Chicago horn section

Trumpet player Russell Smith would later go into play with the likes of Kate Ceberano. With lead singers including Kerrie Biddell, Marcia Hines and Ricky May, they captured the popular combination of jazz, soul and rock and were perhaps the most mainstream extension of what had been going on in the clubs since the late 60s. Chicago have just released a special 50th Anniversary edition of thier debut on limited gold 2LP, check it out here.

Listen to Chicago on Apple Music. Born With The Horn! Music News. Chicago , lists , 60s , 70s. Share this on. Joseph's Health Amphitheater at Lakeview. Warren Linhart: First things first, congratulations to you and your bandmates on being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Lee Loughnane: Thank you. Shows would sell out in less than an hour. No wonder, the band amassed a lot of hits in a few short years. Three No. You guys have seen it all; personnel changes, the good, the bad, the ugly, management changes and band dynamics.

The public is generally unaware of much of these kinds of things, unless it makes headlines. They generally remember the hits.

The cloak of perception that people have about the band I imagine changed somewhat in when CNN aired the eye-opening documentary "Now More Than Ever," which revealed some of the inner workings of one of the greatest American rock bands of all time. Out into the open were acknowledgements of wild parties, the booze, drugs and women and the inevitable turmoil that comes along with being a successful rock band.

In that documentary, your bandmate Robert Lamm was quick to point out that changes are inevitable and you guys have been through a lot of them. It is incredible to fathom a band working together for over 50 years. For that matter, it's hard to imagine doing anything for that long. Yet through it all, the Chicago horn section has remained the same until when Walter Parazaider officially retired.

The rigors of the road take their toll and don't get any easier so you have to adapt. That's a lot of lung power, and you were a smoker for many years. That had to complicate your situation and alter your approach to the stage shows. L: Yeah, I stopped smoking in ; had to make some changes. I started taking lessons with Paul Witt.

He was a student of Claude Gordon for 14 years, and the lessons made a tremendous difference in my playing. Gordon's authoritative teaching emphasized the need for brass players to exercise to stay in shape much like an athlete and was keen on recommending daily breathing exercises to develop wind-power.

He also was a consultant to the Benge and Selmer companies who manufactured trumpets. I learned how to play the right way laughs If you go up there and then you have to start thinking, things will go by you very quickly. You're never too old to learn something new, right? L: Yes, There were a couple things that I hadn't been doing that I learned, so when I started doing it properly, plus quitting smoking and doing breathing exercises, I was able to change.

The other change was the equipment, going from using a smaller bore horn with a smaller mouthpiece to larger equipment. It was like trying to blow air through the Holland Tunnel. With a larger bore, I can fill it up with air and it's actually easier play higher notes than it was before But again, you've got to keep up with the breathing exercises. He was doing a lot of sessions and road work with Robert Cray at the time. He spoke about breathing exercises too.

You say playing a larger bore has made it less stressful for you but still, you're blowing a lot of air over the years. How has practicing changed for you? You can't just let it go and expected to happen. He practices every day. I'm either warming up or practicing, but I have to keep up my routine, especially before a show. The songs were difficult to play when they were written and recorded and haven't gotten any easier to play, so you have to practice to keep it together.

We're having this conversation on a band day off. We usually play five days a week, typically three shows in a row, a day off, and then two shows and another day off. Believe me, I'm doing three things today: sleep, practice and eat laughs. That's exactly what I'm going to be doing today. I'm sure there is going to come a time when you're seriously thinking about retirement, don't you think? Is being a part of this band something that you are reluctant to give up or won't give up, and had it ever gotten close to the point where you were ready to hang it up?

L: Yeah, but it only lasted a day or two. Once I got some rest and thought about it, it passed. I mean, Where else would I go to get a job like this? There's nothing on planet Earth that you could compare to what I'm doing. It's pretty cool. There are things about what you do that are nice and some that you're not going to like. We're down to three members who have been there from Day One. It's not a charade.

The songs still sound good or I wouldn't want to be doing this. We try to make it the best show and make it an event every night.

We try to make it sound like we're playing the songs the first time, and believe me, they don't get any easier. We have two new members who have made their impact, and I think the band sounds better now than even when Terry Kath was in the band. You've witnessed the band for many years; maybe you'll agree when you see us perform. For all the success, it hasn't all been a bed of roses.

In the early s, after Terry Kath passed, the band went through a difficult transitional period. Kath's musical influence had been so strong that without his presence the band lost momentum and ultimately, the band parted ways with Columbia Records.

A comment like that had to hit you guys like a ton of bricks. What was that about? So at that time I started playing different instruments on the road. That's roughly two generations ago.

For the charter members, it must be interesting to revisit this. Robert Lamm pointed that out that on the first side after we do the first four songs, a lot of people of probably have not heard the rest of it.

Rhino Records is releasing this project, and what's great about it is that they have consulted with us along the way to get our input. When the Chicago albums got remastered around the turn of the millennium, you were one of the project's supervisors on that endeavor so it's terrific that your input was sought before these projects got released. Like I said, where in the world would I get another job like this? When I'm home riding around in the car, I listen to Sirius radio.

Real jazz. Modern day with Wynton Marsalis, back to Miles Davis. L: What about teaching, or writing a book? You have plenty of experience and surely you have a lot of road stories. Probably not. I don't really have any aspirations to do that. Possibly Robert would do something along those lines. I like doing what we're doing now, and you know I'm actually not sure what I'm going to do when I retire. Right now, I know that we travel and practice.

What I want to do is be at a point that by the time the next show, I want it to be better than the show before. It's continuous amazement to me that doing the same things over and over you can actually get better incrementally. I explained that to Paul Witt my teacher and he understands that. You can continually improve playing the instrument.

It doesn't make you better musician but it's easier to play the horn. Jimmy and I would sit together and we'd come up with ideas. I contributed some of my ideas, and Jimmy would always say that we all helped.