One of the bands of which I’m proud to be a part is the terrific Borealis Big Band out of Aurora, Ontario under the direction of Gord Shephard. It works with a standard big band compliment, which, if you don’t know, means five saxes, four trombones, four trumpets and a rhythm section, along with two vocalists. For a lot of people, “big band” means Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, etc., and while most big bands happily play some of that, composers have been writing new and exciting charts up to the present time.
In fact, in December, the band played a show featuring newer charts by Canadian composers including Phil Nimmons, Rob McConnell, Ian McDougall, and Bobby Rice, some of the very best to put pen to paper.
At the moment, we are preparing for a “Pops Concert” with the Aurora Community band, also under the direction of Gord, that will feature all kinds of fun and familiar songs. One of the tunes on the program, one that we have been working on, is the Chicago standard “Make Me Smile.” Having gone through the chart a few times in practice, I have to admit that playing a Chicago song, being in the middle of the sound, is something I didn’t even know was on my bucket list but it would have been and now it’s a check mark.
To grow up in the seventies, to play saxophone in high school meant that you absolutely loved everything Chicago did. There were a few other horn bands in the sixties and seventies, like Blood, Sweat, and Tears; The Ides of March; and Lighthouse in Canada, but for a while Chicago seemed to have one hit after another. I particularly remember wearing out the Chicago IX Greatest Hits album.
“Make Me Smile” was released in 1970, written by James Pankow with guitarist Terry Kath on vocals. It was Chicago’s first Top 10 record and got all the way up to number nine on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. According to one source, “Make Me Smile” was the group’s breakthrough hit, which triggered renewed interest after previous releases failed to do much. I was surprised to read that “Beginnings,” one of my favourites, was a single that did not chart when released in 1969, but then did when re-released in 1971.