Chess Records

Subject: Chess Records
From: Tom Kilpatrick
Date: 07 Apr 99 - 11:23 PM

Wondering if anybody knew where I could get my hands on any information about Chess Records. Things like, history, artists,it's place in the American music scene etc. Websites, books, magazines anything would be helpful.

Thanks, Tom

Subject: RE: Chess Records
From: Ronn
Date: 07 Apr 99 - 11:39 PM

Willie Dixon's autobiography "I Am The Blues" will provide just about the best insider's view of Chess that you could hope for. Also, if your library has Living Blues magazine, they did many stories about Chess over the years.

Subject: RE: Chess Records
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Apr 99 - 11:40 PM

Hi, I found this in a search. It is from the website at

www.arcmusic.com/x11allb/chess.htm

The Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, began recording the raw, vital music emanating from the small clubs in Chicago in 1947. At that time jazz and, especially, blues were considered to be "race music" and had not reached a wide audience. Very few people suspected such music would be commercially viable, let alone have a lasting and monumental impact on popular music. The brothers, owners of a successful nightclub, The Macambo Lounge, had decided to extend their interest in the music they loved by starting a record company. The record company, originally called Aristocratic Records, was created first and, shortly after, Arc Music Corp. was developed as the publisher representing the writer/performers signed to Aristocratic. And what writers they were, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter Jacobs, Lowell Fulson and dozens of other blues legends. Leonard and Phil Chess, two Polish born immigrants, eventually created a monopoly of Chicago music recording, doing sessions and releasing recordings by every major blues performer from John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, "King of the Slide Guitar", to Bo Diddley through Jimmy Reed, Chuck Berry and everyone in between.

At the beginning, Leonard and Phil focused their recording and publishing ventures primarily in the area of popular jazz, but soon expanded into blues, receiving their first Billboard recognition in 1947. By 1949 Aristocratic Records which became Chess Records in 1950, was a fixture in the world of music and its recordings and the songs published by Arc Music remain the most impressive collection of blues music in the world. From their experiences in the nightclub business on the South side of Chicago, the Chess brothers understood the popular preferences of their predominantly African-American audiences, but also saw the marketability of blues music to a broader audience. In the beginning Chess Records was ran as a two man business, with Phil overseeing the nightclub and the offices of Aristocrat/Chess and Arc, while Leonard alternately scouted talent, produced the sessions, and hand delivered fresh recordings to radio stations in the Chicago area. Even in the years to come as the company grew, the Chess brothers, joined by Leonard's son Marshall, continued to stay in close contact with the artists and the production process, maintaining the label's ability to react quickly to the marketplace.

By the mid-fifties, Chess Records and Arc Music were established blues and pioneering rock and roll companies whose influence is felt even more today then in their beginning. Chess Records and Arc Music Corp. performers and writers such as Otis Rush, St. Louis Jimmy Oden, Homesick James, Otis Rush, Memphis Slim, Jimmy Rogers, J.B. Lenoir, Sonny Thompson, along with the other giants mentioned above, continue to influence generation after generation of songwriters and performers.

After Chess Records eventually landed in the arms of MCA Records, a concerted effort was made to reissue these classic recordings. MCA Records continues to issue, in what is considered to be one of the best, if not best, reissue programs in the industry, the most popular as well as the influential recordings from the Chess Records vaults.

Arc Music Corp., whose team includes sons of both Leonard and Phil Chess, Marshall and Kevin respectively, continues to grow by adding the best of the current blues and R&B writers to its roster. These newer composers, combined with the roster of talent and songs already a part of the world's greatest blues catalog, will continue to influence the course of music.

 The Chess Records archives contain recordings by: Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, Etta James, Chuck Berry, Little Walter Jacobs, Sunnyland Slim, Robert Nighthawk, Buddy Guy, St. Louis Jimmy, Little Johnny Jones, Jimmy Rogers, Memphis Slim, Johnny Shines, Billy Boy Arnold, John Lee Hooker, Memphis Minnie, Eddie Boyd, John Lee hooker, Willie Mabon, Elmore James, John Brim, Lowell Fulson, J. B. Lenoir, Paul Gayten, Jimmy Witherspoon, Otis Span, Lafayette Leake, Otis Rush, Albert King, Little Milton, Walter Horton, Koko Taylor, Little Joe Blue, Eddie Burns, Hound Dog Taylor, Jackie Brenston, Bobby Lewis, Sugar Boy Crawford, The Moonglows, The Swans, The Flamingos, Bobby Charles, Bullmoose Jackson, Earl Hooker, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Clifton Chenier, Johnny and Joe, The Tune Weavers, Eddie Bo, Dale Hawkins, T.V.Slim, Lee Andrews and the Hearts, The Monotones, Jimmy McCracklin, The Kents, The Students, Eddie Fontaine, Johnny Fuller, Billy :The Kid: Emerson, The Falcons, The Sensations, Billy Stewart, Big Maybelle, The Dells, Jimmy Reed and hundreds of other pioneering blues and rock and roll performers.

Subject: RE: Chess Records
From: Night Owl
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 01:40 AM

Geeze, katlaughing, that's impressive....I have an old collection of "Chess" 45's...will add your history to it. Night Owl

Subject: RE: Chess Records
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 02:31 AM

Thanks, Night Owl, but it was pure dumb luck, just went to Yahoo and typed in "chess records" and voila!

Subject: RE: Chess Records
From: Night Owl
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 02:42 AM

......and all that typing was done (without typos) by.......???? so say your welcome! (umm..NOI, JK, TIC!!) Night Owl

Subject: RE: Chess Records
From: Brian Hoskin
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 03:13 AM

You might try getting hold of a copy of John Collis's book 'The Story of Chess Records', published by Bloomsbury.

Brian

Subject: RE: Chess Records
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 03:35 AM

Night Owl: I jes cuts'em and pastes'em!***BG***

Subject: RE: Chess Records
From: Night Owl
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 03:50 AM

OK...ok...ok....you don't have to say your welcome....(Cyberklutz#3)

Subject: RE: Chess Records
From: Wolfgang
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 05:42 AM

and I thought it was one more of the no-music-involved threads asking for information on the quickest win ever with the black pieces and so on which only with post 17 turns into a music thread when someone posts a chess song.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Chess Records
From:
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 09:19 AM

My first recollection of Chess Records, Specialty, Black & White etc. goes back to the days when Rhythm & Blues was on the verge of becoming BIG, 1952/3. Around the corner the was a small record store which sold 45s used from juke-boxes. All of these records of people I had never heard of on labels I had never heard of. Alas, I ignored them; my schoolmate Bernie, however, apparently did not...he went on to lead a blues band (and does today), host a blues radio show, and was instrumental in a local annual blues festival. It would be another six or seven years before folk music and blues became a part of my life.--John

Subject: RE: Chess Records
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 11:28 AM

Here is the Chess Web site:

www.universalcanada.com/warp10/universe/main.htm

As Katlaughing mentioned, they started a re-issue program to coincide with their 50th anniversary. I have the Little Walter and John Lee Hooker 50th anniversary CD's and I am awaiting the Sonny Boy Williamson one. Based on the excellent quality of the first two that I have received I am actively pursuing collecting a lot more of the 50th anniversary series. The Little Walter is especially good.

Steve Latimer

Subject: RE: Chess Records
From: Tom Kilpatrick
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 03:31 PM

Just wanted to thank everyone for their responses so far. This gives me a real good start. Maybe if I do enough research I'll write a book (HA HA HA)on the Chicago Music scene. Thanks again.

Subject: RE: Chess Records
From: Allan C.
Date: 09 Apr 99 - 04:13 PM

On the June 18th Mississippi Crossroads Radio Show (found here at the Mudcat) you can listen to a tour of the old Chess studio.