‘Chicago Sound’ once reigned supreme

PHOENIX – There are a few things I miss from my youth in the Chicago area. Like watching the Chicago Cubs play baseball at Wrigley Field, eating a pie at my favorite pizzeria and listening to radio station WLS. And enjoying great rock music that had the “Chicago Sound.”

Although the term doesn’t get bandied about much, I have been using “Chicago Sound” for decades to describe the great brass-rock style that was born in the Windy City in the mid-1960s. My hometown heroes, the Buckinghams, were the first band to employ it as their ticket to rock and roll success.

A typical brass section consists of a trumpet, saxophone and trombone. Blended together, those acoustic instruments provide a smooth-yet-potent sound that can replace an electric guitar or an organ or be melded with either.

In the early days of the 1960s, James Brown started using a horn section in his funky soul recordings. But the ‘Hams were the first to use that feature repeatedly on mainstream rock recordings.

The Buckinghams came from the north side of Chicago and were a coalition of two local bands – the Centuries and the Pulsations. Their big break came in late 1965 when they won a competition to become the house band on WGN-TV’s local music show The All Time Hits.

The producers of the show wanted the band to have a name that identified with the British Invasion, which was all the rage. A security guard at the TV station suggested “Buckinghams.” It didn’t hurt that Chicago had a lakefront landmark known as Buckingham Fountain. The moniker came with the slogan “the Royalty of Rock and Roll.”

It wasn’t long before the Buckinghams began to record, and they were signed to a minor Chicago label, U.S.A. Records. Their sessions took place at Chess Studios on the south side.

Early in 1966 Chicago radio stations began to play the Buckinghams’ “I’ll Go Crazy,” penned by James Brown in 1960. After it became a regional hit, subsequent single releases were the John Lennon/Paul McCartney song “I Call Your Name” and “I’ve Been Wrong,” which was written by Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks and Graham Nash of the Hollies.

Carl Bonafede and Dan Belloc could be called the godfathers of the Chicago Sound. They were co-producers of the Buckinghams’ early recordings, and Bonafede doubled as the band’s manager.

With 1966 coming to a close, U.S.A. released a fourth Buckinghams song, “Kind Of A Drag.” Written by Jim Holvay of Brookfield, Ill., it became much more than a regional hit. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 90 on Dec. 31, 1966, and it was the nation’s No. 1 song on Feb. 18 and Feb. 25, 1967, ending a seven-week stay at the top spot for “I’m A Believer” by the Monkees. “Kind Of A Drag” sold 1.4 million copies.

With a huge national single in its catalog, U.S.A. quickly assembled an album containing 12 of the Buckinghams’ songs and gave it the title “Kind Of A Drag.”                                                                                            

About that time the band signed a management contract with Chicagoan James William Guercio, who then became the Buckinghams’ producer. U.S.A. no longer could hold the red-hot band, as Guercio engineered a contract termination settlement and found a new recording home at Columbia Records.

Before the Buckinghams slipped from their stable, U.S.A. released an earlier recording of “Laudy Miss Claudy.” The result was three Buckinghams’ singles on two different labels in the Hot 100 at the same time.

Guercio wasted no time in using the brass-rock approach of his predecessors. “Don’t You Care” was the first release for Columbia, and it rocketed to No. 6. 

In all, the Buckinghams placed six singles on the national charts in 1967, prompting Cash Box Magazine to name them as “the most promising vocal group in America.” Billboard Magazine went one better, saying they were “the most listened to band in America” for the year.

There were a couple of earlier personnel changes but, at their peak of popularity, the band consisted of Dennis Tufano (lead vocals), Carl Giammarese (guitar), Nick Fortuna (bass), Jon Poulos (drums) and Marty Grebb (keyboards). The brass instruments were played by session musicians.

The influence of Bonafede, Belloc and the Buckinghams soon spread to other Chicago area bands, and brass-rock became the calling card for such groups as the Flock (“Take Me Back”),  the American Breed (“Bend Me, Shape Me”), the Ides of March (“Vehicle”) and Chase (“Get It On”). Another area group was a band that formed in 1967, calling itself the Big Thing. After Guercio left the Buckinghams in 1968, he became manager of this outfit.

Guercio moved the seven-member band to Los Angeles, changed its name to Chicago Transit Authority and signed it to Columbia. They had one album of jazz-rock songs in 1969 before they shortened their name to Chicago for their second album.

Unlike the Buckinghams, Chicago had a full-time horn section – Walt Parazaider (saxophone), James Pankow (trombone) and Lee Loughnane (trumpet). 

The public acceptance of Chicago’s brass-driven style resulted in 35 top 40 singles and 32 charted albums. In conjunction with its 60th anniversary, Billboard named Chicago as the top American band in its chart history and fourth overall behind the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Bee Gees.

The final recordings by the Buckinghams were produced by Jimmy “The Wiz” Wisner, and their releases after 1968 failed to have much impact. Fame is fleeting in the music business and, when the well of good songs runs dry, any band will have to call it quits. Such was the Buckinghams’ fate in 1970. Chicago was fortunate that their deep well of hit singles kept them on the charts until 1991. With three original members still on board, Chicago is a top touring act to this day. Their last album was released in 2014.

When Guercio left Chicago he became a staff producer for Columbia. In that role he crafted the second album for Blood, Sweat & Tears in late ’68. With a heavy brass-rock sound, the record spent seven weeks atop the Billboard 200 album chart and sold 4 million units in the U.S. and Canada.

The Outsiders from Cleveland, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap from San Diego, the Grass Roots from Los Angeles and the Spiral Starecase from Sacramento also parlayed brass-rock into several major hits in the 1960s and ‘70s. 

Here’s where the folks at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame should take notice. The “Chicago Sound” was a brilliant innovation in the evolution of popular music and inspired many. The people responsible for its creation and development should be recognized for their legitimate contributions to rock. 

The artist eligibility requirement of the Hall states: “Besides demonstrating unquestionable musical excellence and talent, inductees will have had a significant impact on the development, evolution and preservation of rock & roll.” The Buckinghams and Bonafede, Belloc and Guercio fill the bill.

Let’s move the Royalty of Rock and Roll out of the Windy City so they can reside in their rightful place in Cleveland at the Hall of Fame.