Lee Loughnane of the band Chicago joins host John Snell today to talk about discovering the trumpet and committing to a career in music, the groundbreaking idea of putting horns front and center in a rock and roll band, and stories of writing and recording some of those famous and iconic trumpet parts!
Lee Loughnane was eleven when his father asked him if he wanted to play an instrument. His dad had played trumpet when he was a kid, all the way through his time in the Army Air Force, but the horn was now up in the attic. Fortunately, that meant Lee already had a great instrument: a Bach Stradivarius.
Lee's dad took him to meet the band director at St. Celestine grade school in Elmwood Park, Ralph Meltzer, who said "show me your teeth." He wanted to make sure they were straight so the mouthpiece wouldn't tear up the inside of Lee's lip. Lee passed the visual audition and became a trumpet player that day.
Lee met Walt Parazaider at Depaul University; Walt was playing in a band called The Missing Links and invited Lee to come sit in with them. Terry Kath and Danny Seraphine were also in the band. When they broke up, Walt wanted to form a horn band, which was initially going to be a Las Vegas show band, but turned out to be Chicago.
Once they got signed to a record deal with Columbia Records, the group went to New York and recorded the Chicago Transit Authority album at the 42nd Street studio. Having never recorded before, it was very intimidating standing in front of a Neumann mic. These mics pick up every aspect of your playing, so there's a learning curve until you figure out how to relax and blend with the band. The group learned more and more about the recording process through the years and as the technology developed, they developed along with it.
Chicago continue to tour the world every year, including with original members Lee Loughnane, James Pankow and Robert Lamm. Lee has put together a traveling studio in order to record on the road, with much less overhead. The late great Phil Ramone advised them to, "Get a great mic and a great preamp." You can't start with mediocre stuff and make it great later. It's got to be the best sound right off the bat, then you can enhance the sound even more in mixing and mastering.
Lee and audio engineer Tim Jessup convinced the rest of the band that the studio was going to be good enough quality to make a record with, and they recorded a version of "Dialogue", on the bus, one instrument at a time and then mixed. Everybody was so pleased with the final product that Chicago XXXVl was recorded over 2013-14 without going into a studio.
Chicago have kept very busy throughout their career, and it's not slowing down. In fact, they're busier than any of them could have ever imagined they'd be. As Lee says, "I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing."
What a pleasure to be joined in this episode by rock icon and horn legend Lee Loughnane, someone who helped pioneer an entire genre of music and gave horns exposure to a whole new audience.
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