These bands from the 1960s and 1970s packed a powerful punch with their horn sections in tow. Whether their niche was in pop, funk, or jazz-rock, these groups could bring the house down on any given night, blowing minds with intricate arrangements or keeping the party going with their energetic accentuations.
The most successful of the bunch were Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears, but we've dug far and wide through the Concert Vault to include as many other bands as possible. That includes Electric Flag, something of a supergroup featuring Mike Bloomfield and Buddy Miles, who really made the template for this type of lineup. Thanks to Bill Graham, you'll also find staples of the San Francisco scene (Cold Blood, Tower of Power, Sons of Champlin), and recordings from the closing nights of the Fillmore East (Edgar Winter's White Trash) and Winterland (The Blues Brothers). Of course, when looking for rocking horn bands, you're bound to run into some seriously sticky funk (Sly and the Family Stone, The Ohio Players, Average White Band). And, for good measure, we've rounded out this mix with some lesser known bands (Jam Factory, The Flock, Lighthouse) who had the formula down but just never made as big of a splash.
As with all of the material in the Concert Vault, these songs were are from live concerts. That means the recording quality differs greatly throughout this tracklist, but it's a small price to pay for hearing and feeling these classic horn rock from the stage.