CHASE

It's better than anyone else in BRASS ROCK!

WOW! Many many thanks to colleague collaborator Easy Livin who has added this wonderful band to this site. This band really deserves to be included here even more than Blood Sweat & Tears. Why? It's a very simple reason: take this LP or CD with you and go straight to last track "Invitation toa River" which comprises four parts - it's basically an epic. I'm making the statement not because of there is an epic being featured here, rater, I look at from an angle where the music of this epic is purely prog to the bone! What subject you wanna discuss? Changes in styles? There is a lot of segments in this song that feature changes in style from basic upbeat music with acrobatic trumpet shots played by four brilliant musicians, including Bill Chase (RIP). Complex composition? Oh yes, you can find many complex arrangements right here especially with the stream of four trumpet players blowing very very HIGH register notes augmented beautifully with guitar solo and bass. You will also find that this song is quite unique in terms of instruments used. I rarely find any prog music which elaborates trumpet to deliver the composition. And .. this is NOT just a trumpet but FOUR trumpets working togeter, combining some series of notes intertwined dynamically with trumpet solo. The vocal line is also wonderful.

What coincidence that before I knew that CHASE is already included here, I discussed this band through an interactive discussions with friends in Indonesia through blogging. It was basically trigerred by the time when I was teens, there was cassette format of this album, distributed by recording company in Bandung (Yess). It's a precious cassette for me because I had never heard trumpet being played with VERY HIGH register notes which no one else did before! Bill Chase is great!

Overall, if you enjoy brass rock with prog approach, don't waste your time .. purchase this album!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

This is how to use a trumpet! It's been almost three years since the last Chase review which might suggest that they have been forgotten and so, if nothing else, I hope that this review will serve as a friendly remainder of this classic band.

Chase was a band assembled around the talented trumpet player Bill Chase. The band consisted of nine members among which were four trumpeters and at least as many vocalists. This formation might be considered similar to that of Chicago but with a definite emphasis on the trumpet sound that each and every one of these compositions feature prominently. The music on the band-titled debut album is just as experimental as that of the early Chicago but in a condensed form of a 33 minute album, meaning that you'll never get the chance to get tired of this release!

The album starts off with an instrumental introduction piece titled Open Up Wide followed by a side filled with 3 minute songs. Among these tracks we find an excellent cover of Mike d'Abo's (Manfred Mann) Handbags And Gladrags and a minor U.S. hit titled Get It On which ends with a quite surprising twist! Still it's the slightly more experimental lengthy piece called Invitation To A River that just might hit it off even with listeners that generally doesn't enjoy pure Jazz Rock/Fusion music.

I realize that my comparisons to Chicago might seem as criticism which in fact isn't so at all. These bands probably did compete for the same audience back in the day, but just like the golden age of prog where a lot of power trio lineups tried to simulate the magic of ELP, today I can only smile whenever I hear similarities between artists from that era. Incidentally, this album was recorded in Chicago, Illinois which makes it all even more fun!

The main flaw of this album has to do with the great variety of vocalists featured in the lineup. Unlike Chicago where the main composer Robert Lamm sang the majority of the songs, the great differences between the vocal styles here makes it sometimes difficult to get a feel for the band. Luckily we have the trumpets to remind us of just that. This is an excellent piece of the early '70s U.S. Jazz Rock/Fusion scene well worth digging into!

***** star songs: Handbags And Gladrags (3:24) Get It On (2:59)

**** star songs: Open Up Wide (3:48) Livin' In Heat (2:54) Boys And Girls Together (2:51) Invitation To A River (14:12)

*** star songs: Hello Groceries (2:57)

If the Don Ellis Orchestra produced Blood Sweat and Tears and they composed for Broadway musicals.

1. "Open Up Wide" (3:48) amazing full-throttle brass rock. (8.875/10)

2. "Livin' In Heat" (2:54) a little Broadway musical feel to this one (as well as BS&T). I guess the lead vocals hear must be attributed to Dennis Johnson. (8.875/10)

3. "Hello Groceries" (2:56) R&B brass rock. Jerry Van Blair's lead vocal is pure R&B. (8.75/10)

4. "Handbags and Gladrags" (3:23) slowed down New Orleans funereal music start turns into New York City open air style jazz-rock. Love the wavy, layered horn arrangements in the back ground. Lead vocalist Ted Piercefield sure sounds like David Clayton Thomas. (9/10)

5. "Get It On" (2:59) (8.666667/10)

6. "Boys and Girls Together" (2:56) Ted Piercefield again in the lead vocals. (8.666667/10)

7. "Invitation to a River" (14:13) so much like the soundtrack and arias from a single act of a Broadway musical. Even so, it would be considered great, moving theater music. (27.75/30) - a) "Two Minds Meet" - Dennis Johnson again on lead vocals? - b) "Stay" - slow and atmospheric with choral background vocals supporting Dennis' plaintive lead. - c) "Paint It Sad" - there's that David Clayton Thomas sound and feel again. - d) "Reflections" (ad lib) - Astounding horn play--especially from lead trumpeter Bill Chase. - e) "River" - more akin to the slow and plaintive music and lyrics of the second movement.

Total time - 33:09

The horn play is amazing throughout this album but the songs aren't always as engaging and are rarely inventive or forward-thinking as some of the other J-R Fusion artists of the day. I feel that Bill and company's compositional and stylistic orientations are quite similar to the music Stephen Schwartz was doing for musical theater.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of theatric brass rock.