Chicago brings 'big band' sound to area

This article originally was published in the Weatherford (TX) Democrat newspaper on July 11, 1995.

By Tim Wood

Before trumpet player Lee Loughnane achieved musical success with the popular pop-rock band Chicago, he often played along with his father's "big band" recordings at home.

Approximately 100 million record sales later, Loughnane is playing big band music again - but this time, it's part of Chicago's efforts to rejuvenate itself.

"Night and Day (Big Band)" on Giant Records is Chicago's first release in four years. It represents a "left turn career-wise," Loughnane said in a recent interview.

Chicago had recorded an album since releasing the relatively unsuccessful "Twenty-One" in 1991. But the band and its management firm decided not to release it. The band's management brought up the big band idea because it would both satisfy the band's creative desires and be marketable.

The band, which will perform Friday at Starplex Amphitheater in Dallas' Fair Park, considered 20 classic songs of the big band era. Each band member selected a few songs and did arrangements of them in their home studios. They brought the results to rehearsals and began arranging the music.

But instead of recording straightforward tributes to the songs, the band modernized the songs, incorporating 1990s rhythms and elements of the easily-recognizable Chicago sound.

"It wasn't a tribute. It was a real attempt to make these songs ours," Loughnane said.

The 12 songs on the album feature the recognizable Chicago horn sound. But there also an element of funk in their version of Glenn Miller's "In the Mood." Cole Porter's "Night and Day" starts with the literal sound of frogs croaking outdoors - then segues into a soulful ballad. Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train" ends in a cacophony of sound symbolizing a train wreck. Joe Perry of Aerosmith adds a sizzling guitar solo on "Blues in the Night," a song first popularized by Jimmy Lunceford and his Orchestra. And what would a Chicago collection of big band songs be without the song "Chicago," written in 1922 and made popular by Frank Sinatra in 1957?

"To me, they sound like originals," he said, adding, "We had great songs to work with."

After rehearsing for two months in Los Angeles, the band headed for a recording studio in Vancouver in December of 1994 to record the songs under producer Bruce Fairbairn, best known for his work with hard-edged bands such as Van Halen, AC/DC and Aerosmith.

The band's preparation was the best since their very first album, recorded in 1969, Loughnane said - and the band didn't know much about recording then.

Much to the band's surprise, they completed recording the basic tracks in only one week and completed the rest of their parts two weeks later.

Through the magic of multi-track recording, the contributions of guest stars Perry, The Gipsy Kings, Jade and Paul Schaffer were added over the next six months. Also featured is the big band of Bill Watrous, playing arrangements by Shelly Berg.

The big band won't go on tour with Chicago, but its sound will. Chicago will perform along with the big band parts, which were electronically "sampled" from the album.

"It's not cheating," Loughnane said, referring to playing along with the prerecorded big band sounds. Chicago will be challenged by precisely re-creating the parts it recorded on the album, he said.

Plans are to perform six of the big band songs at the Dallas concert, he said. Filling the rest of the concert will be songs from the band's repertoire of 20 top 10 singles and 12 top 10 albums, five of which hit no. 1

Having so many hit songs from which to choose helps the band maintain a well-paced show, Loughnane said. Because so many of the band's 1980s hits were ballads, it helps to have faster-paced hits from the earlier years for balance, he said.

Despite 28 years of concert performances, the band strives to perform each song as if it were for the first time. "We mean business when we play the songs," Loughnane said.

Audience reaction helps the band as well. On songs like "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is" from the band's first album, Loughnane can see audience members "go back in time" to the moment they first heard the song.

Even with just the old hits, "The show works every night," Loughnane said.

Generating new hits will be a challenge. "Radio cooled off to us," Loughnane said. Although Loughnane is high on the new album, it may have trouble finding a niche in radio, he said.

Radio songs are limited to about five minutes in length, he said, and the days of the "album cut," - longer songs in which a group could stretch out musically - are gone.

Regardless of the project's fate, the trumpet and flugelhorn player plans to stay with the band. Why" "We love it," he said. "I get paid for practicing."

One indication that the band is here to stay was its decision to form its own independent record label, named, not surprisingly, Chicago Records. The label acquired the masters of the 15 albums Chicago recorded for Columbia Records and is considering obtaining masters for the group's Warner Brothers releases.

As the label builds up financial capital, plans are to produce and promote albums by other artists, solo albums by Chicago members and possibly release group efforts on the label, he said.

But for now, Chicago is taking its mix of its own classics and the big band classics on the road, having fun along the way.

"It's a kick to play these songs," Loughnane said.