Customer Reviews

Chase

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Back in the late 60's, as the Beatles were breaking up and a wave of experimentation hit popular music, "rock bands with horns" became a Big Thing. The leading practioners were Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears. (Although I hesitate to call BS&T "rock", since their rhythm section always sounded to me like jazz-oriented college professors 'demonstrating' what rock should sound like. But I digress.) There was also a second tier of horn bands. Some were one hit, or no hit, wonders like the Ides of March and Rubicon; some were funk-oriented -- Tower of Power and Earth, Wind & Fire come to mind. And then there was Chase.

Chase was about trumpets. All trumpets, all the time. Bill Chase was a section leader with Woody Herman, and his scream playing was as strong as anyone's -- even Maynard Ferguson's. He formed his band around a four member trumpet section, all of whom could really play. The result, on this album, is amazing. Every piece holds something of interest for a trumpet aficionado. Not only the high notes and ensemble playing, but the arrangements as well. Chase pioneered a sort of "kaleidoscopic" effect as the trumpets cascaded through chord changes. Some of the best moments come after the trumpets move through a particularly difficult set of fills, and then repeat them in the next verse -- an octave higher. ("Get It On" is a good example.)

The album has its flaws, though. The lyrics are banal at best ("You're at the top of my grocery list, You're the dessert I don't want to miss."), the singing leaves a lot to be desired and the rhythm section can be a bit wooden. (All of which improved on the next two albums, which have been combined on a single CD and are worth checking out.) And, the CD transfer is not great so don't expect big improvements in fidelity.

Chase fans from the 70's will want to pick up the CD. If you're a younger brass player -- or maybe you've heard "Get It On" played by college pep bands for years and wondered, "Where'd that come from?" -- this CD is definitely worth a listen. You'll be amazed.

Chase was great. They played our town's Holiday Inn and blew the roof off. But if this CD sounds weak in the low end, it's because it is a 2 track reduction taken from the QUAD LP master (as was the Japanese import CD). After I called One-Way Records, I was able to confirm that the original LP master is MISSING (lost perhaps in CBS' vault fire that consumed much of Chicago's and Simon & Garfunkel's master tapes). The original album producer has a DAT copy of the original master, but was not used for this CD.
Other than sounding somewhat tinnier than the original LP, other not so subtle differences are the slightly different vocals on Grocery List and Bill Chase's intro Trumpet solo on River. If you have the original yellow label Epic (or even orange label 2nd pressing) LP, A/B it with the CD and you will see what I mean. If you have the 2 LP reissue (with Ennea) on the blue Epic label, the you have this two track mix-down from Quad. So hit the old record stores (or ebay) and find the original LP because, until they re-release this CD as a multi-channel SACD from the Quad mix and release the ORIGINAL 2 track master recording as well, this is the only way to find the original.

Anyone who knows anything about trumpet playing will be stunned by Bill Chase's technical expertise (as well as the rest of the band). Yes, I too have a dozen or so of Maynard Ferguson's CD/albums, and yes, Maynard is awesome (just bought a couple more of Maynard's from Amazon tonight, as a matter of fact). The two artists' ranges are comparable, but Chase's accuracy exceeds that of MF. I had all three Chase albumns (Chase, Ennea, and Pure Music) around 1972, but was so young and naive, I thought I could always get them again, so didn't take of them - they didn't last long. And for the past 20 years, I have made regular trips to various music stores trying desperately to order the albums or CDs, but no luck. As a last hope, I checked Amazon - success! For people not familiar with Chase, I would like to point out two things. First, the group is more like Chicago or Earth Wind and Fire than a purely instrumental band like Maynard Ferguson - that is, the songs feature singers with the band providing backup ("dazzling" backup, actually - and there are plenty of trumpet solos, and even a song or two that exclude vocals). Second, the style of music it is very dated. The albums were released around 1970 and the band died soon afterwards (that is why only 3 albums were ever made). The music is definitely tied to that era. However, don't let this discourage you - I think if you listen to the songs enough times, they will easily grow on you: there is REAL music on the CD - there are melodies (Boys and Girls Together is my favorite), great chord progressions (Handbags and Gladrags, for instance), and the band's full "thick" brass sound.

It's amazing. Nearly thirty years have passed since I last heard this material.

Unfortunately, mainstream radio wasn't exactly ready for this fast-paced fusion of rock and jazz, and its airplay in the early 1970's was minimal.

Since I first heard Chase, I have acquired formal education in music, and paid my dues as a player as well. As my taste in music became more refined, my appreciation for Chase never changed, and I was delighted to find this "album on CD" recently.

Three decades later, I played it, and got shivers up my spine.

It takes something special to have me stand up and publicize my opinion of recorded music, and this album has done that for me.

Chase lives on.

D Truscott

Chase is ultimate proof that trumpet players aren't merely limited to salsa, fusion, big band or soul. Although the Jazz credentials of these guys was more than enough to make The Sweats flinch, this is really hard rock with an angry soulful edge. There's nothing soft about them... they go for the high notes, wail out and shreik with maddening frenzy enough to make the devil flinch and Maynard Smile. The organ,bass, rhythm, guitar playing and vocals are driving, equal to that high powered horn blasts. Its like Led Zepplyn meets action film mayhem. The energy is overbearing.

Once you hear them, its almost painful to go back to your Blood Sweat & Tears albums. We might be dealing with a Woody Herman sidemen, but there is nothing soft and pseudo sophisticated quasi hip about these guys... the sweat is pouring and the shirts are unbuttoned. - - Sadly a plane crash put an end to it all... and today with the exception of musician's who still dig them and study their arrangements, they're practically remembered as a one hit wonder band via "Get It On" (I remember singing it in a Karaoke bar in Japan with this cheesy synth arrangement) - - who can you really compare these guys too ? They were incomparable... Check out Ennea, the wicked follow up album !

My jazz band instructor in high school made me a tape of Chase. I still have it. It won't play anymore though - it is over 16 years old, and I wore it out. I have been searching for the recordings ever since my high school and college jazz band days, and my order from amazon came in today! Open Up Wide is one of my favorites. I have seen Maynard live, and I think he is great, but Chase is awesome. I hope the other recordings are released on cd so i can get them too. No other group that I have heard combines this many horns, and it is really unique. Any trumpet player will enjoy this album.

Bill Chase was truly an extraordinary trumpet player and musician. His accuracy in the upper register is still in my opinion un-surpassed, with the exception of very few. Bill Chase also had a better sound in the stratosphere than just about anyone, in my opinion. Many have compared Chase and Maynard, and have brought up who they think is greater, and while I will not sway over to one side, I will say it's close. At this particular level of performance it's best to simply acknowledge both players as amazing. However, I will say Chase had one of the most wonderful sounds and he was also so extremely accurate. His sound never shook or strained a bit. Total accuracy. He also had great improvisational skills and had lead chops that were as good as anyone's. This album with his cross-over band Chase from 1970 is his most well-known effort. The band is four trumpets and a rhythm sections, almost a bit like a trumpet choir. While the vocals are not the best part of the album by any means, the trumpet playing will keep you listening over and over, and the vocals are pretty good in spots. Ted Piercefield and Terry Richards do the majority of the singing, and do a pretty decent job. However, it is Chase himself who will move you with brilliant soloing and pinpoint lead playing. The album starts out with a tune appropriately titled "Open Up Wide", which starts out immediately with Chase shrieking out Double G's and C's with such an amazing, full sound. This song is also an instrumental, and Chase leads the band in this energetic anthem. This is without a doubt my favorite song on the album, simply because Chase solos heroically and ends on a daring riff but basically goes insane through the whole solo. It just sounds great. Also, listen to the organ solo, the organist is also insane, and was a former Howard McGhee (another under-rated trumpet player who is great) band member. The backgrounds are also amazing, Chase and company play them, then play them again up an octave, and scream it on out. Astounding. "Livin' In Heat" is a deep song of sorts about growing up and carrying a chip on your shoulder and has a nice little tune to it. Chase and company do a wonderful job of backing everything up. This is clear, crisp lead playing at its finest. The notorious "Hello Groceries" is a classic rock-influenced tune with obvious sexual references. This song might make some roll their eyes at the lyrics, but Chase's playing on this track is great as usual, with excellent control and sound. "Handbags And Gladrags" is a cool song with an oldies flavor and is catchy with great trumpet playing. "Get It On" is probably the album's most well-known song, but it's not even my favorite one on the Chase album. However it is a lot of fun and a great anthem-like trumpet feature where the Chase band does the famous octave jumps they're so well-known for, and Chase soars above the band. "Boys And Girls Together" is another one I really like, among my favorites in this collection. It's just a swinging song that will pull at the heartstrings. However, the edgiest piece is saved for last, which is, of course, "Invitation To A River". I have to say that Bill Chase's trumpet intro (what he plays in the first thirty-forty seconds) is one of the most amazing, heroic entrances I have ever heard. Also, the High E's are perfectly focused and accurate (sorry I'm heading into trumpet geek territory). This intro alone shows Bill Chase's heroic ability on the trumpet and what he has done for the trumpet. The piece is about a torrid love affair gone wrong, and is comprised of five parts, beginning with "Two Minds Meet". This part is my favorite because it's energetic, fiery, happy and Chase trades wonderfully with Terry Richards, leading the band. Then it moves into the slower, darker movement of "Stay" and "Paint It Sad", which displays the different moods. Chase solos insanely here, playing beautiful, screaming notes and also doing sickeningly amazing multiple tonguing in the stratosphere! "Reflection" is an ad-lib which moves into "River", which includes the finale, a tragic ending. While some may this piece is a bit weird, I find it amazing, because it combines great storytelling with great trumpet playing.

I was really pleased to read all of the other reviews here on Amazon of Chase. I'm glad that there are so many others who appreciate the beauty of the trumpet sound that was Bill Chase. Unfortunately, his all too premature death along with other members of Chase in a plane crash put an end to a legacy that way too many are not even aware of. I think it's important that Chase is properly remembered, because had they lived, they would be (without a doubt) just as well-known as Chicago, Maynard Ferguson or Blood, Sweat & Tears.

Like most of the rest of the reviewers, I first heard Chase in high school, when a fellow trumpet player and my best friend played the first album for me. We were already big Maynard Ferguson fans, but this album just blew me away! I spent the next 4 years haunting record stores, and finally found all 3 albums (Chase, Chase/Ennea, and Pure Music) in the cut-out section of a local record store at college! The LPs have only been out of my hands twice since that time, as I was deathly afraid to lend them to someone and have them lost forever! I'm elated that they are releasing these albums on CD so a new generation can appreciate what a tremendous trumpet player and musician Bill Chase was.

"It happens all too often with great and special things - they are not fully appreciated until they are gone." Jim Szantor, former editor of Downbeat Magazine

This is a review about, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest if not the greatest trumpet player who ever lived. Unfortunately he did not live long enough. Bill Chase and three band members died in a plane crash about thirty years ago but his music lives on and is still quite popular.

Chase's music was the consummate Rock/Brass/Jazz fusion but with vocals. It was the best I've ever heard. The music was closer to Rock than Jazz and would probably appeal to a wide spectrum of listeners. In fact, off their 1971 debut album the song "Get it On" was a #1 hit.

Chase, his self titled band, made three albums, a S/T album which featured five songs on one side, including "Hello Groceries" and "Handbags and Gladrags" and the #1 hit single, "Get it on". On side two was a another shorter song ("Boys and Girls Together"), and a remarkable blues song about suicide called "Invitation to a River" and it takes up most of side B so it must be about fourteen minutes long.

Another album they made which is every bit as good, though the critics didn't like it as much, is Ennea, Greek for nine (the number of band members). It is about Greek Gods and has titles like "Posidon", "Chronus", "Hades" and "Zeus". This is an amazing album.

There is a third album, Pure Music, which I've never heard but I'm sure it's good. I've seen the second and third albums offered on one CD and that's even doubly hard to get.

We now know that Bill Chase was a great trumpet player, so what could be better? How about two, make that three, no make it four great trumpet players! This nine piece ensemble was a very versatile band with an enormous, almost frantic sound. Besides the exceptional vocals of Terry Richards, Trumpet players, Ted Piercefield and Jerry Van Blair, provided excellent backing vocals as well as guitar player, Angel South and bass player, Dennis Johnson. The only non singing members were Chase himself, Alan Ware, trumpet, Phil Porter, keyboards and Jay Burrid, drums.

Make no mistake, the extra trumpets gave Chase a sound like no other. They would banter back and forth with each other and with other band members like they were communicating and I can't help thinking they were having a ball doing it and Terry Richard's vocals could not have captured the essence of the music better.

The first six tracks were all exceedingly catchy radio friendly and "Handbags and Gladrags" was also a top twenty hit in addition to "Get it On", which by the way forced T Rex to change the name of their version of "Get it On" to "Bang a Gong". This helps explains why the album Chase sold three millions copies. No small feat for a debut of relatively unknowns in 1971. Overall the album finished the year as the twenty-second biggest album for 1971.

"Livin' in Heat", is a medium fast tempo, very busy song with the trumpets mimicking Richards. There's also some nice guitar work here but as always it's the horns.

"Hello Groceries", another medium fast paced number quite similar to track ! but with a different melody and presentation. Lead vocal by Jerry Van Blair on this one.

"Handbags and Gladrags", also recorded by Rod Stewart. (I don't know who covered who) Yes, it was a great recording by Stewart but you haven't heard it with them horns. Fabulous song, the varied tempo is perfect for a horn section and on this one we get to hear Ted Piercefield another absolutely wonderful vocalist. (better than Stewart)!

"Get It On"
This was not a number one hit by accident, this is quite a song and quite a job by Richards. There is of course the ubiquitous horn section mimicking Richards on the chorus's and some excellent keyboards (Hammond). It really all comes together for these guys but I don't think this is any better than any other track, they're all that good.

"Boys and Girls Together", Piercefield on vocals again, B> is a medium paced song and one I like a lot. It has a very accessible catchy melody and could have been a hit if released as a single.

"Invitation to a River", a fourteen masterpiece! This song actually breaks into five parts, a] Two Minds Meet, b] Stay, c] Paint it Sad, d] Reflections, e] River. It contains many tempos and moods.

Sitting here listening to this album, even after thirty some years, I am amazed how fresh and imaginative this album is. This is one of those creations that never gets tiresome, never gets dated.

If Chase sounds like something you might have an interest in, then it is. If it sounds like something that you might like, then you will. I can almost guarantee it!!!

These albums were re-released about five years ago on CD, by One Way Records a company that specializes in re-releasing great music that was never issued on CD form and that's what I've been trying to get. Unfortunately their license expired and they are currently and maybe permanently out of circulation. Still it is possible to purchase them from time to time on Amazon or Ebay.

Author's Note
I hope you enjoyed my review of this remarkable album and the extraordinary musician, who like so many others, was taken from us in his prime.

Like so many who have reviewed this legendary album (and band), I was enormously disappointed in the sound quality of the cd version. If the original lp master is missing, this would explain why the two versions are different and why the lp version is far superior.

I consider myself a bit of a "Chase-phile". I have all three original albums on vinyl that I bought at the time of release in the 70's and I've listened to them so many times, I have every musical passage practically memorized. After waiting patiently forever, I bought the cd versions: "Chase" and the double album cd "Ennea/Pure Music" when they were released. Unfortunately, the double album cd is also somewhat disappointing.

Of course, the music itself is worth a five star rating but the sound quality gets only one star. Averaging it out, I give the cd version three stars.

This is a grave injustice and it is my sincere hope that one day, the Chase albums will be reissued the right way. Still, this cd is worth owning for posterity and if you've never heard the original, you might not be too disappointed. Listen to the music and not the disc.

And speaking of great trumpet players on cd, Maynard Ferguson's M.F. Horn albums "One" through "5" should be in print but sadly are not. Rhino? Are you out there?