Walter Parazaider

A founding member of the jazz-rock group Chicago, Walter Parazaider was born in the Windy City on March 14, 1945. Coming from a musical family, it was only natural that Walt would follow suit, and he began his career on the clarinet. Eventually, he became the protégé of the E-flat clarinetist in the Chicago symphony. Parazaider switched over to sax ("It was a cool way to meet girls"), enrolled at De Paul University, and - inspired by The Beatles' hit "Got To Get You Into My Life" - became enamored with the idea of creating a rock 'n roll band with horns. Early sessions at Parazaider's house included Terry Kath and Danny Seraphine, friends from Walt's teen years. Another friend was Jim Guercio. The band, first known as The Big Thing, eventually became Chicago. Aside from being a founder, Parazaider's role consisted of playing woodwinds on trombonist James Pankow's charts. Never a prolific writer, Parazaider's compositional contributions have been slight ("Prelude to Aire", "Window Dre