Who Are the 'Big 4' of Rock Horn Sections?

By its very nature, rock 'n' roll is a horny proposition; hell, the very roots of the name are in, well, you know...

So it only serves to fit that the music should be horn-y, too.

Horn instruments, brass and woodwind, have long been part of the ethos, since even before there was anything called rock. They were integral to rock's jazz, big band, swing, jump and R&B roots. Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88," considered by many the first rock 'n' roll song, featured the brassy blast of the saxophonist and his Delta Cats -- who were actually Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm.

Horns have been part of the mix ever since, in varying degrees of prominence, and every key studio situation -- whether it was Motown's Funk Brothers or Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew or the Memphis Horns at Stax-Volt -- was well-stocked in that department.

But it was really the mid-'60s double shot of the Ides of March and the Electric Flag, the latter formed by Mike Bloomfield after leaving the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, that forwarded the idea of a band touring with self-contained horn section that was part of both the creative and performing component, inspiring other ensembles to do the same.

We've used some parameters in choosing a Big 4 of horn bands, then. There is, of course, a legion of sections -- James Brown's J.B.'s, the Uptown Horns, the Kick Horns, George Clinton's Horny Horns, Earth, Wind & Fire's Phenix Horns and more -- but what we're talking about here is bands that employed horns on an equal or near-equal footing to the other instruments and made them key to their sound and identity. If those sections worked outside the group, more's the better; that only enhanced the mothership.

As it turns out, our Big 4 all hail from the '60s, when having an attached horn section was an anomaly or an experiment. But rest assured that these four established a template for others to follow and broadened the sonic terrain of rock for generations to come...

The Electric Flag

Stepping out of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, where he'd established a reputation as an American gunslinger on par with British ascendants such as Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, Mike Bloomfield embraced a big band blues concept ala B.B. King and other blues acts.

He took keyboardist Barry Goldberg with him, grabbed bassist Harvey Brooks, who he'd worked with in Bob Dylan's band, and took a chance on a 19-year-old drummer Buddy Miles. (He also invited Mitch Ryder to be the lead vocalist, who declined, paving the way for Nick Gravenites.)

Then the Flag added saxophonists Stemsy Hunter and Peter Strazza and trumpeter Marcus Doubleday, making its recording debut with music for the soundtrack to the 1967 film The Trip and its live debut at the Monterey Pop Festival before releasing its debut album, A Long Time Comin', in 1968.

The original Flag waved for just a couple of years (Bloomfield left during June of '68) and a couple of albums; it regrouped in 1974 for another album, The Band Kept on Playing, while Gravenites, Goldberg (who passed away in 2024) and Hunter launched a fresh edition of the band in 2007.

Blood, Sweat & Tears

From his time as a teenaged member of the Royal Teens, Al Kooper was never short on ambition -- which led to him playing on Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and playing at the Monterey Pop Festival with the Blues Project.

After the latter folded, he had another creative vision; "I wanted to do a band that had horns, but that was a rock band," Kooper told UCR before getting his Musical Excellence award from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2023. "I didn't feel like that's something that had been done before. There were bands that recorded with horns, but...I really wanted the horns to be part of the band."

Formed during 1967, Blood, Sweat & Tears boasted a "brass monster" quartet of saxophonist Fred Lipsius, trombonist Dick Halligan and trumpeters Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss. The group's arty debut, Child Is Father to the Man, was a masterpiece, but Kooper left over creative differences.

With new vocalist David Clayton-Thomas, BS&T logged two consecutive No. 1 albums -- including 1969's Grammy Award-winning self-titled sophomore set -- and hits such as his "Spinning Wheel" and renditions of "You've Made Me So Very Happy" and "And When I Die."

Over the years BS&T became a musical lab of sorts, changing lineups under the supervision of founding drummer Bobby Colomby. Its 1970 concert tour to countries behind the Iron Curtain was documented in the film What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?, which finally premiered during 2023.

Chicago

Chicago co-founder and keyboardist Robert Lamm recalls Blood, Sweat & Tears' Al Kooper visiting the studio to listen to the debut album from his band, then dubbed Chicago Transit Authority.

The two bands shared a label (Columbia), and Lamm once told us that, "once we had the bulk of the album finished, (Kooper) came into the control room and listened to side one, and he said, 'That's it. This is how you do rock with horns.'"

That's what Chicago set out to do during early 1967 in -- duh -- Chicago -- with a trio of trumpeter Lee Loughnane, saxophonist Walt Parazaider and trombonist James Pankow weaving their arrangements within and around the rhythm section as well as serving as songwriters; Pankow, in fact, penned the 13-mimnute "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" from Chicago's second album, and he, Lamm and Peter Cetera were selected for the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017.

Chicago has succeeded to the tune of more than 100 million records worldwide, 18 platinum or better albums, 20 Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 singles -- including five consecutive No. 1 hits -- and five Grammy Awards.

At one point in 1974 its entire seven-album catalog was listed on the Billboard 200 chart. Chicago has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy Hall of Fame and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.

As Lamm noted, "Chicago, especially the horn section, has been so influential as far as horns in rock that we find guys to fill in who are a younger generation but are better players than we were when we started. To think we`ve had that kind of impact is humbling."

Tower of Power

Back in 1974 this Oakland, Calif. troupe asked "What Is Hip?," and you could easily tell ToP to look in the mirror. Stirring together R&B, funk, jazz and rock, it was formed during the summer of 1968 as the Motowns by tenor saxophonist (and Detroit native) Emilio Castillo and baritone sax player Stephen "Doc" Kupka."

They changed the name in order to get booked at Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium, fortifying its sound with five horn players. ToP's first album, East Bay Grease, came out in 1970; its most successful was 1973's Tower of Power, which went gold and Top 20 on the Billboard 200 chart.

ToP logged eight chart hits, including "What Is Hip?" and "So Very Hard to Go." Its changing membership was home to the likes of: saxophonist Lenny Pickett (1972-81), who went on to lead the Saturday Night Live Band; Scottish-born saxophonist Richard Elliot, who moved on to the Yellowjackets and a Grammy Award-winning solo career; and keyboardist Chester Thompson, a longtime member of the Santana Band.

The ToP horns, meanwhile, have had a life of their own, recording and touring with Otis Redding, Aerosmith, Bonnie Raitt, Huey Lewis & the News, Eric Clapton, Graham Central Station, the Grateful Dead, Little Feat, Elton John, Santana, Stevie Nicks Rod Stewart and Poison -- to name just a few.