Jason Scheff Leaves Chicago

Perfect description!!

 

3 3/4 or 7 1/2?

 

As time goes on....
I realize....
Just what you meaaaaaaannnnnnnn...

Jeff-REEEEeeeeeEEEEy

 

I can only gather than you aren't particularly familiar with him and said familiarity likely begins late into his tenure with Chicago. Most of his singing sounds nothing like you've described.

Ed

 

No, I am actually very familiar with Champlin's work and own his albums with the Sons, his solo albums (all of them), other albums that he has been on (Jay Graydon, the West Coast All-Stars, and a Doc Kupra solo album) and his work with Chicago. I have also seen him live with the Sons, Chicago, and a solo show at a small club in Santa Rosa, Ca.

His work with Chicago is not pleasant to listen to for my ears.

 

So is it just his work with Chicago that sounds like "he was constipated and trying to pass a kidney stone"? As you own so much of his work otherwise, he can't be as bad as you previously described, can he?

Of course, even at that, I don't agree with you at all. Late into his tenure with Chicago, he over-ad-libbed and it drove me nuts. The boredom he was feeling came out in his vocals and the results were truly terrible. Through their career on Warner/Reprise, though, I thought he sounded great.

Ed

 

If you leave me Jeff.... You'll take away the very heart of Pete....

 

It happens; especially a band that's been around for 50 years.

 

Champlin's heart was never in it with Chicago, just his wallet. I'm a huge Sons fan; Chicago went downhill for me after the first album, which is still a huge favorite, and 3 was the last I bought.

 

Blows my mind that guys in a band of that stature can just call out for gigs when they don't feel like showing up.

 

They aren't in their 20s or 30s any more. They're 70 plus. They or their family may have health problems. What can you do.

 

Cut back your gigging schedule? Do something that's within your means in terms of being able to play gigs and do them? I'm sure the guys in Chicago have enough money at this point.

 

Agree. But from reading interviews with various band members, I get the impression that they aren't calling the shots, but the band management is — and the management simply doesn't care about much of anything except squeezing as much revenue out of this band as possible, for as long as they can.

 

If that is what they are saying, it makes no sense.
The tail does not wag the dog.

 

You retire? You book fewer shows? You at least put out an announcement that you're sitting out a tour for "health reasons." You don't just bail and hope no one notices. I mean, the Chicago horns have been doing this for years, and they get away with it because they're kind of a faceless band, but that doesn't make it any less lame. They don't just wheel out that guy from Mick Jagger's 80's solo tour if Keith Richards doesn't show up to work, y'know?

 

In Lee's case it's all very simple, really: Alimony.

Ed

 

​

Good! Now they've got a sax solo with excellent chops. Walt never had that. He can only play what's on the page. Ask him to improv and the results are disastrous. He's never been good at that.

Ed​

 

Scheff's bassplaying was far better than Cetera. Peter was never much of a bassist. Scheff sounded fine on vocals, too. It's not that Cetera can't be replaced, it's that fanboys want to hear exactly his voice, which is never going to happen. Cetera can't even do Cetera any more.

 

Peter was and still is (when he can be bothered) an excellent bassist. Jason is great too in that department. As a vocalist, Jason was and remains complete and total trash. He, by his own admission, was triple-tracked by Foster for "18" and his blandness has never been fully compensated for regardless of what's done. He's also incredibly pitch-deprived live. If I'm a rabid Chicago fan, I'm quite relieved that his vocals are no longer part of the show.

Ed

 

Cetera owns a bass. He'd never be heard taking an improvised solo, has never shown any propensity for desirable technique, doesn't stand out as a bassplayer at all on any recordings. The closest thing to memorable that I can hear would be the melodic bass on "Saturday In The Park", "Beginnings", and maybe the picked bass part on "I'm A Man", which was particularly sloppy, groove-wise. Maybe it works on a raw, rock-like level, but that original recording, along with subsequent live recordings of the same tune, don't deserve to appear alongside Danny's drumming. No one's learning Pete's unusually well-played bass parts. I don't know any bassists that cite him as an inspiration. If anything, they may cite the band's early material as a whole as inspirational.

 

ah that would explain why Jason Scheff was in Chicago for such a short time (1985 to 2016)

....and songs he sang like 'If She Would Have Been Faithful' (no.17 Billboard), 'Will You Still Love' Me' (no.3 Billboard) and 'What Kind of Man Would I Be ?' (no.5 Billboard) did so poorly as singles then....

 

He is not a good singer. Foster has said as much. You can go watch YouTube clips of him screwing up left and right live. The first two tunes were "triple-tracked" to make Scheff sound better. Scheff has said that himself. I can hear the edits in "What Kind of Man" quite clearly so he worked hard to get that vocal down.

Remember, this is also the same band that has kept Walt Parazaider the entire time.

Ed

 

Honestly, as a bass player, I rate Cetera very highly, and wish he got more recognition for his playing. He's a good ensemble player and has enough chops to hold his own with Terry and Danny - he's solid on the front half of VII, which is some nice jazz-funk playing.

You can definitely tell when Terry's playing bass because it's quite pedestrian (obviously since it's not his preferred instrument) , whereas Cetera adds little touches of flair to his lines.

 

I prefer Peter Cetera's melodic bass playing style any day over Jason's generic style.

 

What is the significance of that date? Thanks