Back in the good old USSR – long before Russia started bombing the Ukraine – a kid in Siberia discovered Chicago.
That’s Chicago the band – not the city.
Leonid Vorobyev, 67, fell in love with Chicago’s music as a teenager and eventually learned the songs and formed a band.
That’s the shorthand bio of Leonid & Friends who romped through a rollicking set before a packed house Monday in Savannah Center. The band covered most of Chicago’s hits and made a musical plea for peace.
“No matter how crazy it gets, we can still bring love and unity through music,” Roman Vorobyev, Leonid’s son and band manager, said at the start of the concert. “Music is the bridge over our troubled waters.”
That’s why the message of the opening number – “Make Me Smile – resonated with the appreciative sellout crowd. There were nearly a dozen band members on stage and not just from Russia. The roster includes musicians from the Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus.
These comrades can play.
That was obvious on the first surprise song, “One Fine Morning.” That song was a Chicago sound-alike number from 1971 by a band called Lighthouse.
The Leonid horn section – featuring a trombone, two trumpets and saxophone –nailed it. The group also included keyboards, drums, bass and founder Leonid Vorobyev on guitar.
But it’s the singers who spike this band’s musical vodka.
Ksenia Buzina, Danil Buranov and Mikhail Puntov are oozing with charisma and vocal talent.
Buzina seems like this group’s Russian version of Taylor Swift. She delivered the soulful goods while covering a Chaka Khan song, “Ain’t Nobody.”
Buranov and Puntov brought back memories of such Chicago vocalists as Peter Cetera, Robert Lamm and the late Terry Kath. Buranov and Putnov hit all the right notes on such standards as: “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is,” “Old Days” “Questions 67 and 68,” and really shined on “Beginnings.”
Chicago had a unique way of blending jazz and rock, and Leonid answered that challenge. “Beginnings” was a masterful musical excursion and the horn section was on fire.
The number ended with an audience sing-a-long and the Savannah Center was jumping, with some people dancing near their seats.
There was more energy on such numbers as “Saturday in the Park,” “I’m A Man,” and “25 or 6 to 4.”
Now, if you grew up in America from the late ‘60s on, those songs are indelibly stamped on the soundtrack of your life.
“We’re here in The Villages on a special mission,” Roman Vorobyev told the crowd. “We want to bring back the best memories of the old days.”
And that’s exactly what Leonid & Friends did.
Tony Violanti covers arts and music for Villages-News.com. He was inducted into the Buffalo NY Music Hall of Fame as a music journalist.