Atlanta group presents the music of Chicago
Chi-Town Transit Authority performs in Centerville today.
As a trumpet player, Chris Horton is well acquainted with playing the music of Chicago, one of the most successful and enduring of the Ameri- can pop-rock horn bands. In 2017, he formed
Chi-Town Transit Author- ity, performing in a Miami Valley Community Concert Association program at Centerville Performing Arts Cen- ter in Centerville on Monday.
While it was part of Horton’s musical DNA, the concept of this Atlanta-based group was prompted by a friend who happened to be a booking agent. This led to immedi- ate work for Chi-Town Tran- sit Authority, which plays a cross-section of material from Chicago’s career from the 1960s to the present.
“An agent friend of mine called me out of the blue,” Horton said. “He said, ‘Is this the Chris Horton that used to play trumpet in high school.’ I said, ‘Yes,’ and he told me there was a need in this market for this kind of a band. It was originally supposed to be a college group when I started it.
“Due to the lack of familiarity with the music, I couldn’t find any young players,” Horton said. “Popular music has a shelf-life, and they just weren’t interested. I got some different players, people who were familiar with the music, and away we went. It worked immediately and we’ve been successful ever since.”
A hot start
Chi-Town Transit Authority played its first gig at the per- forming arts center in Green- wood, S.C. on January 12, 2017.
“We had barely enough music to play the job,” Hor- ton said. “We sold the place out the very first job we ever played. We were very fortu- nate we also had agents to book us. There were a num- ber of groups eventually that were very interested in being associated with getting us work. That was great. Peo- ple think if you have a good product, the world will beat a path to your door. That’s simply not true.
“If you’re not willing to go out and expose the movers and shakers to what you’re doing, you’ll end up playing in your basement,” Horton said. “We’ve always been very for- ward thinking in going after new venues and educating people. We have an adver- tising budget, so we adver- tise quite a bit because we have a very good show. We have great players in every slot and the music speaks for itself.”
The players
According to Horton it took several years to land on the current lineup.
“We started with a lot of different people but there has been a core of four people,” Horton said. “Michael Cahen, me, Thom Jenkins and Tom Davis have been through all the different configurations. We’ve had 10 other people come and go. Some people think they’d like to do this and then they find out you actually have to travel to Ten- nessee to get to a gig in Ten- nessee. Now, we pretty much have the most professional group we’ve ever had. We have more people with inter- national experience.”
Members of the group have played with acts like Elvis Pres- ley, Frank Sinatra, Cab Callo- way and the house band for the Atlanta Falcons. Horton has his own unique credits.
“Off and on I worked for Columbia Artists in the Broad- way touring division,” he said. “I worked with the Guess Who, Billy Joe Royal, BJ Thomas and the Spinners. I did ice shows and Ringling Broth- ers. It’s almost embarrassing. I’m still trying to get it all on one page.”
The music
Chicago, which indeed hails from the Windy City, has been active since 1967. The rock band is known for its promi- nent use of a brass section. Of the group’s albums, 23 were certified gold with 18 going platinum and eight multi-platinum. In October 2015, Chi- cago was ranked ninth on Bill- board’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. A big chunk of Chi-Town Transit Authority’s repertoire comes from ‘70s-era Chicago but there are selections from the ‘60s and beyond.
“Chicago has like 60 years of music behind them, so we try to touch every period,” Horton said. “There’s a lot there. We have a few deep cuts, but we designed it so that anybody who likes Chicago will hear something they like. Chicago had a number one hit on adult contemporary last year, but we don’t do that one yet. The problem is they have so much good material so it’s hard to decide what to play. It may not have been a hit but if it was on a Chicago album it was fantastic.”
For Horton, the key to Chicago’s music is its universal appeal.
“It’s hard to have a bad show with their music,” he said.