Bill Chase was born William Edward Chiaiese on October 20, 1934 to an Italian-Am

erican family in Squantum, Massachusetts. His parents John and Emily changed the
ir name to Chase, realizing Chiaiese was difficult for Americans to pronounce. B
ill's father had played trumpet in the Gillette Marching Band and encouraged his
son's musical interests, which included a flirtation with violin and drums. In
his mid-teens Bill settled on the trumpet. While still in high school in 1950, C
hase attended his first Stan Kenton concert, featuring Maynard Ferguson on high
note solos, and Bill was hooked from then on. After graduating from high school,
he studied classical trumpet at the New England Conservatory, but soon switched
to the Schillinger House Of Music, now known as Berklee College of Music. Chase
's primary instructors were Armando Ghitalla, John Coffey and Herb Pomeroy.
Chase played lead trumpet with Maynard Ferguson in 1958 and Stan Kenton in 1959,
and most notably during the 1960s in Woody Herman's Thundering Herd. Recordings
of the Herman band from that time period, including Woody's Winners, Live in An
tibes, Encore, 1963, My Kind of Broadway, Blue Flame, Live in Seattle, Somewhere
, Live at Newport 1966, Heavy Exposure, Woody Herman & the Fourth Herd, and Jazz
Hoot are considered some of the most exciting in the Herman discography. The ba
nd also filmed several television appearances for the program Jazz Casual. One o
f Chase's original charts from this period, "Camel Walk," was published in the 1
963 Downbeat magazine yearbook. Between '66-'70 Bill freelanced in Las Vegas wor
king with Vic Damone, Tommy Vig and others. In '67 Bill led a six piece organiza
tion at the Dunes and Riviera Hotel(s) where he was featured in the Frederick Ap
car lounge production of vive Les Girls, for which Chase arranged the music.
"Get It On"
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Sample from Get It On" from the album "Chase" Epic 1971
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Chase (the band) released their debut album Chase in April 1971. Bill Chase was
joined by Ted Piercefield, Alan Ware and Jerry Van Blair, three veteran jazz tru
mpeters who were also adept at vocals and arranging. They were backed up by a rh
ythm section consisting of Phil Porter on keyboards, Angel South on guitar, Denn
is Johnson on bass and Jay Burrid on percussion. Rounding out the group was Terr
y Richards, who was featured as lead vocalist on the first album. The album cont
ains Chase's best-known song, "Get It On", released as a single that spent 13 we
eks on the charts beginning in May 1971. The song features what Jim Szantor of D
ownbeat magazine called "the hallmark of the Chase brass
complex cascading lines
; a literal waterfall of trumpet timbre and technique." The band received a Best
New Artist Grammy nomination, but was edged out by rising star Carly Simon.
Chase released their second album, Ennea, in March 1972; the album's title is th
e Greek word for nine, a reference to the nine band members. The original lineup
changed midway through the recording sessions, with Gary Smith taking over on d
rums and G. G. Shinn replacing Terry Richards on lead vocals. Although the first
Chase album sold nearly 400,000 copies, Ennea was not as well received by the p
ublic. One likely reason was a shift away from trumpet sections. As Bill Chase p
ut it in a Downbeat interview, "I don't want people to be heavily conscious of a
trumpet section. They should just hear good things, but not be clobbered over t
he head with brass." A single, "So Many People," received some radio play, but t
he side-two-filling "Ennea" suite, with its tightly chorded jazz arrangements an
d lyrics based on Greek mythology, was less radio-friendly.[citation needed]
Following an extended hiatus, Chase reemerged early in 1974 with the release of
Pure Music, their third album. Featuring a new lineup, yet keeping the four-trum
pet section headed by Bill Chase, the group moved further from the rock idiom an
d became more focused on jazz. Variety magazine called Pure Music "probably Chas
e's most commercial effort, and their brand of jazz could have a commercial impa
ct." The songs were written by Jim Peterik of the Ides of March, who also sings

on two songs on the album, backing up singer and bassist Dartanyan Brown.
Chase's work on a fourth studio album in mid-1974 came to an end on August 9, 19
74.[1] While en route to a scheduled performance at the Jackson County Fair, Cha
se died in the crash of a chartered twin-engine Piper Twin Comanche [2] in Jacks
on, Minnesota at the age of 39.[1] Also killed, along with the pilot, Daniel Lud
wig (41) of Chicago and Co-Pilot Linda Swisher (26) of Wheeling, Illinois, were
keyboardist Wally Yohn, drummer Walter Clark and guitarist John Emma.[1] In 1977
a Chase tribute band (composed primarily of the original lineup, plus Walt John
son) recorded an album entitled Watch Closely Now.
Chase was part of a radio promotion (WISM)in Madison, WI in the early 70's. Chas
e would play a concert at the high school whose students submitted the most post
cards to a Madison radio station. The students from Edgewood High School won the
concert. (Jonathon W. Little, Charley Rock-n-roll Simon, WISM AM1480, Madison,
WI)
Equipment[edit]
At the beginning of his career, Bill Chase played a Martin Committee model 2B tr
umpet with a custom-made Tottle mouthpiece, then on Woody Herman's band switched
to a custom Jet-Tone model and a Getzen 900s trumpet, in late '65 he switched t
o a Schilke B6 model. Prior to the release of his album "Chase", Bill Chase star
ted playing on a Schilke B6LB trumpet. The model 6 has a "medium" bore and a "me
dium-large" bell, according to the Schilke company. The Schilke company does not
release specific bore measurements, primarily because the bores of their trumpe
ts have varying sizes "to assist intonation" but the B6 mainly has bore measurem
ents beginning at .450" and tapering out to .463". The "L" in "B6LB" designates
a tunable bell, and the "B" on the end designates a beryllium bell. To go with t
he Schilke trumpet, Bill Chase had Renold Schilke make a copy of his Jet-Tone mo
uthpiece late in 1971; the Schilke 6A4a went on the market in 1973. However, the
6A4a mouthpiece, while marketed as the "Bill Chase mouthpiece", is not the same
mouthpiece that Bill Chase himself used, as the Schilke mouthpiece he played wa
s a direct copy of the Jet Tone and had a more of a drop off right below the rim
bite than the 6A4a available today. The Jet-Tone mouthpiece that is called the
"Vintage Bill Chase" model is not exactly like the mouthpiece that Bill Chase us
ed either. There are, in fact, no mouthpieces exactly like Bill Chase's that are
currently in production. (note: the "Vintage Bill Chase" model mouthpiece is di
fferent than the model designated as just "Bill Chase".[citation needed]