Rotary Connection
The Chicago psychedelic soul group assembled by Marshall Chess and Charles Stepney, whose 1968 debut includes a five-minute version of "Lady Jane".
Cadet Concept
Rotary Connection was an American psychedelic soul band from Chicago, conceived by Marshall Chess, son of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess and director of the start-up label Cadet Concept, who wanted music outside blues and rock and turned to the psychedelic movement. The formation year is given as 1965 in the Wikipedia infobox, 1966 in its text and 1967 by the Cadet Concept discography at bsnpubs. Chess recruited Charles Stepney, a classically trained vibraphonist and arranger; Bobby Simms, Mitch Aliotta and Ken Venegas of the Proper Strangers; the Chess songwriter Sidney Barnes; Judy Hauff and Minnie Riperton, who had been a receptionist at Chess; and the session players Phil Upchurch on guitar and Morris Jennings on drums.
The band's albums, all produced by Chess and Stepney except the last, were Rotary Connection (1968, Cadet Concept LPS-312, 37 on the Billboard 200 per bsnpubs), Aladdin (October 1968, recorded that August at Ter Mar Studios in Chicago), Peace (December 1968, a Christmas album with anti-war themes), Songs (May 1969, mostly covers), Dinner Music (1970) and Hey, Love (1971, credited to The New Rotary Connection). A Billboard advertisement for Peace showing Santa Claus lying on a battlefield generated more controversy than any ad in the magazine up to then. Session players from the band's circle also backed Muddy Waters on Electric Mud (1968) and Howlin' Wolf on The Howlin' Wolf Album (1969), neither of which is a Rotary Connection release.
Stage and legacy
Setlist.fm shows 87 Rotary Connection setlists, in 1968 (16), 1969 (41), 1970 (29) and 2025 (1). They played the Texas International Pop Festival on August 30, 1969, and a live recording of that set exists. The 2025 show was a tribute ensemble, Rotary Connection 222, a large Chicago group formed in honor of Stepney, which headlined the main stage at We Out Here in Dorset; it is not an original-lineup reunion, and we found none.
Stepney went on to produce Earth, Wind and Fire; he died on May 17, 1976. Record Collector's Paul Bowler called the Rotary Connection albums revolutionary. "Memory Band" from the debut was sampled by A Tribe Called Quest on "Bonita Applebum", according to a review site, and "I Am the Black Gold of the Sun" from Hey, Love was covered by Nuyorican Soul with Jocelyn Brown in 1997. Riperton went on to a solo career with Come to My Garden, Perfect Angel and "Lovin' You".
Albums
- Rotary Connection 1968 · Cadet Concept
The debut: thirteen short and long pieces, mixing covers of Dylan, the Rolling Stones and Otis Redding with originals, sitar and effects.
Songs
- Lady Jane Rotary Connection · 1968
Rotary Connection's reading of the Rolling Stones song from Aftermath, track five on their debut.
Sources
- Rotary Connection, Wikipedia
- Charles Stepney, Wikipedia
- Cadet Concept album discography, bsnpubs
- Lady Jane (song), Wikipedia