Walter Parazaider (born March 14, 1945) is an American

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and Ree ...

musician who is a founding member of the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He is best known for being one-third of Chicago's brass/woodwind section alongside

Lee Loughnane Lee David Loughnane (pronounced LOCK-nain; born October 21, 1946) is an American trumpeter, flugelhorn player, vocalist, and songwriter who is a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for being one-third of Chicago's brass/wo ...

and

James Pankow James Carter Pankow (born August 20, 1947) is an American trombone player, songwriter, and brass instrument arranger who is a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for his brass arrangements, and for being one-third of Chi ...

. Parazaider is a

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

. He plays a wide variety of wind instruments, including

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, and

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

. He also occasionally plays

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Early life

Parazaider was born in

Maywood, Illinois Maywood is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, in the Chicago metropolitan area. It was founded on April 6, 1869, and organized October 22, 1881. The population was 23,512 at the 2020 census. History There was limited European-Am ...

, and began playing the clarinet at the age of 9. As a teenager, his growing talent was being groomed for a career as a professional orchestral musician, and he gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in classical clarinet performance from

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

Career with Chicago

Inspired by the

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

hit "

Got to Get You Into My Life "Got to Get You into My Life" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, first released in 1966 on their album ''Revolver''. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is a homage to the Motown Sound, wi ...

", Parazaider became enamored of the idea of creating a

rock 'n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

band with horns. Early practice sessions at Parazaider's house included guitarist

Terry Kath Terry Alan Kath (January 31, 1946 – January 23, 1978) was an American guitarist and singer who is best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He played lead guitar and sang lead vocals on many of the band's early hit singl ...

and drummer

Danny Seraphine Daniel Peter Seraphine (born August 28, 1948) is an American drummer, record producer, theatrical producer, and film producer. He is best known as the original drummer and a founding member of the rock band Chicago, a tenure which lasted from ...

, who were both friends during his teenage years. Another friend who became involved was future Chicago producer

James William Guercio James William Guercio (born July 18, 1945) is an American music producer, musician, songwriter and director. He is best known for his work as the producer of Chicago's first eleven studio albums. He also produced the early recordings of The Buckin ...

. The band, originally called The Big Thing, eventually became

with the addition of

on trumpet,

on trombone,

Robert Lamm Robert William Lamm (born October 13, 1944) is an American musician and a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for his songwriting, vocals, and keyboard melodies, most significantly on the band's debut studio album, ''Chic ...

on keyboards, and

Peter Cetera Peter Paul Cetera Jr. ( ; born September 13, 1944) is a retired American musician best known for being a frontman, vocalist, and bassist for the American rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985. His career as a recording artist ...

on bass. Parazaider's primary musical role in the band has consisted of playing woodwinds on James Pankow's horn arrangements. Never a prolific writer, Parazaider's compositional contributions ("It Better End Soon: 2nd Movement", "Free Country", "Aire", "Devil's Sweet", "Window Dreamin'") have been few relative to the other members. Parazaider performs the highly recognizable flute solo in the Chicago hit " Colour My World", which became a popular '

slow dance A slow dance is a type of partner dance in which a couple dance slowly, swaying to the music. This is usually done to very slow-beat songs, namely sentimental ballads. Slow dancing can refer to any slow couple dance (such as certain ballroom d ...

' song at high school proms during the 1970s. The band's 1973 hit "

Just You 'n' Me "Just You 'n' Me" is a song written by James Pankow for the group Chicago (band), Chicago and recorded for their fifth studio album ''Chicago VI'' (1973). The lead vocals are sung by bassist Peter Cetera. Background The second single released fr ...

" also features a Parazaider solo, on

soprano sax The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly smaller ...

. In 2008, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by

. He is also a member of

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (legally Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America, colloquially known as Phi Mu Alpha, PMA, or simply Sinfonia) () is an American collegiate social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity for men with a special interest ...

and was given the National Citation, being recognized as Signature Sinfonian along with fellow Chicago members and Sinfonians on August 26, 2009. A member of Chicago from its inception, Parazaider continued to tour extensively with the band until his retirement from touring in 2017 due to a heart condition. He is now included on the band's "Tribute to Founding Members" page alongside Kath, Seraphine, and Cetera.

Personal life

Parazaider married JacLynn Bryce in 1966. They have two daughters, Laura and Felicia. He is the only one of Chicago's founding members to remain with his first wife. He is of

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n descent. In April 2021, several years after his retirement from touring with Chicago, Parazaider announced that he had been diagnosed with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

References

External links

Chicago's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parazaider, Walter 1945 births Living people American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists American rock saxophonists American jazz flautists American jazz clarinetists American multi-instrumentalists Chicago (band) members Musicians from Chicago DePaul University alumni American people of Croatian descent People from Maywood, Illinois 20th-century American saxophonists 21st-century American saxophonists Jazz musicians from Illinois 20th-century American clarinetists 21st-century American clarinetists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians 20th-century American flautists 21st-century American flautists People with Alzheimer's disease