Ravinia 2019, Issue 5, Week 9

“Kids would see the band backing up Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix in those days and look at the horns and say, ‘Wow, that’s a funny looking ax; where’s the strings and how do you tune it?’ ” – Walt Parazaider Left: Chicago’s paradigm-shifting rock-band horn line featured saxophonist Parazaider and trumpeter Loughnane alongside drummer Seraphine and bassist/ vocalist Cetera. Loughnane is one of three band members who were onstage at Ravinia in 1972 that will return August 10 and 11, almost exactly 47 years later. Below: Lamm looks over to Kath during Chicago’s 1972 Ravinia-debut set. An imaginitive contributor to the band over its first GecDGe XntiO his death in 1978), Kath continues to resonate through Chicago via his songs, which are still an important and beloved part of its catalogue. the show), and the set featured a long, avant-garde anti-Nixon and anti-Viet- nam War stretch imitating air raids and sirens. “Return our POWs,” “Lick Dick in ’ ,” and “McGovern” stickers were plainly visible on keyboardist Robert Lamm’s Hammond B and Leslie. “We still do ‘Dialogue’ to this day,” notes Loughnane, “and it is still poignant today lyrically. It’s amazing.” On February , —some ve- and-a-half years before that Ravinia debut—Loughnane and a “supergroup” of Chicago-area musicians came togeth- er for the rst time: original saxophonist Walt Parazaider hosted the practice at his parents’ house in west suburban Maywood. Parazaider, Loughnane, and trombonist James Pankow had all met at the DePaul University School of Music, where Parazaider and original drummer Danny Seraphine came up with the idea of creating “a rock and roll band with horns.” “ e horns wouldn’t just go ‘bup- bwadda-bup’ in the background like with James Brown or Sam & Dave,” Parazaider, now retired from the band, told me in , “but would be an integral part of every composition and the overall sound of the band. Kids would see the band backing up Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix in those days and look at the horns and say, ‘Wow, that’s a funny looking ax; where’s the strings and how do you tune it?’ ” “All of a sudden I see this face in the window of [a DePaul] practice room door and I’m like, ‘What is this guy looking at?’ ” Pankow told me in . “I’m just in there woodshedding and Walt knocks on the door and says, ‘Hey, dude, I’ve just been checking you out and I really like your playing. Do you have a band?’ ” Pankow had been playing around town with his own jazz quintet (called the Jivetet), but his interest was piqued. “At that point, I was pret- ty much a jazzer,” said Pankow, “but the idea intrigued me because it was refreshing. I didn’t know of any rock and roll bands with an indigenous horn section. I was looking at the possibility of playing popular mu- sic, music of my peers. I loved playing jazz, but it was usually in a partially full smoky club, not a concert environment. But this was like, ‘Hey, man, a rock star with a trombone. at’s an interesting concept!’ ” Loughnane had been playing around town with Ross & e Majestics and the Shannon Show Band when he began sitting in, and Parazaider had been 1972 PHOTOS: DAVE NAKAMURA 12 RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 29 – AUGUST 11, 2019