Chicago: The Band That Bridged the Gap

The year was 1967 and times were really beginning to rock and roll. The sixties were already exploding with political controversy from the war in Viet Nam and young people all over the nation were sporting styles and actions that defied anyone or anything that represented authority. It was a period of cultural rebellion.

Art reflects culture and the late sixties were no different. The Rock and Roll that had broken out in huge popularity of the fifties had morphed into a form with less boundaries and increased noise. Abandoning the acoustical instruments that had been present in past styles, the new Rock musicians took to the electric instruments with amplifiers and the possibility of distortion to create interest in their music. Like the fashion of the sixties, the styles of Rock and Roll were getting louder and louder.

More in the background were those who had grown up with the Jazz greats. They were loyalists staying closer to their roots. Standard chord progressions were backgrounds for new and interesting melodies. However, the artists of Jazz were also morphing in other ways. They still worked with more recognizable melodies, but explored in the harmonic structures finding new chord changes that brought increased interest and variety to their craft.

When Jazz first rivaled classical music forty years prior in a rebellion that was new to the art, the divide was great and the camps were vehemently opposed to the other's form of music. It took decades to resolve until finally both styles tolerated one another and began to exist in peace and harmony.

By the 1960's, the music world was once again experiencing a great divide. The Jazz players that had once been the rebels from classical music were now the mainstream and the Rock musicians were taking a form hold on the rebel position in society. They were leading millions of young people into a new art form, leaving no room to appreciate the past. The two styles had followings that just would not merge.

In Chicago that year was a young man who had grown up playing Classical, but had been caught by the Jazz rebellion sometime in his younger years. He was a prodigy of sorts, growing up in a home that always had music in the air. That music influenced him and his parents provided lessons and instruments to which he immediately adapted.

Walter Parazaider was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He first played clarinet and performed regularly in the Classical styles. He was taught and groomed by one of the finest clarinetists in Chicago. By his teens he was the "prodigy" of the Chicago Symphony.

Being exposed to all kinds of music in a big city like Chicago, he soon was heavily influenced by Benny Goodman. He started learning the Jazz riffs and sound manipulations of the horn that would never be tolerated in the classical world. He soon picked up saxophone and found that in playing the sax he could make a quick buck and easily get dates.

Parazaider kept following the "proper" musical track and enrolled in the prestigious music school of DePaul University of Chicago. There he continued his classical studies and also enjoyed playing gigs (jobs) in smoked filled bars. He was living a double life. His classical music gave him "chops." (Chops being a slang term for great technique and the ability to produce a good sound.) But his other love was with the Jazz he had taught himself along the way that has enabled him to make some extra dough.

Parazaider kept thinking there must be a way to combine these styles in a way that would attract both audiences. He continued on his path and began to meet other musicians who shared his ideas. His dream for combining the music he loved in Jazz and the music of current popularity in Rock and Roll would not die.

Parazaider and his friends originally put together a band called, "The Big Thing." They played in various spots in the Midwest, still in and around Chicago. Being a band with horns, (Sax, trumpet and trombone) they covered the songs of the popular R&B bands such James Brown and Wilson Pickett. They definitely had the groove to pull it off and audiences loved their energy. Soon they attracted some attention from Los Angeles, the capital of music recording. By the time they had a second exposure to a "big wheel" from LA, they had a reason to move west and begin to live the dream.

They scraped up every last cent they could muster and drove west. They set up shop in an apartment right next to the Hollywood freeway and started writing and practicing day and night. They were visited regularly by the Police as the neighbors did not appreciate the late schedules musicians tend to keep.

Newly dubbed, "Chicago Transit Authority," they worked relentlessly and played every LA gig they could land. Exposure to their new sound was key - people had to hear the sound to spread the fire of the new style that combined Jazz, R&B and Rock and Roll. The music they were writing had something for everyone.

By January of 1969, their producer knew they had potential to sell albums. He set them up to record in the CBS studios in New York City. The bad trekked back east to New York and made their first album titled for their name sake, "Chicago Transit Authority." The music on that album easily reflected the styles they loved and also referenced other influences of the day such as Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles. It was a wide variety of sounds all rolled up into one hot and grooving sound. The horn section was captivatingly entwined into the electric sounds of the rhythm section. The result was music magic.

By December of 1969, the album and the band represented a revolution in music. The album soared on the charts and had easily gone Gold. The appeal was broad and the styles had been more than successfully merged into a new sound.

The band had the respect of Rock musicians as they were played on the same radio waves. The amazing occurrence of the favor of Jazz musicians was a bit of a surprise to those in the industry. The band had definitely captured the attention of the Jazz musicians of the day. Jazz musicians played for the love of their art because making a living was just not usually synonymous with playing Jazz. But because of the popularity of sound of the band Chicago, people that in the past were dead set against Jazz, were now becoming more forgiving to the style as they heard sounds and lines they recognized from the popular band they heard on the radio every day.

The Jazz sales were also rising and the Jazz musicians liked it. The Jazz musicians also recognized greatness in the players that so skillfully mixed styles. They also liked the new sounds coming from this band and they were keen to the attention it gave their art form as well.

The kids who only wanted guitars and amplifiers before were now seeing acoustic horns in a new light. Horns were actually "hip and cool" and the desire to play these instruments soared as well. This brought a whole new era of players for all styles, although Jazz and the new sound of Rock were likely among the most popular.

The rest is history. "Chicago Transit Authority" became just "Chicago" by their next album and their popularity continued. For decades they recorded and although the players have changed over th3e years, they still record today. The respect they had then is still in force today.

Legendary musicians appreciate the contribution the band Chicago has made to music as an art, and to music as an industry. It bridged the gap and brought the great divide together by successfully combining the sounds of several different styles that had traditionally stayed divorced from one another. In addition, the band single handedly brought a new generation of players into the fold because of the sound it created. Chicago was a music legend then and remains so today.