August 20 – Illinois’ – And West Virginia’s – Favorite Trombonist

On By DaveIn Artist Profiles, birthdays

Happy birthday to rock’s best-known, and probably just “best” trombonist. Chicago’s James Pankow turns 76 today. Of course the list of rock trombonists isn’t lengthy, but even if it were Pankow would probably top the list.

Pankow actually was originally from St. Louis, and his dad was a musician and the family moved to the Chicago area when he was young. He gravitated towards horns at an early age and won a music scholarship to Quincy College, but before he’d finished with college he’d met Walter Parazaider, who invited him to join his band, The Big Thing. With a few quick personnel changes, they quickly became the Chicago Transit Authority, then simply Chicago. Pankow is one of three original members still in the band, 56 years on (the others being Robert Lamm and Lee Loughnane).

While Chicago had a string of “soft rock” hits in the ’70s, the thing which made them so distinctive and certainly set their first few records apart was their prominent use of horns. Pankow leads the “brass” section, arranging their bits for the others, typically Loughnane and Parazaider through most of their career. But that’s not all, he’s also been one of the band’s regular songwriters, composing (and at times writing entirely) hits including “Searching So Long”, “Old Days” , “Just You’n’Me” and “Feeling Stronger Every Day.”

 

And while “Til The End Of Time” wasn’t a single, the Chicago X song was unusual in being not only written by him but sung by him – one of a very small number of times we really hear his voice on their records.

Although synonymous with Chicago (the city and the band), he’s been honored by a city in West Virginia. Buckhannon, WV declared an official James Pankow Day in 2019 on his birthday to recognize his immortalizing the town in the song “Ballet For a Girl In Buchannon (sic)”. That one was based on real life, it seems; he fell in love with a young teacher in Chicago but she left to further her studies in that West Virginia community, derailing their romance.

August 20 seems a pretty good day to be born if you aspired to a music life. Also born on this date are the likes of Robert Plant (75 today), Doug Fieger from the Knack, Isaac Hayes and Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott.

18 thoughts on “August 20 – Illinois’ – And West Virginia’s – Favorite Trombonist”

  1. That recent live performance of “Feeling Stronger Every Day” sounds pretty decent – I have to say better than I anticipated! My wife and I saw Chicago once on Long Island, New York. I believe it was in the late ’90s. I also seem to recall it was a double-header with the Doobies. To the best of my recollection, it was a nice show!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Yeah, it feels a bit like an army. My wife and I saw a terrific Chicago tribute band called Beginnings some four years ago or so. They also had a good amount of musicians on that stage.

        Tragically, Beginnings lost “their Peter Cetera” to a heart attack on stage(!) a year later and went on hiatus for some time. I think they subsequently resumed performing with a new lead vocalist.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. one thing about a Chicago tribute band – I could be wrong but I imagine you could assemble one based more on talent alone instead of needing great physical resemblance as well. I mean, it you’re a Beatles cover band and you have a heavy-set blondish guy playing bass right-handed, that’s going to be jarring. But if you’re a Chicago one and ‘your’ Walter Parazaider is three inches too tall or wears glasses or something unlike the real one, not many will notice.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Definitely. Based on my recollection, Beginnings didn’t have much if any visual resemblance to the members of Chicago.

        When it comes to tribute bands, I feel visual resemblance is a nice-to-have. First and foremost, it’s about faithfully capturing the music and the vocals. Oftentimes, it’s the latter where you can notice clear differences between tribute acts.

        That said, it’s kind of funny how in certain cases like The Beatles the visual is more important than for other tribute acts. It’s kind of silly, but I can’t deny the sentiment.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. thanks, Randy, they usually have pretty interesting stories too, like the ‘faces’ of those bands. Oddly, I’ve talked to Max about this , my most-read column ever is a profile on probably the least-known, most obscure member of an only relatively popular band.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  3. Badfinger (Max)

    What a talented band they were. I never realized that until I wrote the Colour My World post…this guy did write a lot of songs. His voice sounds really good! They were stocked with very good songwriters…even Cetera who in the 80s…I didn’t care as much for but those late 60s and 70s songs are great….don’t get me wrong…there are a few in the 80s that I liked but I loved the Terry Kath era.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. they definitely are/were. I like most of their stuff, or at least all the singles through to about ’80… wasn’t big on the All-Cetera sound of the 80s,though it wasn’t atrocious by any means. I wouldn’t have likely guessed a horn player wrote so many of their good tunes, that has to be a bit unusual even in the few groups that utilize them regularly.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment