Bill Chase

b. William Chiaiese, 24 October 1934, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, d. 9 August 1974, Jackson, Minnesota, USA. In the mid-50s Chase studied trumpet at Berklee College Of Music under Herb Pomeroy. Towards the end of the decade he played with Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman. Throughout the 60s he frequently returned to the Herman band but turned increasingly to jazz rock, later forming his own band Chase in 1971 and enjoying a Top 30 pop hit with ‘Get It On’. Three years later he toured with a re-formed version of the band. It was while on tour that, on 9 August 1974, he and other members of the band - John Emma (guitar), Walter Clark (drums) and Wally York (keyboards) - were killed in an aeroplane crash.
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