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{{short description|American psychedelic soul band (1966–74)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Rotary Connection
| image = Rotary Connection (Cadet publicity photo).jpg
| landscape = yes
| caption = Rotary Connection {{circa|1968}}
| image_size = (Only use for images smaller than 220 pixels)
| background = group_or_band
| alias =
| origin = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], United States
| instrument =
| genre = {{flatlist |
* [[Psychedelic soul]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rotary-connection-mn0000852405/biography|title=Rotary Connection Biography |last=Kellman |first=Andy |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=2023-02-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://dangerousminds.net/comments/rotary_connection_the_heavenly-sounding_psychedelic_soulsters_who_turned_do |title=ROTARY CONNECTION: THE HEAVENLY-SOUNDING PSYCHEDELIC SOULSTERS WHO TURNED DOWN WOODSTOCK |first=Richard |last=Metzger |date=February 22, 2019 |publisher=Dangerous Minds |access-date= |quote=2023-02-05}}</ref>
* [[psychedelic rock]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pilotonline.com/entertainment/columns/article_10578ec6-d714-51c3-b697-da3905727623.html |title=You can see inside me: Minnie Riperton and 'Adventures in Paradise' |last=Ollison |first=Rashod |date=March 16, 2016 |publisher=The Virginian-Pilot |access-date=2023-02-05 |quote=sang lead vocals in Rotary Connection, an ambitious psychedelic rock band}}</ref>
*[[psychedelic pop]]<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Holly|editor-last=George-Warren|editor-first2=Patricia|editor-last2=Romanowski|title=The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll|url=https://archive.org/det |page=825}}</ref>
}}
| occupation =
| years_active = {{start date|1965}}–{{end date|1973}}
| label = {{flatlist |
*[[Chess Records|Chess]]
*[[Cadet Records|Cadet]]
}}
| website =
| current_members =
| past_members = [[Minnie Riperton]] [[Phil Upchurch]] [[Mitch Aliotta]] Sidney Barnes Bobby Simms [[Charles Stepney]] Tommy Vincent Kenny Venegas Tom Donlinger Jim Donlinger Jim Nyeholt Judy Hauff Shirley Wahls Jon Stocklin
}}

'''Rotary Connection''' was an American [[psychedelic soul]] band, formed in [[Chicago]] in 1966.

In addition to their own recordings, including their 1967 debut album ''[[Rotary Connection (album)|Rotary Connection]]'', the band backed [[Muddy Waters]] on his 1968 [[psychedelic music|psychedelic blues]] album ''[[Electric Mud]]''. The band's members included [[Minnie Riperton]], who would later emerge as a solo artist.

==Career==
===Foundation and debut album===
The highly experimental band was the idea of [[Marshall Chess]], son of [[Chess Records]] founder [[Leonard Chess]].<ref name="LarkinSM">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Who's Who of Soul Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1993|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-733-9|page=222}}</ref> Marshall was the director behind a start-up label, Cadet Concept Records, and wanted to focus on music outside of the [[blues]] and [[rock and roll|rock]] genres, which had made the Chess label popular.<ref name="LarkinSM"/> This led Marshall to turn his attention to the burgeoning psychedelic movement. He recruited [[Charles Stepney]], a [[vibraphonist]] and classically trained [[arranger]] and [[Record producer|producer]]. Marshall then recruited members of a little-known white rock band, the Proper Strangers: Bobby Simms, [[Mitch Aliotta]], and Ken Venegas. Sidney Barnes, a songwriter within the Chess organization, also joined, as did Judy Hauff and a Chess receptionist named [[Minnie Riperton]], who would later be successful in her own solo career.<ref name="LarkinSM"/> Marshall also called up prominent [[session musician]]s associated with the Chess label, including guitarist [[Phil Upchurch]] and drummer [[Morris Jennings]].<ref name="LarkinSM"/> Chess described the band's members as "the hottest, most [[avant-garde music|avant garde]] [[rock music|rock]] guys in [[Chicago]]".<ref name="Shannon">{{cite web |url=http://www.furious.com/Perfect/muddywaterselectricmud.html |title=''Muddy Waters: His most hated, misunderstood album'' |access-date=2009-03-18 |last=Shannon |first=Tim |date=December 2006 |publisher=[[Perfect Sound Forever (magazine)|Perfect Sound Forever]]}}</ref>

The band released their [[Rotary Connection (album)|self-titled debut album]] in late 1967.<ref name="LarkinSM"/> It had various styles, borrowing heavily from pop, rock, and soul, but was not radio friendly. The album also boasted an Eastern influence through its use of the [[sitar]] on the tracks "Turn Me On" and "Memory Band". Stepney's arrangements, brought to life by the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]], imbued the album with a certain dreamlike quality; this would become a trademark of both the arranger and the mouthpiece.

===''Electric Mud'' and ''The Howlin' Wolf Album''===
As a result of the success of ''The Rotary Connection'', Chess felt that he could revive the career of bluesmen Muddy Waters and [[Howlin' Wolf]], by recording two albums of experimental, psychedelic [[blues]] with members of Rotary Connection as the backing band for the singers, producing the albums ''[[Electric Mud]]'' (1968) and ''[[The Howlin' Wolf Album]]'' (1969).<ref name="Murray">{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Charles Shaar |title=Crosstown traffic: Jimi Hendrix and the post-war rock'n'roll revolution |year=1991 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=0-312-06324-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/crosstowntraffic00murr/page/134 134] |chapter=Blue are the Life-giving Waters |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/crosstowntraffic00murr/page/134 }}</ref> Chess hoped the new albums would sell well among fans of [[psychedelic rock]] bands influenced by Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.<ref name="Humphrey">{{cite book |last1=Humphrey |first1=Mark |title=Electric Mud |type=liner notes |year=1996 |publisher=[[Chess Records|Chess]]/[[MCA Records|MCA]] |id=UPC: 076732936429|oclc=779181053}}</ref> In place of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf's regular musicians were Gene Barge, [[Pete Cosey]], Roland Faulkner, [[Morris Jennings]], [[Louis Satterfield]], [[Charles Stepney]] and [[Phil Upchurch]].<ref name="Cohodas-289">{{cite book |last1=Cohodas |first1=Nadine |title=Spinning Blues Into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records |url=https://archive.org/details/spinningbluesint00coho |url-access=registration |year=2001 |page=[https://archive.org/details/spinningbluesint00coho/page/289 289] |chapter=Final Tracks |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-312-28494-7 }}</ref> Cosey, Upchurch and Jennings joked about calling the group "The Electric Niggers".<ref name="Cohodas-289"/> Marshall Chess liked the suggestion, but [[Leonard Chess]] refused to allow the name.<ref name="Cohodas-289"/> Ultimately, blues purists criticized the psychedelic sound of ''Electric Mud'' and ''The Howlin' Wolf Album''.<ref name="Humphrey"/>

===Further albums, Texas International Pop Festival and disbandment ===
In 1968, Rotary Connection released their second and third albums, ''Aladdin'' and ''Peace''.<ref name="LarkinSM"/> ''Aladdin'' found Riperton assuming a more prominent vocal role than the "background instrument" status she had on the debut. The latter was a Christmas release, with strong messages of love and understanding for a nation in the grips of [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]]. The album's [[cover art]] featured a [[hippie]] [[Santa Claus]]. ''Peace'' was notable for being involved in controversy: an [[anti-war]] [[cartoon]], in a December 1968 edition of ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine, featured a graphic image of a bruised and bloodied Santa on a Vietnam battlefield. Mistaking this cartoon for the album's cover art, a drunken executive at [[Montgomery Ward]] cancelled all shipments of the album.

On August 30, 1969, the band played at the [[Texas International Pop Festival]] followed by the [[Rock festival|Palm Beach Pop Festival]] on November 29. Rotary Connection released three more albums: ''[[Songs (Rotary Connection album)|Songs]]'', in 1969, a collection of drastic reworkings of other artists' songs, including [[Otis Redding]]'s "[[Respect (song)|Respect]]" and [[The Band]]'s "[[The Weight]]"; ''Dinner Music'' in 1970,<ref name="LarkinSM"/> in which they added elements of [[Folk music|folk]] and [[country music|country]] into the mix along with some electronic experimentation; and ''[[Hey, Love]]'' in 1971,<ref name="LarkinSM"/> a more jazz-oriented LP on which the band was billed as the New Rotary Connection. From this album came "I Am the Black Gold of the Sun".

The outfit disbanded in 1974.<ref name="LarkinSM"/>

=== Revival ===
As part of the documentary film series ''[[The Blues (film)|The Blues]]'' (2003), produced by [[Martin Scorsese]], members of the Rotary Connection recorded with rapper [[Chuck D]] and members of [[The Roots]], to reflect the legacy of ''Electric Mud'' (1968).<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Woods |editor1-first=Paul A. |title=Scorsese: A Journey Through the American Psyche |year=2005 |publisher=Plexus |isbn=0-85965-355-2 |page=272}}</ref>

==Discography==
'''Main albums'''
* 1967: ''[[Rotary Connection (album)|Rotary Connection]]'' (U.S. No. 37)<ref>{{cite web|author=Andy Kellman |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/rotary-connection-mn0000852405/awards |title=Rotary Connection | Awards |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=2014-03-02}}</ref>
* 1968: ''[[Aladdin (Rotary Connection album)|Aladdin]]'' (U.S. No. 176)
* 1968: ''[[Peace (Rotary Connection album)|Peace]]'' (U.S. No. 24)
* 1969: ''[[Songs (Rotary Connection album)|Songs]]''
* 1970: ''[[Dinner Music (Rotary Connection album)|Dinner Music]]''
* 1971: ''[[Hey, Love]]'' (as The New Rotary Connection)

'''As backing band'''
* 1968: [[Muddy Waters]]: ''[[Electric Mud]]''
* 1969: [[Howlin' Wolf]]: ''[[The Howlin' Wolf Album]]''

'''Compilations'''
* 2006: ''Black Gold: The Very Best of Rotary Connection''

==Further reading==
*''Move On Up: Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power'' by Aaron Cohen; chapter four: "Psychedelic Soul"; published by [[University of Chicago Press]]; September 25, 2019 ({{ISBN|9780226653037}})

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.allmusic.com/artist/rotary-connection-mn0000852405/biography Rotary Connection biography by Andy Kellman, discography, album reviews, credits and releases] at [[AllMusic.com]]
* [https://www.discogs.com/artist/8286-Rotary-Connection Rotary Connection discography, album releases & credits] at [[Discogs|Discogs.com]]
* [https://play.spotify.com/artist/3dGTi4MZZo4zXdQaKAS1va Rotary Connection songs to be listened] as music stream at [[Spotify|Play.Spotify.com]]
* [http://www.the-breaks.com/search.php?term=rotary+connection&type=0 List of artists who have sampled Rotary Connection]

{{Minnie Riperton}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:American psychedelic rock music groups]]
[[Category:American soul musical groups]]
[[Category:Cadet Records artists]]
[[Category:Musical groups from Chicago]]
[[Category:Psychedelic pop music groups]]
[[Category:Psychedelic soul music groups]]
[[Category:Chess Records artists]]
[[Category:Cadet Concept artists]]

Rotary Connection - Revision history

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