It was a gig that was supposed to last a week. More than a decade later, Walfredo Reyes Jr.’s gig with the rock band Chicago shows no signs of slowing down; in fact, it’s safe to say it’s getting “stronger every day.”
“Originally, I was asked to play percussion with the band for a week — like four shows,” Reyes said in a phone interview. “In 2011, I was playing with Lindsey Buckingham and something happened and he had to cancel the tour. My brother, Danny, was playing percussion with the Zac Brown Band and Chicago. The guys in Chicago like having a percussionist. I was playing gigs and then all of a sudden, I was playing percussion with Chicago for a week with (then-drummer) Tris Imboden, who I knew. Ont night after a show, (Chicago founding member) Robert (Lamm) walked into the dressing room and I asked me if I wanted to get on the bus and keep going. He said I sounded like I had been playing with the band forever.”
Reyes hopped on the bus and never looked back, playing percussion with the band from 2012-2017. In 2018, Imboden decided to leave the band and Reyes moved from percussion to drums, a position that had only been held by two people — Imboden and original drummer, Danny Seraphine.
“I’ll always be a drummer and a percussionist; I was still playing drums even when I wasn’t the drummer for Chicago if that makes sense,” Reyes said. “The guys were familiar with my work — Robert loves my CDs and the music I’ve created. It was almost like driving on the same road but with a different car. I already knew the road, but now I had to drive a different car.”
Reyes will be behind the drum kit when Chicago brings more than 50 years of hits to the Beau Rivage for two shows on Sept. 22-23. Ticket information is available at Ticketmaster.com.
