Chicago Performs "Street Player" Live on SNL (11-03-1979) - Highest Quality Available!

[@Eighties_Child]

Since so many people don't bother to read the description area, they are missing out on the fact that I've provided a link to the actual video of the "Street Player" SNL performance. So, for the final time (LOL), here is the link to the video: app.box.com/s/gpzm8hi82d10qbfpjyk1e5c1f64t7of3

[@freddystone7584]

Just great! Thanks for the link Eighties_Child!

[@Eighties_Child]

My pleasure! I'm glad you enjoyed it, Freddy.

[@richardwalker9826]

thanks for the heads up about the video!

[@Theanthonystoll]

Man did they make a masterpiece with this song, it has been sampled and copied so many times and no-one knows it's chicago. This is a great live performance

[@Eighties_Child]

I totally agree, Tony. It's a real shame that Danny didn't get to write more songs than he did during his time with Chicago. His talent as a drummer speaks for itself, but his overlooked talent as a songwriter was heavily underutilized.

[@hfjjor3681]

Right! As in, “These sounds fall into my mind” Buckethead and all that.

[@MrJsfingers]

Chaka did it a year before this one, but I love Chicagos version much better.

[@Eighties_Child]

Indeed, Rufus recorded it first, but remember that the song was written by Rufus band member David "Hawk" Wolinski and Danny Seraphine of Chicago.

[@mattfoley6082]

I absolutely HATE the sampled version they did of this, esp. Jason Scheff singing "Street sounds swirling through my Mind" over and over. Gag!

[@honestreviewsonly1915]

Best group ever. My favorite for over 50 years now.

[@avlisk]

After the shock of losing Kath, I thought Hot Streets was a fine effort and Dacus did a good job in very tough circumstances. I wish he had hung around for more than 2 records.

[@Eighties_Child]

I agree! The band really did Donnie wrong, as Danny Seraphine has admitted.

[@rhark25]

I always wished we could have heard Kath/Cetera/Seraphine as a power trio. Great vocals to go along with amazing musicianship would've been awesome to hear.

[@Eighties_Child]

What a GREAT idea! Those three cats should have recorded at least one special side project together, as so many bands do. Best rhythm section ever!

[@Flussig1]

I met Pete Cetera right around this time, I believe it was 80 or 81, he used to bring his car to the dealership I worked for. Very pleasant guy.

[@Eighties_Child]

Very cool anecdote. Thanks for sharing!

[@john564holloway]

Remarkable how they set up Danny right in front instead behind the band...One of the best horn arrangements James has put together. Peter, Danny and Robert killed it.

[@mattfoley6082]

I met all but Cetera on their tour in 1982. Bill Champlin and Chris Pinnick had just joined. They were all really nice and friendly. Still have their autographs.

[@elisabethkolling6697]

"They won't let me upload it, but you can download it here" - lol, gotta love that!

[@Eighties_Child]

Ha ha! Were you able to watch it, Elisabeth? It's really quite amazing. :-)

[@hammer44head]

Peter a very underrated bass player but he was very good player and really they had to get more upbeat during this time because everybody was dancing in mid to late 70's. It wasnt disco thank goodness but it more closer to Earth, Wind & Fire, a lot more funkier and danceable, than before then. NO wonder Pete and Danny really locked in on rhythm since the rhythm drives the beat and moves the band. I think Pete was a big fan of McCartney's bass playing (he did say he was) and played very melodic stylings in the early years of Chicago and really got funkier as the years went by. Thanks again for the posting, interesting to go back in time and give it a listen again.

[@Eighties_Child]

Of course rhythm drives the beat and moves the band; however, very few drummer-bassist duos "locked" or "gelled" the way that Danny and Peter did. Thanks for your feedback, and I'm glad you enjoyed the trip back in time. :-)

[@viddeojunke]

Yeah “Street Player” is a far stretching song for a great band as Chicago but it’s so funky and spellbinding that I’ve actually began to like it more through the years.

[@dellcoats4648]

This has a great groove! Great drumming from Danny!😋😋😋😋😋

[@Eighties_Child]

Indeed!

[@susanasotomayor2271]

El mejor tiempo musical de Chicago band con los integrantes originales

[@regissuchma5764]

I didn't know they performed on SNL back in 1979

[@Eighties_Child]

Yes, sir-and they kicked butt! :-)

[@hfjjor3681]

@@Eighties_Child Just this song?

[@Eighties_Child]

They also played "I'm A Man," but "Street Player" was definitely the highlight!

[@MrFootballfilms09]

This was 1980 ! On SNL. Bill Russell was the host

[@Eighties_Child]

Hey, Rick. This episode of SNL actually premiered on November 3, 1979.

[@dwnjazz12]

I'm going to show my age but, unlike some of the other commenters on here I actually remember being stoked when I heard they were going to be on SNL and instead of doing my usual Saturday night barhopping, I stayed home so I could see this. I was a little disappointed in that it was a cutdown version of what was on the album, especially cutting the trumpet solo. I believe that Bill Russel, yes basketball legend Bill Russell, was the host. and i think they also did I'm A Man, although once again, it was a shorter version. Thanks for posting this, its the first time I've even heard this version since then.

[@Eighties_Child]

You're welcome, my friend. Thanks for sharing your memories! I also wish they had been permitted to play the extended instrumental jam break, but at the same time, Lee Loughnane couldn't hit Maynard Ferguson's high notes in his dreams. Too bad Chicago couldn't have arranged for Maynard to sit in with them on this special occasion! And yes, you are correct about Bill Russell hosting the program. By the way, if you will look in the description area below the video, you will find a link to my storage cloud where you can download the actual live performance (not just photo stills), and a portion of "I'm A Man" is included at the end. :-)

[@Hboy1962]

@@Eighties_Child kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJqxqGeJgNaUjpY Have you heard this version by Leonid & Friends? Arturo Sandoval does that trumpet part and nails it! But he is gassed at the end🤣Great version by L&F!

[@Eighties_Child]

@Hboy1962 Yes, I saw that a few years ago. Leonid & Friends are great! I was blessed to see Maynard Ferguson play in 2003, not long before his death, and he was still amazing then. I was also privileged to see Arturo play live back in 1997. He performed at a summer band symposium I attended while in high school. Sandoval is not as good as Maynard, but he's still a great trumpet player!

[@oriolesbirdman20851]

Eighties Child thank you SO MUCH for the download link - the video was amazing! Like others have said, I had no idea they performed on SNL...thank you!

[@Eighties_Child]

You're most welcome. My pleasure! I spent two decades trying to find video footage of the epic "Street Player" performance (before now, I had only ever heard a low-quality MP3 audio recording of it), and once I finally located the video, which turned out to be pristine, I wanted to make sure the rest of the world could enjoy it too! FYI, the "I'm A Man" performance has been broadcast on Comedy Central, for example, over the years, but strangely enough, those SNL re-runs always cut "Street Player," even though it was the superior performance of the two.

[@geneobrien8270]

Yep. Bill Cosby was the guest that week, and if I recall, he sat in on congas with the band.

[@Eighties_Child]

Hi, Gene. Actually, I think you're thinking of Chicago's guest appearance on Bill Cosby's very short-lived variety show titled "Cos," from the fall of 1976. On that episode, Chicago performed both "If You Leave Me Now" and "Scrapbook," and Bill joined them on the latter and played the cowbell. (LOL) Incidentally, a high-quality, uncut video of that particular show is one of my most sought-after Chicago "holy grails." Still searching!

[@geneobrien8270]

@@Eighties_Child you're right! There was so little live Chicago video from that era, I confused the two. Thanks for the clarification!

[@Eighties_Child]

No problem! And you're so right about the dearth of Chicago footage from the '70s (i.e., the era that matters the most!), but *especially* from 1978 to 1981. Those are sort of like the "ghost years"! And it kills me, because Peter and Danny played their souls out during that time.

[@Txdcblues]

Ig this didn’t make #1 bc of how long it is but it definitely should be up there. I hear master of puppets on the radio so this needs the spotlight! Peter is the best bass player of all time and I’m biased I also play bass, even have the same birthday as him! Discovered all that after I started playing😅

[@Eighties_Child]

You have a discerning ear for music, my friend! Great taste! :-) Cool coincidence about your birthdays too! By the way, to see the VIDEO of this performance, click on the following link to download it from my shared cloud storage account: app.box.com/s/gpzm8hi82d10qbfpjyk1e5c1f64t7of3

[@TXMusicDrummer]

I saw Danny Seraphine several years back at Lone Star Percussion in Dallas, and he talked about this song he wrote with David "Hawk" Wolinski. It was actually released first by Rufus, then Chicago. Danny stated this was supposed to be the ultimate disco hit, they went to great lengths to get Maynard Ferguson on the trumpet solo and Airto Moreira adding percussion, but it ended up bombing in large part due to the Disco Sucks event at Comiskey Park in Chicago where a bunch of disco records were blown up. Danny mentioned that the newspaper the following day showed the Chicago 13 album prominently on the stack of disco records that were blown up, that soon after, sales tanked making it their worst selling album at that time. Danny said the band blamed him for that, and they also sacked Donnie Dacus who had replaced Terry Kath. Yet years later, that same song made Danny more money than anything he's written thanks to sampling from the Bucketheads in 1995 and Pitbull in 2009.

[@Eighties_Child]

@TXMusicDrummer Songwriting royalties are a sweet gift from God, to be sure!

[@MrJsfingers]

Peter on the Music Man Stingray made popular by Louis Johnson and Bernard Edwards from Chic. Many ppl hate Disco but many tunes have some serious arrangements like Open Sesame Kool and the Gang and others.

[@Eighties_Child]

Man, I *love* the Stingray and the sound Peter got out of that! His chops were stinking incredible on this tune. Much busier bass line than on the album version. But you have to listen with headphones to catch all those cool "ghost notes."

[@JAYZIGGY5]

Peter, primarily a P bass player but sure enough that's a stingray. I can hear it. He gets good credit for his vocals but I don't think he ever got the credit he deserved as a bassist. The studio version of this is funky but he's bringin a lot of extra funk to this live version. Love it.

[@Eighties_Child]

Thanks for speaking TRUTH about PC's overlooked bass brilliance. To your point, you are the first visitor who has said a word about Cetera's bass playing in so many months that I can't even remember the last time! It's extremely rare, so this conversation is refreshing. Yes, Peter laid down some masterpiece bass lines in the studio, but a live setting is where he always shined the brightest and *really* cut loose! I suppose that's true of most musicians (but certainly not all). People who've only heard Peter's bass playing on Chicago's studio albums actually have only half a clue how good he truly was. One has to get a hold of commercially unreleased concert recordings, such as Live at the Greek Theater '78, to understand how phenomenal of a bassist he really was. And the fact that he quit playing is one of music's greatest tragedies. Kills me!

[@Eighties_Child]

By the way, I hope you saw the link in the description and were able to watch the video of this performance. It's worth it just to see Peter's "bass face," which is always awesome. :-)

[@JAYZIGGY5]

@Eighties_Child I did not see that in the description but I just downloaded it and watched it on my TV and I have a pretty good sound system in here too to put it mildly. That was awesome to actually see it. He's playin with his fingers! I thought he was mainly a pick guy. But even better. Yeah even in the early days of Chicago his bass lines weren't all just simple bass. He was putting a bunch of extra notes in there but it went unrecognized due to how good Terry was which he was no denying that but as usual the bass player doesn't get much credit. Ask me how I know lol. But on top of everything he's doing, in almost every song, he's also singing! Lead vocals or backup harmonies, he's always singing and playing! Again ask me how I know that's not real easy to do. I'll admit it I never realized until pretty recently how good he really was on bass. This all happened because one day I walked into work at 7am and my now boss who was a guitar player at one time, had Hard to say I'm sorry playing and I started belting it out and we were both singing it and he thought it was Peter and I said no man, it's Chicago! It's Peter but this is still Chicago. Then he puts on Glory of love and I said this is Peter solo but it was written for Chicago. No shit? Yeah! He's like when I think of Chicago I think of 25 or 6 to 4 and had to explain, that's him too man! Same guy! Then I went a step further. I put on The Bomb, remember this? From like when we were in 8th grade or whenever that came out? And I put on Street Player. THAT is from THIS. Same guy. I watched somebody's mind get blown that morning. It was a good morning. It really is a shame he stopped playing bass. I understand age catches up with everyone's voice, and there's you can't expect anyone to keep that high range forever. I ruined mine singing acdc one night and it never fully recovered. I can sing but I can hear I'm a little bit flat sometimes. Never used to be. I damaged something. I don't sing or play in a band at all currently but I do still play bass at home. I'd love to play live again. I know he's retired but I wonder if he still plays for himself at all or is done with music entirely? I have no idea. It would be too cool if he did something with Danny where he just played bass. I know Danny would do it. I wish Peter still lived in Chicago I'd go knock on his door and ask him to come jam! Who knows? I have no idea how he's spending his days in Idaho but it would be a shame if he doesn't do anything at all musically anymore. Even if it's just for fun.

[@kalonakitu]

Thank you so much for the upload and the link to the download. What an awesome performance!

[@Eighties_Child]

My pleasure! I'm glad you were able to download and watch the performance, no thanks to KZbin or NBC/Universal!

[@williamj.sheehan2001]

That is in fact a superb lead vocal!

[@Eighties_Child]

Thank you for acknowledging this. Definitely one of Peter's finest and clearest live vocals. I'm surprised you're the first to mention it (besides me, of course). ;-)

[@PriorityNewsNow]

One of the few great songs from post-Kath era Chicago.

[@kingktakeiarthurbrown1226]

SNL was a great reason to stay home on Saturday Night back in the day!!!!!

[@brucep9729]

Ive been looking for this for a long time! Was watching that night with much anticipation. But why no video? NBC i suppose. They also played Im a Man later in the show that night.

[@Eighties_Child]

Please read the description. I provide a link to the video. For some reason, a lot of people keep overlooking that. ;-)

[@derekbaker3279]

An excellent performance. Given everything they had been through, and the substance abuse that was becoming a major burden on the band & band chemistry, this was Chicago at the top of its game. Heck, they even made a disco song musically interesting! lol (..I am musically open-minded... love old school funk r&b, soul, rock, jazz, blues, folk, classical, and even a bit of bluegrass...but I f***ing HATED disco! lol). As a former trumpet player, I always liked this song - including the album version that also featured Maynard Ferguson screaming away with Lee, and IMHO Lee, Walter & James really nailed this performance, as did the rest of the band. Thanks for posting the audio & the link! I'm looking forward to checking out the video of "Street Player"! p.s. Yes indeed, Peter was one heck of a bass player too, and synched up nicely with Danny....but don't forget how important Laudir de Oliveira was to the groove, he was totally locked in with Danny & Peter too!

[@Eighties_Child]

Thanks for the comments, Derek. Honestly, I've never considered *anything* Chicago recorded to fall under the "Disco" genre. To me, "Street Player" is just horn-driven Funk/R&B "boogie music," a la EWF. ("Thunder and Lightning" from XIV is another good example of this, which I also love. PC went all Verdine White on that bass line!) And trust me, I could never forget about Laudir. He was the *ultimate* auxiliary percussionist, and he added SO much to Chicago's live performances. He and Danny were a musical match made in percussive heaven. Ha ha!

[@miger1824]

thanks for the link!

[@Eighties_Child]

No problem!

[@BF6ct]

Classic

[@marilynfosseen1541]

Yeah, man!

[@qhazwel]

Listen to Donnie play. Man, you couldn't hear it that good on the album. He sounds like the hardest working guy out there

[@Eighties_Child]

Next to Peter and Danny, he probably was! Great rhythm guitar playing.

[@ALANLACORTEBRITO]

VERY GOOD

[@susanasotomayor2271]

Peter Terry Danny irrremplazables en el grupo

[@Eighties_Child]

Agreed!!!

[@carlosaliaga9718]

Yo percibo vientos sobre la percusion

[@johnnysanchez574]

Do you guys know any of their songs that sounds similar to this one?

[@Eighties_Child]

Check out the album Chicago 13, which features this classic song. You may also like "Thunder and Lightning," which is somewhat similar to "Street Player."

[@brianmuratori3206]

​@@Eighties_Childthey're both outstanding songs!

[@robertgarcia7643]

Odd to hear them singing a Chaka Khan and Rufus original. But great job as usual!

[@Eighties_Child]

Not odd at all, seeing as how Danny Seraphine co-authored the song. :-)

[@seguidordeodin6795]

and the video?

[@Eighties_Child]

Please read the description, as well as my pinned post. Both contain a URL for the video download. The KZbin video also features a pop-up notification (top right corner, near the beginning of the video) that points this out.

[@jacobmccarthy1171]

Chicago died when Terry Kath died!!

[@Eighties_Child]

This is a popular myth. Yes, Terry Kath's voice and guitar playing (more so his voice, in my opinion) are irreplaceable. However, Terry Kath was NOT the only member of Chicago who was talented and worth listening to/watching play. While I will always be partial to the first 11 albums, the band, in fact, did very well after Terry's tragic passing, whether one enjoys the musical direction they took or not. Please at least try to appreciate the stinking AMAZING chops of Peter Cetera (a phenom on bass) and Danny Seraphine (a phenom on drums), as well as Jimmy Pankow's horn arrangements and t-bone playing and Bobby's smooth baritone (his voice improved immensely post-1970s). Those guys, in particular, continued to make great music way beyond January 1978.

[@stevem4628]

Yes they lost him. But Chicago was still an excellent band after he died.

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

Reborn again into what they were to become. Different and progressive.

[@tonyde52]

@@Eighties_Child I'm so TIRED of the endless lamenting over Terry Kath. Yes, he was very talented. However, he had a SERIOUS DRUG PROBLEM and he was careless to play with a gun. Did people expect the band to break up because of that?

[@Eighties_Child]

I share your frustrations, Tony. Terry's death was a horrible tragedy that was entirely preventable, as it was entirely self-induced. Terry died young due to foolish, destructive, sinful choices. What bothers me the most is when the surviving original members of Chicago make awful documentaries and wax sentimental about their younger selves' idiotic substance abuse, instead of expressing regret, remorse, and shame over their reckless self-indulgence. I'm thinking, "You guys have grandchildren and probably great grandchildren now, and THIS is the legacy you want to leave for them? You ought to be warning them not to follow your stupid, destructive example instead of glorifying it and trying to make it sound cool and fun. Even worse, all the drugs and booze and sex and wild partying is what put your brother, Terry Kath, in an early grave, ya morons! Therefore, why, pray tell, are you sitting there *romanticizing* those behaviors with a nostalgic gleam in your eyes?!"

[@susanasotomayor2271]

El mejor tiempo musical de Chicago band con los integrantes originales