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BassPlayer.com >> This Month >> Chicago's Peter Cetera
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Chicago's Peter Cetera| November, 2007 Fittingly, the Windy City’s contribution to the creative storm of ’60s sounds was a hot-blowing horn band. Named for the town’s transportation system, Chicago Transit Authority—soon shortened to Chicago—began in 1968 as a savvy septet with a propensity for pioneering jazz-tinged rock suites, as well as perfectly crafted pop gems. It was the latter that quickly established their northerly flow on the charts, via smash singles like “Saturday in the Park,” “25 or 6 to 4,” “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?,” and “Colour My World,” all of which are included on Rhino’s new The Best of Chicago: 40th Anniversary Edition. Lost in the glint of brass-borne hits, however, lay one of the last untold stories in contemporary bass—until now. Peter Cetera’s lively-yet-locked bass lines and melodic upper-fret forays influenced a generation of privy peers and subsequent budding bassists, including Will Lee and Nathan East. Notes Lee, of The Late Show and hundreds of New York sessions, “Peter had an R&B-rooted style marked by great taste and tone, plus a real McCartney-esque quality. He was the polish in the whole Chicago picture, adding sweetness to the vocal harmonies, while providing a gorgeous sound on the top and bottom. Very few days go by that I’m not thinking about him somewhere in my playing.” A long-time Eric Clapton sideman and L.A. session master, East adds, “Peter was one of my very first influences as a young bass student. I was just becoming familiar with the instrument and I grabbed a bunch of Peter’s licks for my arsenal because he had such great ideas. I used to sing ‘Questions 67 and 68’ in a church group I was in, with my brothers, and then I played all the big hits in Top 40 bands. I got to back up Peter recently at a David Foster charity event, and I realized how much influence his playing still has on my approach.” Born and raised in Chicago’s Morgan Park section, on the South Side, Cetera recalls radio transitioning from the Hit Parade to the early rock & roll of Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and Ritchie Valens. At age 11, unable to convince his parents to buy him a guitar, he instead was given accordion lessons. A few years later, some older friends took him to a teenage nightclub outside of town. He recalls, “I walked in and a band called the Rebel Rockers was playing. I remember the guitarist and bass player were standing on their amps, rocking back and forth. I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen—I was hooked.” As a 15-year-old high school sophomore, Cetera got a Montgomery Ward acoustic guitar and learned some open chords. Upon meeting and jamming with a guitar-playing senior who wanted to form a band, Peter moved over to bass, buying a Danelectro Short Horn. The two added a drummer and saxophonist, split vocal duties, and made their mark on the weekend dance scene. Cetera stayed the course, moving on to better Top 40 bands and hitting the club and concert trail all over the Midwest. “By the time I was 18,” he admits, “I was making more money than my dad.” Eventually, he joined the Exceptions, staying six years with the Chicago area’s “best sound-alike” band. The group gained invaluable experience as a rare white band on the chitlin’ circuit, opening for and becoming the Dells’ backup band, and signing with a Chess subsidiary, Tollie Records. For the opening of a new club in December 1967, the Exceptions were booked opposite the Big Thing—a six-piece horn band that played some original music, but relied on organ pedals for bass lines. The unit was looking to add a singing bass player, and Cetera, digging their sound, look, and hippie headspace, accepted the role. So began a 17-year, 16-album journey with the newly named Chicago Transit Authority. By the time Cetera left Chicago in 1985 to pursue a solo career, he had left his indelible mark not just as a bassist, but also as a lead-singing frontman and composer. That’s his unmistakable high tenor (part of his four-and-a-half-octave vocal range) on “25 or 6 to 4,” “Questions 67 and 68,” “Just You ’n’ Me,” and “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day.” As a writer, he penned such hits as “Wishing You Were Here,” “If You Leave Me Now,” “Happy Man,” and “Baby What a Big Surprise,” and he co-wrote the band’s biggest singles, “You’re the Inspiration” and “Hard to Say I’m Sorry,” with producer David Foster. The pair also combined for Peter’s own No. 1 hit, “Glory of Love.” Bass took a backseat in Cetera’s solo years (which yielded seven albums), but it has begun to re-emerge of late. Explains Peter, “Bass remains in my heart; I read Bass Player to keep up on the latest players and gear, and I played on a track [“Something That Santa Claus Left Behind”] for my latest CD, You Just Gotta Love Christmas.” Now based in Idaho, Cetera will play bass live for the first time in over ten years when he and his “unplugged band,” the Baad Daddies, embark on a December U.S. tour in support of the disc. With his friendly and engaging Midwest manner, Peter was happy to talk about his life and times as a low-ender, starting with his bass beginnings. What do you recall about your initial bass experience? Who were your early influences? How about your vocal start and influences? There were two key early lessons for me. The first was from a friend’s father, a jazz saxophonist who took us to see people like Stan Kenton and the Four Freshman. He said, “Pay close attention to everyone you listen to. If you like them, you’ll pick up something from them; if you don’t like them, you’ll learn what you don’t want to do.” The other was seeing James Brown in a mostly empty auditorium one afternoon. He could have taken it easy, given the setting, but he was jumping around, sweating and yelling at the band, just giving it his all. Your move from the Exceptions to what would become Chicago seems like a pivotal time. Chicago quickly relocated to Los Angeles. What was your bass approach in Chicago, and how did you come up with your parts? How would you get through the band’s extended instrumental suites, which often had odd-meter figures? How was your hookup with drummer Danny Seraphine? How did you approach singing while playing on various Chicago tunes? My first sing-and-play for Chicago was “Questions 67 and 68,” which, like “25 or 6 to 4,” was really high. I remember getting nervous and blowing the top notes one night at the Fillmore East because Leonard Bernstein was in the audience! “Dialogue, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2,” my duet with Terry, was my favorite sing-and-play because it was the most free. Overall, I found the key to singing while playing is to learn both parts separately and then slowly work them together though the tune, section by section. The more you perform the song the more comfortable you’ll become, to the point where you can loosen up and expand on both parts. Apparently, there was a period of adjustment when the band first went into the studio. Why did bass take a backseat when you began your solo career? When David Foster was brought in to produce our first album for Warner Bros. [Chicago 16], that really took bass out of the equation. He and I clicked immediately and started writing together, but the sound of pop music had changed. David was not only the best keyboard player I’d ever heard in my life, he was the best drum programmer and the best synth bass player. I would go to pick up my bass and then hear him play a killer Moog groove and I’d literally put the bass away in its case. It just didn’t fit the music at that point. I also began to feel that during my time with the band, because I hadn’t been able to fully focus on either singing or bass playing, both had suffered. So, when I went solo soon after, I decided to concentrate entirely on singing and being a frontman. Let’s talk about other bassists; you went on to use many top players on your albums. I’ve gotten to know legends like Carol Kaye, Joe Osborn, Duck Dunn, and Chuck Rainey. I get as tickled meeting them as meeting stars like McCartney and Brian Wilson. I used Pino Palladino on a couple of my albums, after hearing his amazing work with Paul Young. I also had a great hang with [current Chicago bassist] Jason Scheff not too long ago; he’s a terrific bass player and singer. How do you reflect on your career? Hard Habit To BreakPeter Cetera began his Chicago career with his ’64 Fender Precision (featuring a rosewood fingerboard and custom Paisley-painted body). Though he tried numerous other basses—including a Gibson EB-3, Rickenbacker 4001, Gibson Ripper, and fretted and fretless Fender Jazz Basses—it was the P-Bass he kept returning to. He began with La Bella flatwounds but moved on to roundwounds, never quite liking them as much as the flats. His live amp choices were more transient, including Kustom, Acoustic, Sound City, Phase Linear, Orange, and Ampeg rigs. In the studio, Cetera generally recorded his P-Basses (he used producer James Guercio’s Precision on the first album) both direct and through an Ampeg B-15, at times with tissues stuffed under the strings for a bit of damping. Cetera’s bass was always prominent in the mix, perhaps in part because Guercio was a bassist. Currently, Peter’s bass collection features his ’64 P-Bass (now white), a Lake Placid Blue ’65 Jazz Bass, his ’64 Hofner Beatle Bass, a ’65 Vox Constellation IV bass, and a Tune Bass Maniac. Most are strung with La Bella flatwounds. He borrowed Nashville session ace Mike Brignardello’s P-Bass to record the track on his Christmas CD, and he’s expecting his McPherson acoustic bass guitar in time for his December tour. His picks are Fender mediums. Selected DiscographySolo albums: On Warner Bros.: With Chicago: On the Chicago label: Currently Spinning“I recently got the Beatles Anthology [Capitol/EMI Video] CDs and DVDs as a gift, so I’ve been marveling at Paul McCartney’s playing all over again.” |
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