Chicago flies in the face of Chase

August 12^th – You gotta reckon the Lord does, indeed, move in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.

I’m writing this when you all know that really, given my station in life, I should be on the Athol Estate shooting grouse…I just thought I’d give it a miss this season and take the responsibility of this daily blurb seriously; that’s the kinda guy I am… So, not wanting to disappoint, anybody in the room care for Chicago or Blood, Sweat and Tears (BS&T)? Spinning Wheel was one of BS&T’s best known…probably alongside You Made Me So Very Happy; and 25 or 6 to 4 was probably the best Chicago showcase composition.

(Catch a glimpse at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXb8ZDuICCs some tremendous guitar and brass work with Terry Kath – guitar – at his very best…as an aside, Mr. Kath died of an accidental gunshot wound in ‘78’; real loss).

Out of the two bands Chicago was the one I most connected with, BS&T being a little too mellow and jazzy for me. Chicago was a direct leader to the Mad Dogs and Englishman crew who accompanied Joe Cocker on the eponymous 1970 tour (the support performers of births, deaths, drugs and booze toured with them too, just to make the times more interesting). This kind of fusion music was a central theme of the 70’s and another group of musos who picked up the gauntlet was Chase. Made up of Bill Chase, Wally Yohn, Walter Clark, John Emma with Ted Piercefield, Alan Ware, and Jerry Van Blair as the backbone of the brass section and a guy who I always thought was a really handy drummer, Jay Burrid. Their brass orchestrations were lush and complex and if you can imagine BS&T on speed then you’ll have some idea of their genre. They got a Grammy Nomination and were on track to release their fourth album when a number of the band set off in a Piper Comanche twin-engine plane to Minnesota for a gig… I hear you mutter;

‘Oh, fuck, not again....’

as you can sense the cloud of gathering gloom; sorry for that…

Many a time in this daily section I’ve warned about travelling anywhere in any aircraft, but more especially in a light aircraft. It would seem there’s a greater number of light aircraft crashes compared to commercial airliner ones in the music biz…maybe it’s to do the number of passengers carried (and so the number of law suits forthcoming) in the event of a crash which is in direct correlation to the amount of time spent on H&S and the general upkeep of the machines when it comes to light aircraft or maybe…this is just me, you understand, no scientific research, just me musing… maybe it’s the type of folk who get involved with rock bands and their fame and, here’s the killer, who also hold a pilot’s licence? I mean, Bruce Dickinson aside, would you let anyone who has the same mindset or rock-band involvement as, say, Nikki Sixx fly you anywhere?  I know, just me, I know…

Whatever, in this particular circumstance the weather deteriorated on the journey and instead of finding somewhere to land (I mean…it’s a light aircraft so it’s not looking for a Heathrow-type strip; a decent field would’ve done, wouldn’t it?) the pilot forged ahead.

The plane crashed killing Messer’s Chase, Emma, Yohn and Clark.

In the background I read, the biographer stated;

‘…their death brought the band to an abrupt end’.

No shit, Sherlock.

All part of His great plan…I suppose.