Chicago had a loud, and profane, reaction when Jimi Hendrix invited them on tour.
It was 1969 and the band, then known as Chicago Transit Authority, was turning heads with a style that infused a dynamic horn section with rock. In a recent appearance on the Broken Record podcast, co-founding members Lee Loughnane and Jimmy Pankow recalled crossing paths with Hendrix.
“We were at the Whisky a Go-Go on the Sunset Strip,” Pankow remembered. “We were opening for Albert King. And we were in the dressing room waiting to go back on. There was a knock on the door. And we opened the door and Hendrix is standing there. And we’re going, ‘Whoa, is that Jimi Hendrix?’”
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Like many fellow rockers, Chicago adored Hendrix, even mixing covers of “Purple Haze” and “Foxy Lady” into their sets. Coming face-to-face with the guitar god was exciting, yet unexpected. To their surprise, Hendrix was familiar with their music.
“He came to the dressing room,” Pankow continued. “He said, ‘You guys have a guitar player that’s better than me and a horn section that sounds like one set of lungs. Do you guys want to go on the road?”
The band responded with two words: “Fuck yeah!”
“Next thing you know, we opened for his summer tour,” Pankow recalled, adding that the experience gave Chicago a “foot in the door to the business.” “And we never took our foot out of the door.”
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Asked what Hendrix was like behind the scenes, Pankow was forthright.
“He was very introspective, very shy, quiet,” he explained. “And it was funny because, you know, we traveled together. Terry [Kath, Chicago’s guitarist] was nervous around him and he was nervous around Terry. They didn’t know how to approach each other. Eventually, they got comfortable and they started trading ideas.”
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“Terry would love to have played with him,” added Loughnane. “He would have joined Jimi Hendrix’s band in a flash and left us.”
At one point, it even looked like Chicago and Hendrix may join forces.
“There was actually some chatter amongst us about maybe doing a project together with him, with Jimi,” Pankow revealed. “And of course, he left us too early. And then Terry left us too early.” Hendrix died in 1970, while Kath passed away in ’78.
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This list of Chicago albums reminds us once more of the opposing forces that always drove the band.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
