• Blue Notes

Monday, June 15, 2009

Keep on rockin' on the West Island

posted by Rick Blue at 9h15

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Jim Zeller, Jimmy Ayoub, Kootch Trochim, Jerry Mercer, Trevor Payne, Frank Marino, Graham Chambers

A month ago on a quiet Sunday evening there was a big birthday bash at Bourbon Street West for Jerry Mercer. Jerry has been a legend among Montreal musicians for many years.

In the '60s, Jerry played with Beaconsfield resident Trevor Payne (now known for his Jubilation Gospel Choir) in an R&B band called Triangle.

Then Jerry was part of the psychedelic band called Mashmakhan in the '70s. They had a hit with “As the Years Go By.” There’s a great old performance video of that song on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyvWRjL6Zsg

At the time they were the hippest band in the city. When impresario Donald K. Donald first saw Mashmakhan at the legendary Laugh In Club in 1968, he was blown away. Immediately following the set DKD leapt on stage and simply said: “Don’t talk to anybody else until you’ve talked to me!”

But Jerry's best known work was as the drummer for Montreal’s famous April Wine. For a legendary Jerry Mercer drum solo check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQQaCzZmKnU&feature=related

He was known for his solos.

The guest list at Bourbon was a who’s who of Montreal baby boomer rockers. And it was a tribute to Jerry’s popularity that so many turned out. After all, there were no drugs, no groupies and none of them were getting paid!

The only non boomers were the members of the two bands for which Jerry’s chip-of-the-old-block son Shawn plays drums. There is a video of The Capone here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2aERhq65Q0
And “The Hot Streak” here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVeoA43jEiI

For the others, it was non-stop jamming. Most of the jams were on three-chord blues numbers. That way anyone could step in and play a solo - that's the beauty of the three-chord blues.

I was lucky enough to get to play harmonica a couple of times with a jamming group as well as doing three Bowser and Blue songs with George Bowser, Jerry on drums and Harry Marx of George’s '70s band Wizard on bass.

But there were so many musicians there that night you had to fight your way onto the stage. The vibes were exceptionally good. Everyone wanted to take part.

The players included Steve Segal, Breen LeBoeuf, Brian Greenway, Jimmy Clench, Gary Moffet, Ritchie Henman, Darragh Hemmings, Jim Zeller, Jimmy Ayoub, Kootch Trochim, Kelly Welly, Angel Forrest, David Devine, Trevor Payne, Frank Marino, Jimmie James and Graham Chambers, to name a few.

(And I apologize for the others whose names I have not included.)

The whole thing was organized by the intrepid Al Lariviere. It was a historic celebration and big Al took pictures to prove it had happened.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=5&aid=40021&id=682019467#/album.p...

Most of these players attending were those I had known to greater and lesser degrees during the '70s salad days. And back then, the leaves in the salad weren’t lettuce. We all played the same historic West Island venues like The Maples, The Edgewater and The Pioneer club in Pointe Claire. Now, that tradition is being kept alive by Bourbon Street West, Clint’s bar and Grill and CHOM FM.

The party started at 4 in the afternoon and was over by 11. After all, Jerry just turned 70.