← Takin' A Walk - Music History with Buzz Knight
Takin' A Walk - Music History with Buzz Knight
"Horns of Legacy: A Conversation with Chicago's Lee Loughnane"
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- [00:00]
Ryan Seacrest
Hi friend, it's your inner child calling and they want churros, a new toy and a new adventure. Or maybe five with the bestest besties on earth. Find your moment at Walt Disney World Resort. Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. It's Stock up savings time now through March 25th. Spring in for storewide deals and earn four times the points. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible beverage items like Red Bull and sparkling ice, or breakfast favorites like Kellogg's Pop Tarts, Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, and Kellogg's Eggo Waffles, plus many more. Then clip the offer in our app for automatic event long savings. Stack up those rewards to save even more restrictions applied. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details. Where'd you get those shoes? Easy. They're from dsw. Because DSW has the exact right shoes for whatever you're into right now. You know, like the sneakers that make office hours feel like happy hour, the boots that turn grocery aisles into runways, and all the styles that show off the many sides of you, from daydreamer to multitasker and everything in between. Because you do it all in really great shoes. Find a shoe for every you at your DSW store or dsw.com hi, I'm Matt. And I'm Leah and we're from the Grown Up Stuff Podcast. And just in time for tax season, on this week's episode, we're chatting with CPA Lisa Green Lewis about how small businesses can tackle their taxes using TurboTax Business.
- [01:41]
Buzz Knight
A Forbes study mentioned that a whopping 93% of small businesses overpay their taxes and 17% of Gen Zers believed that you could write off any expense as a business expense. So can't blame them. It is really important to do your taxes right.
- [02:00]
Ryan Seacrest
Listen to Grown up stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.
- [02:07]
Buzz Knight
Taking a Walk I tell people that if there's advice that I can give them, do something in your life that you lose yourself into. Just art or welding. You know, I mean, anything, whatever excites you and takes your time, where you lose yourself in it and don't realize what time of day it is, what day it is. You're just into that project so much. Do that for a living and inevitably most people will try to talk you out of it because you're only concentrating on one thing. Welcome to the Taking a Walk podcast, where Buzz Knight steps into the lives.
- [02:46]
Lee Lochnane
Of fascinating individuals and explores Their musical journey. Today, Buzz is joined by Leigh Lochnane.
- [02:53]
Buzz Knight
The legendary trumpeter from the iconic band Chicago.
- [02:56]
Lee Lochnane
Lee shares stories of his musical beginnings.
- [02:59]
Buzz Knight
From learning trumpet techniques to forming unforgettable memories with Chicago.
- [03:04]
Lee Lochnane
Here's Buzz with founding member of Chicago.
- [03:06]
Buzz Knight
Lee Loch name on the Taking a Walk podcast.
- [03:10]
Lee Lochnane
Well, Lee, thanks for being on Taking a Walk. I really appreciate it.
- [03:14]
Buzz Knight
Thanks for having me.
- [03:15]
Lee Lochnane
So, since the podcast is called Taking a Walk, I wanted to ask you if you could take a walk with somebody living or dead. Doesn't have to be in the music business, but it could be. Who would that be? And where would you take a walk, Lee?
- [03:32]
Buzz Knight
I'd like to walk with Terry again.
- [03:35]
Lee Lochnane
Amen.
- [03:36]
Buzz Knight
Anyway.
- [03:37]
Lee Lochnane
Yeah, anywhere. Anywhere, anytime, right?
- [03:40]
Buzz Knight
Yep. I don't do that much walking anyway. You know, I sit around, I have a cup of coffee, I start practicing in the morning, and the, you know, I get up and I go into my office. Then I go back to where I'm watching TV or, you know, continue practicing and stuff, and then I drive across town to the grocery store or to my studio. So there isn't a lot of walking involved, but I guess it would take me about, you know, three or four hours to walk to the studio. The way I walk.
- [04:11]
Lee Lochnane
Well, it's a saunter. Right. Rather than a walk.
- [04:14]
Buzz Knight
Exactly.
- [04:16]
Lee Lochnane
But let's touch on the importance of Terry Cath. You. You mentioned him as the person to take a walk with. Obviously, he's an integral part of your life and someone that's so unforgettable and had such a. An influence on you. Can you talk about the early beginnings with Terry?
- [04:36]
Buzz Knight
Well, he and I used to hang out a lot, and we lived together for a while in Chicago. And as the band was starting and Terry was. I think he was actually wanting to move to California. He had a girlfriend named. I don't know if it was his girlfriend or not, but it was a girl that he was infatuated with by the name of Ophelia. And if she's watching this, I don't even know if she's alive or what her last name is, or if I saw her on the street, I wouldn't be able to recognize her. But anyway, he was infatuated with her at the time and was thinking of moving to California. He changed his mind and we were forming or actually, Walt was forming a new band after the Missing Links broke up, and Terry was the bass player in the Missing Links. When that band broke up, we formed Chicago. And we've been doing this ever since. 58 years. Who knew.
- [05:35]
Lee Lochnane
Congratulations. It's an amazing legacy and it's a legacy that's still being built. Lee how does a band continue to say so precision sharp.
- [05:48]
Buzz Knight
To this day we enjoy doing what we're doing. When we get on stage or play it in any capacity, we like what it sounds like. So that's the, that's the key factor. That hasn't changed from the first time we got together in Walt's basement in Chicago. And you know, beyond that, when we once we started writing music, when we were able to play clubs where they allowed us to play original music without getting fired, you know, we had to either play top 40 or get out. And so we did like everybody else, including the Beatles. I mean nobody got away with trying to be original because no one has heard those songs. So they want people to come into the club, not be, you know, what are these guys playing anyway? So regardless, everybody had to play top 40 music for a while and then start writing their own music. And as that started catching on and we started the recording process, once the first hit was accomplished, which was Make Me Smile, we went back and re released songs off the first album, which AM radio would not play at first because we hadn't had a hit. Strangely enough, that catch 22 problem and our first album was so underground. That always amazed me why the radio wouldn't play the music at first. But the album was successful and, and it was underground and we were, we were like stars in Europe. When we first time we went to England, we were stars. First time we went to Europe it was amazing. We didn't even know what to think about that. And you know, the music is so ahead of its time. What are they going to do next? Oh my God. So then the second album comes out and we release Make Me Smile and which is a 14 minute piece, the ballet for a girl in Buchanan. Make Me Smile is the first movement and the reprise of Me Smile is the last movement. And we just cut out all that music stuff in the middle. Who needs that, that classical stuff too much, too much music, too musical and squashed it together and made a three minute, three and a half minute song out of it called Make Me Smile. And that got us started. And when we went back and re re released the songs on the first album, does anybody really know what time it is? Beginnings. Question. 67, 68. They all became hits. And the most amazing thing to me is that music that was so far ahead of its time and oh my God, these are geniuses. What's going to happen next? They Said we sold out because the music had become successful. We didn't change a note. And that all went on pretty crazy.
- [08:43]
Lee Lochnane
That is crazy. And to this day, sometimes when somebody uses the term, oh, this is pop music, you know, oh, this is pop, you know, I remind them. I'm sure you do too. You go, wait a minute, Pop equates popular. So it's like there's no sellout here. And in fact, I remember your first album becoming a staple of progressive rock radio on fm.
- [09:10]
Buzz Knight
Yeah, yeah. And rock bands.
- [09:14]
Lee Lochnane
Yeah. And it, and what was so awesome about it is you fused all these sounds together, you know, pop, rock, jazz, and it was utter perfection. No one had heard anything like this.
- [09:26]
Buzz Knight
Well, we just, we did it naturally. It was, it was organic for us because we just played the music that was written and that's how we heard it and felt it. And when we saw those notes, that's, that's what we played. And that style was, came from the stuff that we had listened to growing up, the big bands, classical music. You know, some of the stuff that you hear from us is the. And some of it is like jazz, you know. You know, you just. You have to be able to play the different styles. And it's not that you have to. That's what we did to me, and I think that's set us apart from other bands.
- [10:13]
Lee Lochnane
Do you remember those. That session for, for CTA and, and what do you remember about that or.
- [10:20]
Buzz Knight
Those sessions on the first album?
- [10:24]
Lee Lochnane
Yes.
- [10:25]
Buzz Knight
Well, first of all, we had to do it in the dark of night. We started. We were the 12 to 8 shift. We started at midnight and went till 8 o'clock in the morning. And then we went and got a sandwich and went home or to the hotel for a while. And I think Simon and Garfunkel had the studio during the day and we had it at night. And thank God we knew the music as good as we did, because the hardest part for us was learning how to record. We didn't know how to record. And, you know, you got yourself in front of those microphones and they pick up every sound that you make. So it, you know, you got to get past the nervousness of making a mistake and learn how to use it in your, you know, for your benefit.
- [11:11]
Lee Lochnane
How long did those sessions take, Lee?
- [11:16]
Buzz Knight
I think we recorded the first album in only a few weeks. It wasn't all that long because we knew the material so well we were writing it for the first. We came to California in 68, and during that time we were playing small Clubs. Itchy Foot Mos. It was. That's a club in Alhambra. I don't even know if that's open anymore. We played the Whiskey and that's where Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin saw us. Well, especially Jimmy. I'm not sure where Janice saw us, but. Oh, I know it was the Fillmore west and she asked us to go on the road with her and so did Jimmy. And that was our start in the, the big time. And that was the start where we were the opening act. So I want to hear Jimmy. I want, you know. So they wanted us off the stage, but enough people, I guess, liked what we sounded like to stop yelling at us and listen to the first few songs and then let Jimmy come on stage.
- [12:16]
Lee Lochnane
Amazing. My understanding is Jimmy was one of the. The softest, sweetest gentlemen that anyone could ever run across.
- [12:26]
Buzz Knight
Well, I didn't spend a lot of time with him, but we did, you know, have some talks and, you know, holiday in hotel rooms and just sort of sat around and did some strange smoking things and probably looked for cheeseburgers afterwards, you know, munchies. And I know he wanted to. I. Walt always said that he was. He wanted to record an album with us and unfortunately he passed away before we were able to get to that. But I think that was in the plans.
- [13:01]
Lee Lochnane
Can you imagine that? My God.
- [13:03]
Buzz Knight
Pretty cool.
- [13:04]
Lee Lochnane
No kidding. Yeah. Now, you mentioned the Holiday Inn. Is it true that while you were out on the road and living in those Holiday Inns, there was. There was the Holiday Inn room where two of you, you know, room together. And then there was the other Holiday Inn room. That was the party room.
- [13:25]
Buzz Knight
There was a party room and all of us slept in the other room. We only had two rooms. There wasn't much money back then. You know, people think, oh, they're rock stars, you know, the old money for nothing and your chicks for free. Not quite. Not quite. You got to work for this stuff.
- [13:45]
Lee Lochnane
Now back to the studio aspect of things. How did you. Did you make the studio sound ultimately transfer to the sound that would be the concert sound?
- [13:57]
Buzz Knight
We just, we pretty much played it the same way that we did in the studio as we did live in a club or the, the. The harder part was, is. Was spreading out on stage. We didn't want to spread out right away on, on the big 40 foot stages. You would see this little band in the, in the middle of it. You have to like get your binoculars out. Are those guys up there or what? But we were so used to playing close together that it took a while to. To spread it out. And then when you. When you do that, you spread out the. The band, the configuration of the band. It's harder to hear each other. And there's like a. A couple milliseconds aren't much, but when you're playing music, if the drum hits a beat and you hear, you're on the other side of the stage a couple milliseconds later, that's when you get the sound. So when. When they finally invented the headphone monitors and you can do like a. You could hear the drummer right now. You didn't have to wait for it to get to you. You could hear it right in your ears immediately as he plays it. So that. That helped everybody be able to play together in a live setting, the big auditorium, live settings.
- [15:19]
Lee Lochnane
I saw you and actually was fortunate to emcee, bring you guys on stage at a show. It was a place called the Pine Crest Country Club in Shelton, Connecticut. And so I was working at a radio station in Connecticut called I95. And I was able to bring you guys out. And I'll never forget it because getting that experience, being on stage and experiencing the machine, like, you know, masterful approach of Chicago.
- [15:56]
Buzz Knight
What year was that?
- [15:56]
Lee Lochnane
This would have been, I think, 1979, I believe.
- [16:02]
Buzz Knight
So, like the year after Terry died. Terry was already gone by then, right? Yeah.
- [16:08]
Lee Lochnane
I'll never forget it. It was incredible. And I think about this amazing legacy of the band. You've never missed a year of touring, which is, you know, considering what we've been through the last few years with COVID and everything, it's even more remarkable.
- [16:26]
Buzz Knight
We even played the COVID year in January and February, and then the world shut down. Fifteen months later, in 2021, we started back up again. So we played in the COVID year 2020, and we played 2021, I think June or July or something. We started back up. And so we continued the. Every year without a year off of touring.
- [16:53]
Lee Lochnane
It's incredible. How did it make you feel, though? You know, officially coming back, even though you never had left your fans, this connection with fans? What does it mean to you and the rest of the band members?
- [17:06]
Buzz Knight
There's nothing like it. I mean, without them, there's no career. Somebody doesn't buy tickets and come to see you. You sit at home and you don't get to do Zoom interviews. And Zoom was created during the pandemic, and it afforded people not to have to come to work anymore for whatever reasons. You do everything right from your house, but it's like all of a sudden you do an interview and you have to be the producer. I did all my. I got my Tonight show curtain behind me here.
- [17:41]
Lee Lochnane
It's wonderful. It's tremendous.
- [17:45]
Buzz Knight
You know, we got to do all the production too. You know, make sure the zoom works and you can click the right buttons to see each other. It's pretty strange. The world has changed and it's continuing to.
- [17:59]
Lee Lochnane
Well, I must say, sir, for you being curious as a musician, but also curious in other aspects of life, I think, in fact, I know you're the first hall of Fame musician who I also know runs it for his. His band's organization.
- [18:20]
Buzz Knight
That's right. I just. As a matter of fact, I just learned relearned Sibelius program to do a brass chart that we're going to rehearse when we get to Las Vegas on. We'll see each other on Friday before the show and we'll go over that Friday or Saturday that we'll do a rehearsal and Pretty interesting. We're doing a fan club convention at the. The second week that we're there in Las Vegas and yeah, starting right up again. Like, it's good to be home and it's good to go back on the road. I'll miss everything that I've been living with here because I enjoy being home as much as I do being on the road. Hardest part is always the travel, getting there and getting from there back here.
- [19:10]
Lee Lochnane
And this is a residency that you'll have for a bunch of shows at the Venetian, right?
- [19:16]
Buzz Knight
The Venetian, Yeah. We do nine shows in first shows at the end of February and then we finish up mid March sometimes.
- [19:26]
Lee Lochnane
So did you get your curiosity as a musician, as a person? Leading, of course to great music career, but also this I t side job. Did you get that curiosity from your dad?
- [19:41]
Buzz Knight
No, not really, but. But musical curiosity, yes, because he had a lot of big band albums and I would listen to those quite a bit. And then when I was old enough, at 11 years old, he asked me if I wanted to join the band at school, maybe play the trumpet. So we went in, he took me in and we met the band director. They took a look at my teeth to make sure I wasn't going to mash myself to, you know, the inside of my mouth up. And I, I guess I passed muster because I started playing trumpet and then haven't stopped and spend God, over 60 years playing the horn. We'll be right back with more of the Taking a Walk podcast.
- [20:22]
Ryan Seacrest
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- [20:43]
Buzz Knight
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- [20:47]
Ryan Seacrest
Health Future Health is not a healthcare services provider. Meds are prescribed at providers discretion. Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for ALP and Safeway. It's stock up savings time now through March 25th. Spring in for storewide deals and earn four times a point. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible beverage items like Red Bull and sparkling ice or breakfast favorites like Kellogg's Pop Tarts, Kellogg's Frosted Flakes and Kellogg's Eggo Waffles plus many more. Then clip the offer in our app for automatic event long savings. Stack up those rewards to save even more restrictions apply. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details. Don't miss your window of opportunity. Upgrade your space now during Blinds.com's anniversary sale and to 50% site wide. Happy anniversary. Blinds.com elevate your windows with the number one online retailer of custom window treatments. Blinds.com offers hundreds of premium window treatment options. Choose from woven wood and Roman shades to blinds, motorized shades and more, all designed to fit your budget without sacrificing quality. Blinds.com brings the showroom to you with free virtual consultations and samples delivered directly to your door. Fast and free. Our design experts can help schedule a professional measure and installation, plus guidance for DIYers too. Blinds.com has been trusted for 29 years, earning thousands of five star reviews. Shop with confidence, knowing you'll get upfront pricing, no hidden fees and blinds.com's 100% satisfaction guarantee. But hurry, these savings won't last. Shop blinds.com's anniversary sale happening right now for up to 50% off site wide. Save up to 50% site wide at blinds.com rules and restrictions may apply. Homeowners if you want to sell your house fast for all cash, stop what you are doing and listen to this because Osborne Homes wants to buy your house right now. I'm Alec from Osborne Homes and we want to buy your house. Nobody buys more homes in California than Osborne. Whether it's a total fixer upper or in perfect condition, Osborne Homes is the easiest way to sell your house fast. All cash. Best of all, when you sell your house to Osborne Homes There are zero.
- [22:44]
Buzz Knight
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- [22:47]
Ryan Seacrest
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- [23:27]
Lee Lochnane
Can you talk about some of the horn players that you've studied or you continue to study through your career?
- [23:34]
Buzz Knight
Well, you know, Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan and, you know, Miles. Actually, I got into Miles later and more for the stuff that he didn't play. The. The beauty of the stuff that he didn't play as much as the stuff that he did. It's pretty crazy how Miles put it together and was different from. From all others. And, you know, talk about a legacy. That's an amazing one. And I listened to the big bands, you know, Tommy Dorsey and, and Glenn Miller and played along with those records. And then Maynard came out and I played everything down an octave I want. No way. How am I ever going to be able to hit those notes, baby. So. But it, as it turns out, the more you can get these muscles around the lip strong and sturdy. So that, I mean, I guess trumpet players call it the corners. So when you close your mouth, this is like. You feel the muscles around here. It's like solid, but everything inside here is soft and supple and has to be really respected and be easy on it and just blow the air through the horn and not jam it against your mouth because as soon as you jam it in, it's a piece of metal. Stopping the lips from buzzing. That's problematic. That's an issue, especially when you're trying to get up in the upper register and you think you're going to pull it this way to get the note. It's not the way it works. You have to just relax and let the lips buzz and play the note.
- [25:13]
Lee Lochnane
I love how you're using the term buzz, too.
- [25:15]
Buzz Knight
You got. That's right. We're buzzing about. I'm gonna buzz right after we finish here.
- [25:21]
Lee Lochnane
Buzzing around.
- [25:23]
Buzz Knight
That's right.
- [25:24]
Lee Lochnane
What's a regular part of your rehearsal? Discipline. Whether every day or. How do you. How do you stay so sharp?
- [25:33]
Buzz Knight
I Just I get up in the morning and I have a cup of coffee and start warming up normally and it feels like I'm missing something. If I haven't gotten to the horn soon enough, like if I don't get to it until later in the day, as long as I am able to play my horn during the day and get to my routines, it feels like I've accomplished something during the day. And just recently I said I was relearning Sibelius, the music program, and that's pretty difficult because you have to learn all the ins and outs of which button to push, how to move it over there. So thank goodness I, I know something about music as to how to break up the bars because you have to hit the buttons to split up the bar so you can fit the notes that you need in there. That all has a look to it. You know, you play those 16th notes and then da, da, da, da, there's a rest. There you go. You put a 16 thrust in, click to the next one and then play the, you know, put in the next note. So it's, it's pretty intricate and a lot of fun, but after you do it for a few hours, you're like bleary eyed, you know, just sitting there working with a computer. All of a sudden, wait a minute, what time is it? I gotta stop this for a minute. And then, you know, I tell people that if, if there's advice that I can give them, do something in your life that you lose yourself into like that, like the Sibelius or practicing, I mean just art or welding, you know, I mean, if anything, whatever excites you and takes your time, where you lose yourself in it and don't realize what time of day it is, what day it is. You're just into that project so much. Do that for a living and inevitably most people will try to talk you out of it because you're only concentrating on one thing. It's like, that's what I like though. I want to do that. Keep doing it.
- [27:44]
Lee Lochnane
That's, that's brilliant. That is brilliant. Spot on advice. When you're doing those warm ups is, is some of that or, you know, a little more than some of it? Improvisation?
- [27:59]
Buzz Knight
No, not really. It's stuff that I've been doing, you know, day after day for years and years. And you know, all brass players can relate to that. You keep switching off different books, but basically you're playing the same 12 notes all your life. You know, it's just different registers, the little register, the, the middle Register and the upper register, as high as you can go and as low as you can go. And the easier you can do that, the more fun you have with the instrument, any instrument.
- [28:30]
Lee Lochnane
Is that the key that has helped you and the band stay so incredibly relevant for 58 years?
- [28:40]
Buzz Knight
Pretty much. You know, like I said, the first time we got together, we liked what it sounded like when we played together. And that hasn't changed, you know, and as the music has been written and wherever that came from, you know, Robert and Jimmy and Terry and then a few other guys started getting into it. Along the line, whenever there was a lull in how many songs were being written for an album, somebody else in the, in the band stood up and presented something to keep the legacy afloat. And it's been that way our entire career. Somebody else gets up and takes the reins and you just keep moving on.
- [29:27]
Lee Lochnane
And your thoughts. When you look out into the crowd and you see, you know, the multi generational aspect of the crowd, how does that make you feel?
- [29:36]
Buzz Knight
It's very cool because when the songs were written, I know when I wrote Call On Me, that my first song that was on record, I was hoping that anybody besides myself would like it, you know, so. So for that to have the success that that's had since 1974 and, you know, I'm still making royalties on that song, even though it wasn't one of our huge hits. It was my introduction in helping something to the legacy and providing something for the legacy. So it's, it's, it's great. And you know, I came in sheepishly. You want to hear my song? You know, because all these guys were like established songwriters by then with. We had a bunch of hits under our belt by the seventh album, you know, it was, it was pretty amazing career already and we had only begun.
- [30:32]
Lee Lochnane
By the way, Call On Me, one of many of my Chicago favorites. So it's absolutely so brilliant. You know, back to the residency. I don't know if you have a thought on the way residencies have become. I think they're great for fans and great for musicians, especially based on the whole, you know, travel aspect of things that you referred to.
- [30:57]
Buzz Knight
Don't have to travel.
- [30:58]
Lee Lochnane
Yeah, right. So I think, I think it's done a lot of, A lot of good in terms of the showcasing, but. Any thoughts on the new phenomenon, the Sphere in Las Vegas?
- [31:11]
Buzz Knight
I haven't been in the building. I've only seen it, you know, glowing in the daytime and nighttime. So I'm not, you know, it's. It's sort of like looking at an alien and you don't know what is inside or how, how you. Once you get in there, if you're going to be abducted or not. And as far as playing there, we haven't been offered a gig there. And as far as I know, it cost a lot of money for each artist to go in and play because they apparently have to redo the productions each time. So I'm not sure exactly what it'll. In what it'll involve. But we'll do it if we're asked, that's for sure. If it comes up, I have no problem going into another venue.
- [31:56]
Lee Lochnane
Yeah, I think it's going to ultimately whether there's more spheres that pop up or whether elements of it, you know, they probably are at your residency as well. You know, just in the way it's showcased, the video and you know, the surround sound sort of feel of it. Yeah, it's, it's pretty intense. So it's, it's. It's an experience. But I think residencies are experiences as well. So I, I think it's just an extension of it, you know, they are and it's.
- [32:28]
Buzz Knight
They just use a different name for. They call it a residency now, but it was just a, you know, a long standing gig. When we did it, before we opened up the, the Aladdin, when no other rock and roll people would go into Las Vegas was Frank Sinatraville at the time. So it was thought of as an older venue, older crowd type venue, just Las Vegas in general. And when we played the Aladdin, opened up the Aladdin and now the Aladdin is closed. So we outlived that one too. But when that opened up, other artists started coming in. Other artists of our generation started coming into Las Vegas and that whole thing turned around and now it's like residencies and bigger and bigger and better and longer and faster and higher and all this, all the stuff that happens in the world. If a little is good, a lot's better.
- [33:20]
Lee Lochnane
Right? Tell me what the experience was like that yielded Chicago at the Kennedy center, which is just a fabulous collection.
- [33:32]
Buzz Knight
Right. That was pretty cool. I forgot we even did that because earlier in the year we did the Carnegie Hall Live at Carnegie hall. And we did six days, eight shows. And myself and our engineer Tim Jessup, we restored all eight shows. So that, that came out. What was that last year? Last year? The year before. I forget.
- [33:59]
Lee Lochnane
I think year before. Yeah.
- [34:00]
Buzz Knight
It took like 10 months for, for me and Tim to pull that one together though. That was quite an accomplishment for Us. And I like the way it sounded because we were able to get. Because 50 years later, technology has changed. So you could play the tape or the file or whatever. You know, it's called files now because they're digital. You don't see the tape running around the machine anymore, but you can see the sound bites on the screen and you can see when it comes in and when it goes out. So you, in order to. And the. The room is very ambient. It's Carnegie hall, so it's built for concerts. And so the drums are very ambient. The microphones are on all around the drums, all that stuff. And you can see the music that you need to save and cut out. You can, you can erase that time in between and then fade into the first note. So you don't know. So whoever's listening doesn't realize that you have cut out all of that stuff. That is just noise. It's just ambient noise from the rest of the band playing, you know, and. And then you play that note and then fade out of that and wait for the next one. You do that with all brass parts, all the horn parts, all the vocal parts, and every. Anything that's not direct into an amplifier, you have to do that. And then you, you're able to, you, when you're done, be able to. You push up the instrument. You can actually hear the instrument better and you can EQ it without having all the other noise behind you. That's why we were able to hear it and sort of immerse yourself into the crowd. We, I, I know we sat there every day going, man, it feels like I'm like, right here in the, in the crowd with them. That's the whole idea. The Kennedy center was pretty much like doing the Carnegie hall album, except, you know, it was our next project on. So we had learned a lot from doing Carnegie Hall. And I was amazed that we were so busy back then that we were writing songs and performing them as we were writing and recording them. Saturday in the park had we hadn't decided on who the lead vocalist was yet. Dialogue hadn't been. The, the second half of Dialogue hadn't been written yet. So we just sort of did a guitar solo and then ended the song. So it reminded me that how ballsy it was for us to play current gigs with that kind of pressure, playing for, you know, the opening of a venue in Washington, D.C. and we were like, rehearsing songs as well as stuff that we. That was already established, you know, established hits for us. It's pretty crazy.
- [37:03]
Lee Lochnane
Are There other projects over the horizon past the upcoming tour that you can.
- [37:09]
Buzz Knight
Talk about at this point. I know we're writing music. I am for sure. And I don't know if it'll be a Chicago album or a Lee Loch name album. Like somebody's going to go, hey, yeah, sure, I'm going to go out and pick one of those. But come on now.
- [37:25]
Lee Lochnane
They will.
- [37:26]
Buzz Knight
My, my bread is buttered with the band with the logo with Chicago. So that's what I've based my life on. Or, you know, life is based it on me. They actually named the city after us. We were so popular.
- [37:42]
Lee Lochnane
Oh, I love it. When I think of the collection of music over the years, over the decades, and I think of what this music does, certainly to me personally and to your fans, it's. It's so uplifting and so just, you know, just makes us feel great. I produced this other podcast, it's called Music Saved Me, which is about sort of the healing power and what music does to us basically. Do you think music has healing powers for.
- [38:19]
Buzz Knight
For sure, for sure. You know, and, and brings people together who would normally not be together at all. And you know, same same thing like with 12 step programs. People you've never imagined that you would meet on the street meet in there, you know, with. With big problems that you can work yourself out of. But, but music definitely is a healing, universal healing method.
- [38:49]
Lee Lochnane
Well, I have to tell you, you continue to give us amazing joy. The tour is going to be joyful. The residency at the Venetian is something for folks to look up to and look forward to as a. As a destination. Also, don't forget about the documentary, the last band on stage as well.
- [39:09]
Buzz Knight
Well, that was our 55th anniversary documentary. We have the one before that, which was the 50th anniversary documentary with your.
- [39:18]
Lee Lochnane
Friend Joe Mona, right?
- [39:20]
Buzz Knight
Who. Yes, exactly right.
- [39:21]
Lee Lochnane
Y. The great Joe. The great actor Lee Lock n. Thank you so much. The iconic band Chicago and Lee Lock n. Thank you for being on Taking a Walk. It's an honor.
- [39:33]
Buzz Knight
Thanks, Buzz. Same here. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a Walk podcast.
- [39:39]
Ryan Seacrest
Share this and other episodes with your.
- [39:41]
Buzz Knight
Friends and follow us so you never miss an episode.
- [39:44]
Ryan Seacrest
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