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Home » Chi-Lites

Tag: Chi-Lites

Posted inMusic

Ari Brown belongs in Chicago’s canon of great tenor saxophonists

by Steve Krakow July 15, 2021August 18, 2021

Ari Brown hasn’t often sought the spotlight, but his blend of bebop rigor and avant-garde daring puts him on par with the likes of Fred Anderson and Von Freeman.

Posted inMusic

Source One Band honor their late guitarist Sir Walter Scott with a bustling soul-blues party

by David Whiteis July 7, 2021August 18, 2021

UPDATE: this event is scheduled for 3 PM until 7 PM. For years, until the pandemic shut everything down, the weekly shows hosted at the Odyssey East by bassist Joe Pratt and his Source One Band made the cozy venue one of the most important remaining strongholds of blues and soul-blues on the south side. […]

Posted inMusic

A local R&B favorite by the Fabulous Turks gets resurrected after half a century

by Steve Krakow May 6, 2021August 18, 2021

Chicago singer-songwriter RJ Griffith has released a cover of his uncle’s old R&B band the Fabulous Turks.

Posted inMusic

Saxophonist Gene Barge helped shape the sound of Chicago R&B

by Steve Krakow April 22, 2021August 18, 2021

Gene Barge has done his most influential work as a sideman or producer, but he’s just as important as any of R&B’s marquee stars.

Posted inMusic

Girl group the Lovelites hit big but never became stars outside Chicago

by Steve Krakow November 5, 2020August 18, 2021

The Lovelites had their biggest success with “How Can I Tell My Mom and Dad,” which came out when they were so young they could barely tour.

Posted inMusic

The Artistics belong in the top tier of Chicago soul and R&B

by Steve Krakow October 23, 2020August 18, 2021

The Artistics could match the quality of the Impressions and the Chi-Lites, but not their chart success.

Posted inMusic

Pieces of Peace cut most of their brilliant soul-funk for other people’s records

by Steve Krakow November 19, 2019August 18, 2021

Chicago soul-funk band Pieces of Peace didn’t put out their only album till 35 years after they broke up.

Posted inMusic

Summoning the ghosts of Record Row

by Aaron Cohen October 23, 2019August 18, 2021

For two decades, a short stretch of Michigan Avenue hosted a concentration of creative entrepreneurship whose influence on Black popular music is still felt today.

Posted inMusic

Barbara Acklin missed soul stardom by a hair

by Steve Krakow July 16, 2019August 18, 2021

She’s best known for the 1968 hit “Love Makes a Woman,” but she also had a productive songwriting duo with Eugene Record of the Chi-Lites.

Posted inMusic

Entertainment lawyer Jay B. Ross fought for the people who made the music he loved

by Yana Kunichoff April 19, 2018August 18, 2021

An expert negotiator, he went to bat for stars as big as James Brown and Muddy Waters, but he also clawed back royalties for countless forgotten artists who’d never gotten their due.

Posted inMusic

Session drummer Morris Jennings played on Electric Mud, the Superfly soundtrack, and scores of other records

by Steve Krakow July 3, 2017August 18, 2021

As a house drummer for Chess Records in the late 60s, Morris Jennings kicked off a five-decade career that never brought him into the spotlight himself.

Posted inMusic

Brian Wilson, Pet Sounds, and the categorical denial of the sensitive black genius

by Noah Berlatsky July 1, 2016August 18, 2021

Brian Wilson owes his pop preeminence in part to racial coding that says a sensitive genius can’t be black.

Posted inMusic

Who is Dancin’ Man?

by Jake Austen November 10, 2011January 11, 2022

Meet Dancin’ Man, who’s shared stages with James Brown and the Jackson Five

Posted inMusic

The Secret History of Chicago Music: Betty Everett

by Chicago Reader June 2, 2011August 19, 2021

“Shoop Shoop” singer had hits prior to her most famous song

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