenna, truly one of Toronto’s guitar greats.

– Bill Munson