I recently stumbled across a box set of singles recorded for Chess Records during the Chicago record label’s history between 1947 and 1975. Of course, the real golden era of Chess was the mid-1950s through the early 1960s, when former rural blues kings like Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters turned it up and went electric.
There are times I get stagnant in my music listening; the new bands just don’t excite me somedays. It’s those times when I turn back to the basics, like the Chess stuff. Funny, a friend of mine just moved into a condo in the South Loop that’s in a building that once housed Chess’s record plant. Hell, if you’re gonna live somewhere…
Anyway, back to business. The label, founded by Polish immigrants Leonard and Phil Chess, didn’t just record blues and early rock ‘n’ roll, they recorded doo-wop and soul, too. Have a few samples, kids. They’re tasty.
MP3 | BBC interview with Marshall Chess (son of Leonard, nephew of Phil)
MP3 | Muddy Waters - Rollin’ Stone (1950)
MP3 | Bobby Charles - See You Later Alligator (1955)
MP3 | Dale Hawkins - Susie Q (1956)
MP3 | J.B. Lenoir - Mama Talk To Your Daughter (1954)
MP3 | Albert King - I Won’t Be Hanging Around (1960)
Tags: Chess Records, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, blues, doo-wop, Moonglows, Dale Hawkins, Albert King, Bobby Charles, J.B. Lenoir
