Al McKay
From 1973 to 1981, Al McKay co-wrote
and played guitar on an entire generation’s
life soundtrack with Earth, Wind
& Fire—the most sophisticated funk band of its
time. But the mighty McKay’s locomotive
style had been around plenty before propelling
Earth, Wind & Fire to fame as one of
the most visionary and successful bands of
the 1970s. Prior to that he’d also done stints
with The Ike & Tina Turner Revue, Charles
Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm
Band, the Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson,
and Gladys Knight. If that ain’t a funk pedigree,
what is?
EW&F augmented its dense, syncopated
sound and catchy pop hooks with spirituality,
uplifting messages, and elements of world
music (before it was called that)—all of which
was a big contrast to the party funk bands
of the time. On chart-topping hits such as
“September,” “Fantasy,” and “Sing a Song,”
McKay used a variety of left-handed vintage
instruments—his favorite was a ’72 Gibson
ES-335—and either a modified Roland
JC-120 or a Vox Super Beatle to lay out a
buffet of funk guitar styles, from muted triads
and swinging rock licks to sliding octave work
and lush, major-7th embellishments. And
his sense of time was freakish—just listening
to his relentless rhythm work on “Getaway”
makes your arm tired!
McKay considers feel and groove to be
his God-given forte. “My gift is finding the
pocket of the song,” he says. “Once I set the
pocket, everybody plays to me. I came up with
these grooves. This is how Maurice White
and I wrote. All the songs we wrote came out
of me sitting in the tuning room, tuning up
before we went onstage. I’d just start playing.
He’d hear it and start singing something. He’d
come in the room and say, ‘What’s that?’ I’d
say, ‘Nothin’.’ He’d say, ‘Tape that!’ We’d put
the tape recorder on and we’d write three or
four songs that way.
Big songs!”