I did hear Chase live in Fort Worth at Haltom High School six months before the plane crash that killed Bill and half of the band. Every musician who has ever played has been influenced by someone before them. I’ve include two tunes in the video, that showcase Bill’s playing and writing. Search units, including the Minnesota and Iowa State Patrols, reported picking up a distress signal near Armstrong, Iowa, which was on the plane’s route, Benjamin said. Freshers week is a rite of passage for first year university students across the UK, as they socialise with people in their new city, before classes and … His rock group was just getting famous and he was becoming as popular as Maynard Ferguson with the younger crowd. Dallas Morning News, Dallas, TX 11 Aug 1974, Browse by State AL | AK | AR | AZ | CA | CO | CT | DC | DE | FL | GA | HI | IA | ID | IL | IN | KS | KY | LA | MA | MD | ME | MI | MN | MO | MS | MT | NE | NC | ND | NH | NJ | NM | NV | NY | OH | OK | OR | PA | RI | SC | SD | TN | TX | UT | VA | VT | WA | WI | WV | WY. [1] His father played trumpet in the Gillette Marching Band and encouraged his son's musical interests, which included violin and drums. The third album, Pure Music, moved the band toward jazz. The pilot and co-pilot were killed, as were keyboardist Wally Yohn, guitarist John Emma, and drummer Walter Clark. The plane crashed nose first and overturned on the return flight. I was hanging out with them just a week or two before here in Houston. In the 1960s, Bill Chase was the lead trumpet player for Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd. Privacy Policy. It was that year when four members of the reformed Chase band died; leader Bill Chase, Wally Yohn, keyboards, Walter Clark, drums, and John Emma, guitar, as well as the pilot Dan Ludwig and his co-pilot, in a tragic airplane crash. Contact me. But it's when he's flying up in the air that he finds peace. [6] While en route to a scheduled performance at the Jackson County Fair, Chase died in the crash of a chartered twin-engine Piper Twin Comanche[7] in Jackson, Minnesota at the age of 39. Bill Chase was born William Edward Chiaiese on October 20, 1934 to an Italian-American family in Squantum, Massachusetts.
Though their roots went back to 1968, Chase came along at just the right moment to ride that wave to major chart success in 1971, with the hit single "Get It On" and the accompanying self-titled debut album.
In 1974, while leaving Texas for an appearance in Minnesota, Chase (age 39), his drummer Walter Clark (age 25), guitarist John Emma (age 22), and keyboardist Wally Yohn (age 27) were killed when their Piper Comanche crashed. This information is added by users of ASN.