6/17/26-Chicago’s Walter Parazaider Passes

Trusted Source: Rolling Stone Magazine at rollingstone.com

By Andy Greene

Walter Parazaider, a founding member of Chicago who played several wind instruments in the band, including sax, flute, and clarinet, died on Wednesday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 81. Rolling Stone has confirmed his death.

Parazaider’s long tenure in Chicago stretched from their earliest incarnation in 1967 until 2018, when he stepped off the road due to health issues. Along the way, he played thousands of concerts, appeared on nearly all of the group’s albums, and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.

“Chicago is heartbroken to share the sad news of Walter Parazaider’s passing this morning. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and countless Chicago fans who are all grieving his loss today,” the band wrote on social media. “A Rock & Roll band with horns was Walt’s idea. He put the band together and they rehearsed in the basement of his mother’s home. He is also the one who did the hard work to book shows for the young, unknown band, performing top 40 covers at local bars in and around Chicago. We are forever grateful for his contributions. Perhaps his greatest gift was bringing people together. This amazing music may have never been heard had it not been for Walt’s vision.”

Chicago formed in Parazaider’s basement on Feb. 15, 1967, when the group played together for the first time after coming together at Chicago’s DePaul University. “We sat around my kitchen table and said, ‘Let’s make a band that’s the best in the world,’” Parazaider recalled to Classic Rock in 2015. “My idea was to make horns an integral part of a rock band. In that sense, we blazed the trail. We had lofty ideas and hopes. We were young and ignorant.”

After becoming a popular live band around Chicago — fueled by the guitar virtuosity of Terry Kath, the vocals of bassist Peter Cetera and keyboardist Robert Lamm, and the crisp horn blend of Parazaider, trumpet player Lee Loughnane, and trombonist James Pankow — they began touring nationally. “We played at the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles in 1968, and afterwards there was a tap on my shoulder,” Parazaider told Classic Rock. “Jimi Hendrix looked me straight in the eye and said: ‘The horns are one set of lungs. And your guitar player is better than I am.’”