Chess Records in Retrospect
 

Chess Records began small, and didn't have their own recording studios until after they had achieved quite a lot of success, they  moved into 2120 around 1955.  Lots of great music was recorded there but many of the early classics were either recorded at a large hired studio called Universal, or they were acquired from other sources.

2120 is now designated a Chicago Landmarkand internationally known as the site of some of the world's most influential Blues and Rock n' Roll music recordings, including Johnny B Goode, Rescue Me and Red Rooster.  2120 South Michigan Avenue was built in 1911 and remodelled for Chess in 1956-57. The original Architect was Horatio Wilson. The building was officially designated a Chicago Landmark on May 16 1990.

If you had the opportunity to visit the old Chess Studios today, the permanent home of the Blues Heaven Foundation, a dedicated blues connoisseur would get the chills walking around the buildings.  If you were lucky you could go on a private tour with a funny guy named AJ.  This would include visiting the studios where so much of the music we love was created. While walking the halls, you could imagine hearing Muddy singing I Just Want To Make Love To You over the sound system, upstairs in the studio belting it out over the mike while Willie played the bass. If only one could have been a fly on the wall!  You might view a film that tells the history of Chess and the building's renaissance.  If you were really lucky, AJ may even pull out Albert King's guitar!

Phil and Leonard Chess initiated their recording company in 1947. The brothers were Polish immigrants who came to Chicago in 1928,  running bars and a clubs featuring black popular singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Eckstine.Their largest establishment was a nightclub called the Macomba. In 1947 they entered into a partnership with Charles and Evelyn Aron, together they set up the Aristocrat label to record jump blues and jazz, the precursor of R & B.  During 1947 pianist Sunnyland Slim talked the Chess brothers into a recording session, Sunnyland took his friend and colleague along, Muddy Waters. 

Chess, a small company, catered to black listeners and in particular the expanding urban audience. This new audience was drawn to cities such as Chicago as there was an abundance of factory jobs and it was the twilight of the sharecropping system in the South. African-Americans left the Delta in droves during and after World War Two, they brought their institutions, traditions and culture with them, including blues music.  Chess was there to capture the changes. First the music that sounded like home, then the music that sounded like the city, and ultimately the music that sounded like nothing else.

It was the Chess brothers' partner Evelyn who wanted to sign Muddy Waters, but Leonard had to be convinced as he was very superstitious.  Leonard didn't like to record on Fridays and never on the thirteenth, but the seventh and eleventh were OK. Incidentally he played the bass drum on Muddy's She Moves Me because their drummer wanted to play a turnaround where there wasn't one.  It is said that the Chess brothers liked to get the artists riled up because they felt it produced better performances.

Although the label finally folded in the 1970s, Chess and its sister labels Cadet and Checker, provided a living chronicle of three decades of black music that included many great artists and great songs.

The Blues Heaven Foundation was started by Willie Dixon, the Chess house songwriter and producer who was the most important behind-the-scenes figure in blues history. His song catalogue includes I Just Want to Make Love to You, Back Door Man, I'm Ready, Wang Dang Doodle, Little Red Rooster and many more.  His songs were recorded amongst others, by such greats as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Lou Rawls, Hank Williams Jr, the Grateful Dead, Steve Miller, Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones.  The notoriety of Chess Records inspired other musicians, including the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds, to record at Chess in the mid-1960s.

 

The Blues Heaven Foundation now resides in the old Chess Studios, and is managed and run by the Executive Director and Vice President, the very capable Shirli Dixon, Willie's daughter, who  personifies a deep commitment to the music and to the people who created it;  what's more she can also sing!

To mark the label's fiftieth anniversary last year, MCA, who now own the Chess catalogue put together a wide-ranging series which was released throughout 1997.

A fine way to close off this collection is with Chess Blues Guitar: Two Decades of Killer Fretwork. Even if you don't play and never intend to, this recording is an essential purchase.
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