Toronto jazz musician Mike Downes has made a career by keeping true to his musical roots
By Ayshat Abdurzakova
Mike Downes practices playing the electric bass in his bedroom. He plucks the strings of his instrument as his other hand moves up and down the neck, trying to recreate a baseline for a Rush song. The sound travels throughout his home and reaches his father.
Downes’ father calls for him to come downstairs. A jazz recording of Miles Davis’s “Milestones” blares from the stereo system in the living room. Ten-year-old Downes stands holding his base, confused, as his father instructs him to follow the lead of the bass player on the album. Downes earnestly tried to mimic what he could hear. At this moment he carefully listened to all the instruments, trying to distinguish the bass from the rest of the sounds and then started to play along with the recording.
A lot of time has passed since Downes was struggling to follow Miles Davis’s baselines. Today, Downes is a bonafide musician, composer, arranger and teacher who has won Junos for his albums Root Structure and Ripple Effect. He has worked with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as an arranger, performed around the globe and continues to work with leading jazz artists.
Recently Downes has released a new album called The Way In. In this album, he brings the experiences and knowledge he has developed throughout his years as a student, musician and teacher. At this point in his career, there is no sign of slowing down. He is planning tours, producing music and ultimately evolving his music through new experiences.
“Something about music really hit me—it’s always been a part of my growing up and being a person.”
Growing up in Winnipeg in a jazz-loving household with a bass-playing father, Downes learned an appreciation for all kinds of music early on. He enjoyed listening to bass players like Jaco Pastorius, Paul Chambers and Ray Brown.
He started playing gigs with his rock band throughout high school. At the time, Downes was still a full-fledged rock fan but he started leaning towards the jazz scene because the genre gave him musical flexibility. He could improvise his playing on the spot. Depending on what sounds were playing, he could change the rhythm and switch up melodies if that’s what the piece calls for.
His exploration of jazz landed him in Mike Allen’s Quartet in 1988. The group was led by a famous musician and composer Ron Paley, with whom he began his touring journey. They set off to Poland just as autumn was settling in to attend the Jazz Jamboree festival. Downes played in various small towns in Poland. He even played a very short jam session with Kenny Garrett, a famous sax player—short because an eager bassist pulled his instrument out of his hands mid-set to get a chance to play with the famous musician.
When he returned home to Winnipeg with his bass safely in his possession, Downes got a phone call from the director of the jazz program at St. Francis Xavier University. It was an offer to play trombone in the school band with a full scholarship. Downes packed his bags and headed to Nova Scotia. After graduating from St.FX University, he decided to pursue another degree at McGill University in Montreal for music. Studying around Canada taught a lesson that would stick with him throughout the rest of his career — you will never master music.
“I knew that I wanted to play there. I wanted to play on the scene in Toronto.”
After finishing university, Downes moved to Toronto in 1990. He immediately noticed a difference in the jazz atmosphere compared to places he’d lived before like Winnipeg and Montreal. “Toronto didn’t have the same warmth,” Downes said. “It took a while to get used to.”
But one thing Downes did get used to very quickly was George’s Spaghetti House near Dundas and Sherbourne streets. Before it permanently closed, George’s used to play host to some of the biggest jazz artists of the time, like Moe Koffman and Ed Bickert. The establishment was a vital venue and meet-up spot for Toronto musicians.
George’s Spaghetti House in 1972 (Jean-François Després /City of Toronto Archives) and the location as it looks in 2024 (Google Maps)
Downes’ first apartment in the city was a stone’s throw away from George’s. He always knew he wanted to play on George’s famous stage, so one night he decided to visit and acquaint himself with some of the musicians. Steve Wallace, the performing bass player, offered Downes a spot in his band for the night. Soon, Downes was playing regularly in the 1970s Italian pizzeria-style venue with chianti bottles in wicker baskets decorating the walls.
Once George’s later shut down, artists frequented places like The Rex, another jazz venue. The Rex quickly became a Toronto jazz staple.
At one point, The Rex had a small TV visible from the stage and on a regular June night in 1994, it played a role in distracting Downes throughout his entire set. The TV that usually had sports games going was displaying something very different: police cars chasing a white Bronco along a freeway. Every time Downes tried to focus, he couldn’t help looking at the screen and wondering what was going on. Finally, the band went for a set break where they discovered that the riveting car chase the news attentively followed was O.J. Simpson fleeing from the cops. Downes still laughs telling the story. Who would’ve thought O.J. would mess with Downes’s set?
Besides car chases, the 90s also had other troubles in store. After a short period of busyness, Downes noticed fewer gigs were available in Toronto. The ones that were paid significantly less than Downes had found in the past five years. “I should just get a normal job,” Downes remembered thinking when the bills came in. He decided to take up a music marketing position for a while but it didn’t last long. He didn’t have a passion for it and realized his strengths lie in making the music rather than marketing it.
It was a wake-up call— it pushed him to make things happen with his music. He put out a recording and booked a tour across Canada. A little later, he was offered a part-time teaching position at Humber College’s music department.
Ted Quinlan, longtime bandmate and friend, convinced Downes to apply for the position in the first place. Quinlan had been teaching at the college already and knew Downes would make a good addition to the faculty.
The two met when Downes was establishing himself in the Toronto scene. On a night out, Quinlan went to hear a band play—Downes happened to be in. Although the details are fuzzy, Quinlan remembers thinking Downes was a phenomenal bass player.
By the 2000s Downes worked his way up to the head of the bass department at Humber College.
Christopher Tufaro, a former student, said Downes was an attentive and passionate teacher who always made time for his students, whether it was to give feedback or have lengthy conversations about music after rehearsals. Even though Tufaro specialized in a different instrument than Downes, his impact was indelible.“Mike Downes is definitely the benchmark for the artist that I hope to be one day,” Tufaro said.
“Mike Downes is definitely the benchmark for the artist that I hope to be one day”- Christopher Tufaro
Quinlan and Downes have been part of the jazz scene for a while and have noticed it change drastically. Thirty years ago, musicians relied on word of mouth to secure gigs, Quinlan says. Now with the new wave of tech, musicians can market themselves and make connections through social media.
Céline Peterson, agent and producer, worked with Downes during his 2018 Canadian tour for his Root Structure album release. While booking venues, Peterson found Downes’s reputation preceded him. “Finding people who wanted to work with him was not a hard task,” Peterson said.
Eventually, Root Structure went on to win a Juno.
“Music is an endless teacher, you will never ever learn everything you need to know.”
Downes hopes to one day write for a trio of string instruments. In the meantime, he is continuing to tour and put out new albums. His ultimate goal is to have a collection of works he can look back on and be proud of.
Downes’s philosophy when it comes to music is simple—he won’t pretend to be someone he’s not. Even 30 years ago when the Toronto jazz scene was flooded with artists imitating popular 1930s and 1950s jazz standards, he stayed connected to his roots by playing and writing music that was influenced by moments in his life, which often revolved around nature.
But he also understands that music is a fluid thing–subject to change and improvement. You are never really done with a project because as you learn and grow as an artist, so does your music.
