Biography
Bill Chase was born William Edward Chiaiese on October 20, 1934, to an Italian-American family in Squantum, Massachusetts.[1] His parents changed their name to Chase because they thought Chiaiese was difficult to pronounce.[1] His father played trumpet in the Gillette Marching Band and encouraged his son's musical interests, which included violin and drums. In his mid-teens he settled on trumpet. Chase attended his first Stan Kenton concert, which included trumpeters Conte Candoli and Maynard Ferguson.[1]
After graduating from high school, he studied classical trumpet at the New England Conservatory but switched to the Schillinger House of Music (Berklee College of Music).[2] His instructors included Herb Pomeroy[2] and Armando Ghitalla.[1]
Chase played lead trumpet with Maynard Ferguson in 1958, Stan Kenton in 1959, and Woody Herman's Thundering Herd during the 1960s.[3]
One of Chase's charts from this period, "Camel Walk", was published in the 1963 Downbeat magazine yearbook. From 1966 to 1970 he freelanced in Las Vegas, working with Vic Damone and Tommy Vig.[4] In 1967 he led a six-piece band at the Dunes and Riviera Hotel where he was featured in the Frederick Apcar lounge production of Vive Les Girls, for which Chase arranged the music.
In 1971 he started a jazz rock band named "Chase" that mixed pop, rock, blues, and four trumpets.[5] The debut album Chase was released in April 1971. Chase was joined by Ted Piercefield, Alan Ware, and Jerry Van Blair, three jazz trumpeters who were adept at vocals and arranging. They were backed up by a rhythm section consisting of Phil Porter on keyboards, Angel South on guitar, Dennis Johnson on bass, and John "Jay Burrid" Mitthaur on percussion. Rounding out the group was Terry Richards, who was the lead vocalist on the first album. The album contains Chase's most popular song, "Get It On", released as a single that spent 13 weeks on the charts beginning in May 1971. The song features what Jim Szantor of Downbeat magazine called "the hallmark of the Chase brass—complex cascading lines; a literal waterfall of trumpet timbre and technique." The band received a Best New Artist Grammy nomination, but was edged out by rising star Carly Simon.
Chase released their second album, Ennea, in March 1972; the album's title is the Greek word for nine, a reference to the nine band members. The original lineup changed midway through the recording sessions, with Gary Smith taking over on drums and G. G. Shinn replacing Terry Richards on lead vocals. The third album, Pure Music, moved the band toward jazz. Two of the songs were written or co-written by Jim Peterik of the Ides of March, who also sings on the album, along with singer and bassist Dartanyan Brown.
