GARY CLARK,JR.

An
Interview
with
Southside Chicago native Toronzo Cannon
is a genuine triple threat artist (guitarist/
singer/songwriter) as he amply demonstrated
on Leaving Mood, his dazzling
Delmark debut from late 2011. The southpaw
guitar slinger was born in 1968, but
didn’t start playing until his early twenties.
22 BLUES REVUE
“ There’s a lot of blues to be given
and I’m here to do my part. ”
TORONZO CANNON
by Thomas J. Cullen lll
PHOTOGRAPHY © AIGARS LAPSA
By the mid-nineties he was active on the
Windy City scene playing with a variety of
artists like Tommy McCracken (who gave
him his start), Wayne Baker Brooks, Joanna
Connor, and L.V. Banks, all the while maintaining
his job as a bus driver for the
Chicago Transit Authority, which he still
does to this day. Although the influence of
Jimi Hendrix is pervasive in his music, the
deep Chicago blues he first heard in his
grandfather’s house as a small child is paramount.
Major talents like Toronzo Cannon
give blues fans hope for the future of
the music.
BLUES REVUE: Your uncles used to hang
around the legendary Theresa’s Lounge.
What are some of your earliest memories of
the club?
TORONZO CANNON: My uncles never took
me there, but I would sneak down the block
with my sister and my brother to the ice
cream shop right before they closed. When I
was a kid, I only knew that’s where my
uncles used to hang out. My Uncle Rickey
used to help Theresa with whatever she
needed and with the band. If the drummer
was late, he would play until the drummer
came. My Uncle Pee-Wee was a ladies man;
I’ll just keep it at that. He would help Theresa
buy the liquor she needed when times got
tough. The only memory I really have is looking
over the banister trying to see what the
PHOTOGRAPHY © CONNIE TAYLOR