Preview: Chicago XXX

Chicago (which actually moved to Los Angeles the year after it was formed) may be the hardest working band in show business. They have gone on tour in each of the past 40 years, and have just released their 30th album, the aptly named Chicago XXX, their first new studio album since 1994.

Chicago had recorded three albums before Jay DeMarcus was born in 1971. DeMarcus, a member of the country group Rascal Flatts and a friend of Chicago bassist Jason Scheff, produced Chicago XXX and co-wrote about half of the songs. The album was recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles in sessions last summer.

Four of the band’s original members (Robert Lamm, Walt Parazaider, Lee Loughlane and James Pankow) continue to form the core of the group. Chicago XXX continues the band’s trademark fusion of horns with the traditional guitar-bass-keyboard-drum combination that has earned the group more gold and platinum album certifications than anybody other than the Beach Boys.

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^{(Photo: Jimmy Katz/Hugh Brown, courtesy Rhino Media)}