Growing up in Iowa, music was not an occupational goal…..the closest thing we had was that musical “The Music Man” which featured 76 trombones….certainly I could be at least ONE of those?! I had a 9 piece band in high school….yeah, we played “25 or 6 to 4”, “Free” and “Does Anybody Know What Time It Is”….but never thought I might someday play these songs with the guys who made them famous.

After some refinement at Boston’s Berklee College of Music I joined Maynard Ferguson’s band. Touring for 4 years on trombone, doing a bunch of writing/arranging. We were recording/mixing my arrangement of the theme from Rocky 2 at A&M Studios in Hollywood and Chicago moved into the next studio. Both bands were signed to Columbia Records, so Maynard ended up playing on “Street Player” and Danny Seraphine played drums on our song. Yeah, it was Disco…..it didn’t seem like a good idea even at the time! But that was my first meeting of the band…..nice guys with Rolls Royces, as I recall.

I moved to Los Angeles and started playing rock & roll gigs….touring for many years with Rod Stewart, then Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, more tours with The Who, Neal Diamond, Etta James, etc. Lots of recordings too….over 400 CD’s, lots of TV shows & movies (the usual LA stuff) but I still loved playing live.

Jimmy first called in 1999 to fill in and that’s when I really became aware of the what “rock star” trombone was all about! Chicago, perhaps better than any other band, combines musical intelligence & technique, with chart topping success.

So, having a chance to play, write horns & record with Robert, Walt & Lee has been a great honor for me. But filling in for Jimmy remains the ultimate challenge and privilege…..there is only ONE James Pankow. With special thanks & love to my wife Colette, for being my adult supervision….yet allowing me to “Road Dog” it, occasionally. Bow Wow!

Learn more about Nick Lane at nicklanemusic.com