Song:Get It On
Album:Rockin' 70s
Chase rode the popularity of jazz rock to the 1971 top 30 hit Get It On. They were led by former Woody Herman lead trumpeter Bill Chase. The unique thing about Chase is they had four trumpeters but no other horns. They started having personnel problems with their second album. And Bill Chase and other members died in a tragic plane crash in 1974. Bill Chase was born William Chiaiese Oct. 20, 1934 in the Boston suburb of Squantum, MA. His dad changed the family name to Chase just so no one would have to struggle with spelling the name. Dad played trumpet in a marching band so not surprisingly Bill took up the trumpet as a teen. After seeing Maynard Ferguson hit those high notes at a Stan Kenton concert, Chase knew what he wanted to do. So after studying at Berklee, Chase played with Ferguson in 1958 and with Kenton in 1959. But he spent most of the 60s as lead trumpeter and arranger in Woody Herman's Thundering Herd. He also established himself in Las Vegas as an in demand horn player for TV variety shows. By 1970, Chase was getting bored with this and saw the success of Blood Sweat & Tears. So he formed his own band with trumpeters Alan Ware, Jerry Van Blair and Ted Piercefield, Jay Burrid on drums, Phil Porter on keyboards, Dennis Johnson on bass, John Palmer on guitar and lead singer Terry Richards. Their debut album Chase was critically acclaimed and Get It On reached #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for a Grammy. Alas, the success didn't last. Chase's second album Ennea had a pretentious suite that no one liked. And Terry Richards was replaced by GG Shinn. Chase had financial problems and split up the band. He formed a new version of Chase featuring former Ides Of March lead singer Jim Peterik for the 1974 album Pure Music. The band was on tour in Minnesota when the plane crashed and Bill Chase and three other band members died on Aug. 9, 1974. Jim Peterik wasn't on the plane and he went on to be lead singer of Survivor. You can get Get It On on this budget priced 3CD various artists comp from Sony. The album Chase is barely a half hour long but you can get all three Chase albums on 2CDs from Wounded Bird Records. I don't think most fans would want all three albums. I'm not sure about Chase the band but certainly Bill Chase would have contributed a lot to music if he had lived. Here's Chase performing Get It On in 1971.
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