In 1966, Leonard Chess retired from Chess Records to work in radio, leaving his son Marshall Chess in charge. The company was taken over by GRT in 1969, but Marshall Chess remained as President.
In the late sixties Marshall Chess set up a new division within Chess, which he called Cadet Concept. He was keen to explore some of the latest musical ideas and to move Chess beyond the Blues and other genres which had been the company’s focus up to that point. The sixties had introduced psychedelia to the world and Chess wanted to experiment with Psychedelic Blues and Psychedelic Soul. He felt that he had access to the necessary musicians and technicians, who could put Chess Records at the forefront of modern popular music. He just needed a group name.
He came up with Rotary Connection, a band capable of taking Blues and Soul into new territory. The first musician that Marshall Chess enlisted was Charles Stepney, a Chess stalwart, who was a classically trained arranger and producer, who could also play vibraphone. Then he recruited the three members of the Proper Strangers, a White Rock band: Bobby Simms, Mitch Aliotta and Ken Venegas. Three female vocalists were then added, Judy Hauff, Shirley Wahls and Minnie Riperton, who was a receptionist at Chess. The vocal line-up was completed by the arrival of Sidney Barnes, a Chess Records songwriter. To strengthen the instrumental prowess of the new band, Chess recruited two of Chess Records’ best session musicians, Phil Upchurch (guitar) and Morris Jennings (drums). Jon Stocklin added lead guitar. Members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra were the final ingredient. By 1967, “the hottest, most avant-garde rock guys in Chicago” (Chess’ description of the band) were ready to roll.
Their first album, “Rotary Connection”, was released towards the end of the year. The sound was certainly different from previous Chess signature sounds. Stepney’s arrangements create a dreamscape, with the female vocalists often using their voices as extra instruments, interwoven with strings, piano and the odd sitar (“Turn Me On”). The hypnotic arrangements and the classical framework mean that tracks like “Soul Man” are barely recognisable.
Two further albums were released in 1968, “Aladdin” and “Peace”. The first of these saw Minnie Riperton taking on more of the lead vocals. The second was a Christmas album influenced by an anti-Vietnam War sentiment. The band also backed Muddy Waters on his 1968 Psychedelic Blues album “Electric Mud”.
Marshall Chess was keen to maintain the experimental nature of the band’s work, resulting in three more albums between 1969 and 1971 that explored new ways of interpreting Soul, Pop, Folk, Country and Jazz. “Songs” (1969) presents a selection of covers of some well-known hits by, amongst others, Otis Redding, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Mick Jagger and Keith Richard. Vocal duties were shared between Minnie Riperton, Sidney Barnes and new band member John Jeremiah. The album is full of interesting musical ideas, particularly the Hendrix song “Burning Of The Midnight Lamp” and Stevie Wonder’s “This Town”, but for most fans the new arrangements took away the excitement of the originals. The most successful of the new versions is Robbie Robertson’s “The Weight”.
Marshall Chess also continued his exploration of new Blues sounds with the release in 1969 of Howlin’ Wolf’s “The Howlin’ Wolf Album”, with backing by Rotary Connection.
The group’s next studio album, 1970’s “Dinner Music”, explored Folk and Country songs, largely written by band members Bobby Simms and Jon Stocklin. The songs often start with a simple acoustic guitar backing, the vocal harmonies are softer, and the experimental nature of the arrangements is less obvious. Two electronic instrumental tracks do, however, show the band’s psychedelic ambitions.
The band’s last album release came in 1971 with “Hey Love”, which experiments with Jazz arrangements. There were a few personnel changes, so the album was credited to the New Rotary Connection. Most of the tracks were written by producer Charles Stepney and/or Richard Rudolph, who was married to Minnie Riperton. The best song on the album is “I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun”, which brings the excitement missing from some of the earlier work.
The group disbanded in the early 70s and have continued to attract interest for their innovative approach to music. Chess released a double CD “Black Gold: The Very Best Of Rotary Connection” in Europe in 2006. The compilation contains over thirty tracks and was remastered by Gary Moore in the UK.
By the time the band split up, Minnie Riperton had already recorded an outstanding solo album “Come To My Garden” in 1970.
