#Aorta #psychedelic rock #acid rock #folk rock #jazz rock #proto-prog #psych pop #1960s
Aorta were an American psychedelic rock band from Chicago who recorded two albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The band developed from a soul, pop and rock'n'roll group who had originally formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1962 as Kal David and the Exceptions. Its members were Kal David (vocals and guitar), Peter Cetera (bass, vocals), Denny Ebert (drums, vocals), and Marty Grebb (saxophone, keyboards, guitar, vocals). David left in 1965, to join The Rovin' Kind, later to become Illinois Speed Press, and was replaced by James Vincent (later known as Jim Donlinger). The band was then known as The Exceptions. They released several singles on local labels, and an EP, Rock and Roll Mass, on the Flair label, before Grebb left to join The Buckinghams, being replaced by Jim Nyeholt. Ebert also left to be replaced by Billy Herman. As The Exceptions, Vincent (Donlinger), Cetera, Nyeholt and Herman recorded several singles for Capitol Records, but Cetera left when the other members expressed a desire to perform more psychedelic material. Cetera joined The Big Thing, who became Chicago Transit Authority and then Chicago.
After recruiting Bobby Jones as the new bass player, the group changed their name to Aorta in 1967, for a short period also adding Dan Hoagland on tenor sax. With Jim Donlinger on lead vocals, the band recorded a single, "The Shape Of Things To Come", a song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and included on the soundtrack to the movie Wild in the Streets by the fictional group Max Frost and the Troopers. Aorta signed to Dunwich Productions, a company formed by Bill Traut, and the single was leased for release on Atlantic Records. Under Traut's management, the band were then signed to Columbia Records to record an album. Their first LP was produced by Traut and Donlinger. Entitled Aorta, it was issued in early 1969, as part of a drive by Columbia to promote "the Chicago sound" - the company simultaneously released albums by Chicago, Illinois Speed Press, and The Flock. The album has been described as a "startling record which was a mix of psychedelia, soul, jazz, folk, and rock housed in a beautiful, graphic sleeve that has always overshadowed the great music from within. Aorta is solid throughout, featuring strong musicianship, inventive studio wizardry, superb songs with a healthy dose of fuzz guitar and wonderful string and horn arrangements." The group toured in support of bands such as Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin and The Mothers of Invention, and were given a major showcase opportunity to impress music industry leaders at the Fillmore East in New York City. However, according to Donlinger, the band were offered LSD by another musician before the show, resulting in them giving what was described as a "train wreck" of a performance.
Jones and Herman then left, and Donlinger and Nyeholt, together with Donlinger's drummer brother Tom, temporarily joined the Rotary Connection. However, they then decided to reform Aorta, with the Donlinger brothers and Nyeholt adding Michael Been on bass, guitar and vocals. The band recorded a second album, Aorta 2, in a radically different style, leaning more towards country rock with Christian overtones. They finally split up shortly after its release on the Happy Tiger label in early 1970. Jim Donlinger and Michael Been, together with former Exceptions member Marty Grebb, then joined the band Lovecraft (previously H. P. Lovecraft). From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aorta_(band)
