I’ve never liked the term “one-hit wonder.” This is partly because it’s often misused; I’ve seen Americans describe T. Rex as a one-hit wonder because “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” was Marc Bolan’s only stateside smash, but in the UK he had 11 top-ten hits in three years. I also find “one-hit wonder” a […]
Category: The Secret History of Chicago Music
Let’s make Marshall Vente a star
I discover subjects for the Secret History of Chicago Music lots of different ways—I might see an unfamiliar artist mentioned in passing during an interview with somebody better known, or spot a name I don’t recognize in the credits of a well-loved local LP. Sometimes a musician simply contacts me directly, or a friend or […]
Soul singer Garland Green couldn’t quite turn luck and talent into stardom
I know I’m indulging in nostalgia for the “good old days” before the global consolidation of the entertainment industry, but it sure seems like it used to be easier for a talented artist to luck into a shot at fame—something more lasting than 15 seconds of Internet virality. In the 1960s, the workings of the […]
Society’s Children had a combo unheard-of in 60s garage rock: mother and son
Long ago, an early fan of the Secret History of Chicago Music stopped me at a grocery store. Not only was I surprised that this gentleman had recognized me—I tend to think of myself as a faceless columnist—but I was also taken aback by his first question. “You do that garage-band column in the Chicago […]
Peter Brown is an A+ argument against dissing disco
I’d like to think the narrative has changed on Chicago and disco since the infamous Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in 1979. White rock fans blowing up disco records was never a good look, in no small part because the genre was so heavily Black, Brown, and queer. I’ll allow that some of the […]
Gerald Sims played on two of the most immortal soul songs ever
Lately the Secret History of Chicago Music has been playing a losing game, trying to keep up with the all-too-frequent passings of underappreciated musicians from the 1960s and ’70s. I’ll celebrate some living artists soon, but first I want to shine a light on Gerald Sims, who died in May. Sims made immortal contributions to […]
Pianist Dorothy Donegan gave zero fucks
Musicians who transcend genre and expectation often have to settle for being described decades later as “ahead of their time.” Multifaceted jazz pianist and vocalist Dorothy Donegan overcame racial prejudice, sexism, and musical gatekeeping to grow into her own bad self in the 1950s—to borrow a contemporary phrase, she gave zero fucks. She once described […]
Polymathic percussionist Derf Reklaw deserved a better farewell
When Ramsey Lewis died in September, the Secret History of Chicago Music didn’t weigh in—the keyboardist, composer, and radio personality was hardly a secret, and the news of his passing prompted an international outpouring. The same was true of Maurice White from Earth, Wind & Fire, who’d had an early gig as Lewis’s drummer and […]
Jazz bassist Cleveland Eaton had a career almost too vast to imagine
I’ve been covering underappreciated artists in the Secret History of Chicago Music for more than 18 years, but as I research a subject, I still sometimes catch myself wondering: “Why is this person not a universally beloved household name?” Cleveland Eaton is just such a case. He was a composer, bandleader, producer, arranger, publisher, teacher, […]
The Austin High Gang helped birth Chicago jazz in the 1920s
In nearly 20 years of writing the Secret History of Chicago Music, I’ve never tackled prewar jazz. The Windy City has been an important center for bebop and avant-garde jazz, and it was also a major player in jazz’s early history. The “Chicago style” has meant different things to different jazz musicians over the decades, […]
Soul vocal group the Independents grew out of a powerful songwriting duo
All forms of art speak of their time, and during events of historical significance, art reliably reflects those changes, whether overtly or subtly. Often the artists themselves respond by creating new aesthetics or philosophies. Righteous Chicago soul group the Independents didn’t catalyze a musical revolution of their own, but they still prove the point: they […]
Art-school punks Poison Squirrel released their lone single in 1980
The early history of Chicago punk is a tough nut to crack. Because the scene here isn’t seen as groundbreaking or cohesive, it hasn’t been nearly as thoroughly researched or documented as the scene in New York City. The 2007 documentary You Weren’t There, directed by Joe Losurdo and Christina Tillman, tried to pick up […]
Harmonica master Billy Branch deserves to be a household name
It must be surreal to be a towering figure in your field but still have to explain who you are to almost everyone you meet. I’m sure scientists are used to it—their work doesn’t exactly put their faces in front of the public—but I’ll never get why the reputations of blues musicians travel so poorly […]
It’s never too late to give soul-blues master Bobby Jonz his flowers
We Americans don’t seem to want to deal with this pesky pandemic anymore—not to take precautions and certainly not to grieve our country’s losses, which topped one million lives almost a year ago. Even our president, who at first seemed to have our backs, has declared the crisis over. Meanwhile the body count keeps climbing, […]
Rockin’ bluesman G.L. Crockett died right before he found his audience
In the world of visual art, it’s not too unusual for, say, a painting by a French artist who died a pauper to sell through a New York auction house for millions of dollars. Blues and soul artists from the States sometimes encounter a similar fate. After decades spent underpaid and underappreciated on their home […]