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Bryce Roberson



James Bryce Roberson | Kalamazoo Public Libraries | tc1121

Jazz and Blues guitarist, bassist, session musician and recording engineer James Bryce Roberson, who was born in Allen, Oklahoma, on 8 December 1932, played a pivotal behind the scenes role in creating the Chess and Chicago R&B sound during the 1950s and 1960s. Before joining Chess he had spent a decade touring with B B King, Dinah Washington, Nancy Wilson and T-Bone Walker. He engineered recordings at both Universal Recording Studios and at Ter-Mar Studios. He was a core member of the Chess rhythm musicians playing on hundreds of sessions including Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. He was brought in to play guitar for Rotary Connection. Marshall Chess called him "the best white guitarist of his time. He relocated to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he set up Sound Machine Studios, while continuing to tour. He retired to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he died after a series of strokes on 6 July 1993.

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