Acclaimed suburban musician Al DeCarlo dies at 69

Suburban musician Al DeCarlo, whose virtuoso guitar playing galvanized the 1970s progressive rock trios Bangor Flying Circus and Madura and won the admiration of legends like Janis Joplin and Frank Zappa, died Friday at his home in Addison. He was 69.

His high-energy jamming style can be heard on such songs as Madura's "Free From the Devil," which he wrote, as well as the group's cover of "Johnny B. Goode."

Dennis Polkow, who played keyboard with Madura in its later years, said even though the band was a trio, it sounded like a bigger group.

"(Al) was one of those remarkable guitarists that could sort of do rhythm and lead simultaneously," Polkow said. Grammy-winner David "Hawk" Wolinski, his boyhood friend and bandmate, recounted DeCarlo's amazing instrumental feats, such as scatting.

"All of a sudden, he started to scat, like George Benson does," he said, adding he believes Benson got the idea from DeCarlo. "And then Al did this hammering thing, where he would hammer, kind of like Stanley Jordan does, on the guitar. I don't even know how he figured this stuff out."

The band's concert footage was used in the 1973 film "Electra Glide in Blue," starring Robert Blake and directed by Madura's record producer, James William Guercio, who also produced Chicago's early albums.

Original Chicago band members Terry Kath and Danny Seraphine had heard Bangor Flying Circus at the Whiskey A Go-Go in Hollywood and brought the band to Guercio's attention. Guercio began producing the group under the name Madura for Columbia Records.

Madura was the regular opening act for Chicago through the early 1970s and often joined the band onstage for encores.

It was the culmination of an odyssey that began when DeCarlo, who was born in Chicago but moved to Addison, and Wolinski met as students at York Community High School in Elmhurst. They formed a band called the Nomads in the early 1960s.

Wolinski, who would later go on to success with singer Chaka Khan in the band Rufus, credited DeCarlo with teaching him to play rock 'n' roll and blues piano.

"We thumbed our noses at the Rolling Stones and the Beatles," gravitating toward the style of Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, he said. "No consideration for singles at all."

Wolinski said the band should have made live albums because "that's where we shined."

"We could have been the original jam band. The original Phish," he added.

After Madura broke up, DeCarlo sang a variety of jingles, memorably for Lowenbrau. But drugs and what one friend describes as a fear of success derailed a promising career.

Over the years, opportunities came and then faded. Joplin and Zappa recruited DeCarlo to perform in their bands, and in the wake of Kath's death he was considered for the band Chicago.

"When Terry Kath died, Bobby Lamm (from) Chicago gave Al an opportunity to audition with the band. He would have been a perfect fit," friend John Dubiel said. "But Al never really studied. He didn't know all the ins and outs because he had such a great ear and he wouldn't practice."

"He had a lot of demons," Wolinski added. "I had never seen a guy blow more opportunities than this guy. He just could not deliver because of the drugs."

In later years, DeCarlo performed at a 2015 benefit at the Arcada Theater in St. Charles that reunited him with Wolinski and former Chicago drummer Danny Seraphine.

A documentary about DeCarlo is in the works, produced by Barefoot Boy Productions and scheduled for a release this year.

Arrangements are pending through Humes Funeral Home, 320 W. Lake St., Addison.