Band members, from left, Chris Foreman, Lee Rothenberg, Greg Ward and Greg Rockingham.
When Chicago jazz quintet Soul Message Band comes to the Arts + Literature Laboratory to play an Oct. 26 gig, they’ll bring their “orchestra” with them.
There will be no string section, no harpist, no piccolos. “Orchestra” is the word Chris Foreman uses to describe his Hammond B3 organ, a once-popular jazz ensemble staple that the musician has been playing for some 50 years.
“It’s a really heavy thing, but the sounds it makes are unique,” says Foreman, who was born blind. “You can perform a lot of interesting combinations in jazz, blues, rock, gospel. Namely, it’s an orchestra in itself.”
Greg Rockingham, a drummer who founded the band with Foreman, agrees.
“With the organ, Chris is like two players in one,” says Rockingham, whose father also played the Hammond B3 in his own Chicago jazz band. “He can walk the bass line with his left hand and play chords and harmony with his right hand. The sounds can be unique and pretty or come on like a freight train. It’s fabulous.”
Foreman remembers exactly when and where he met Rockingham. It was at a south-side Chicago club called The Other Place on Oct. 12, 1984.
“My dad was out of town, and I frankly couldn’t play without a Hammond B3 in the band,” says Rockingham, who was the drummer in his father’s band. “Chris sat in and started playing and we pretty much have been pals through thick and thin ever since.”
The pair gigged in Chicago clubs with a local singer, who eventually got out of the game. They then hooked up with guitarist Bobby Broom, and in 2000 formed the Deep Blue Organ Trio, which opened for several Steely Dan summer tours. The trio disbanded in 2013 and Soul Message Band emerged from its ashes.
In addition to Foreman and Rockingham, the band’s current lineup includes Lee Rothenberg on guitar, Ken Gueno on congas and percussion, and Greg Ward on saxophone.
“I live in Waukegan, and Chris lives on Chicago’s south side, so we have to practice over the telephone,” Rockingham says. “I have three Hammond B3s in my house, even though I don’t play them.”
“We think of ourselves as a big band,” Foreman adds, “and it’s the chemistry that keeps us going.”
