Skip to main content

About

 

 


(l to r) Phil Chess with Muddy Waters, Little Walter and Bo Diddley | Getty Images | tc 603







About

Back in the 1960s my local record shop, which was in a basement, got flooded, and some of the LPs in stock got a bit damp – so I managed to get a copy of an LP on the legendary Chess label, “Pieces of Chess”, which had been lovingly curated by the late Mike Raven, for just ten bob. The cover had dried out and the record inside the sleeve was untouched. That was the start of my Chess Records collection – I am still adding to it.

The Chess label ran from the 1940s to the 1980s and put out hundreds of classic blues, jazz, jump, rhythm and blues, soul, gospel and rock records. Some of them were produced by Chess themselves; some of them were leased and some of them were picked up from other smaller local companies for national and international distribution. The contribution to music made by Chess Records is enormous. Huge, too, is the list of musicians and artistes who took part in the recording sessions for the Chess, Checker, Cadet, Argo and other labels.

Aristocrat Records of Chicago was founded in April 1947 by Charles and Evelyn Aron, Fred and Mildred Brount and Art Spiegel. Leonard Chess was already running a night club and became involved in Aristocrat Records soon after its founding. Leonard and Phil Chess acquired Aristocrat Records completely in 1949 and renamed the company Chess in 1950. In 1969 they sold Chess Records to General Records and Tapes for $6.5 million and some stock in GRT. GRT sold the Chess masters to raise money to All Platinum Records and Polygram Records. In 1979 GRT itself was declared bankrupt. It is thought some 250,000 Chess records were discovered at the Chess offices, were deemed to be of no interest, and were dumped.

The Chess catalogue was purchased by Universal Music Group in 1986.

In 2005 and again in 2015 a limited number of releases were pressed on vinyl 7″ to mark anniversaries of Chess Records. It has also emerged that many of the Chess masters were destroyed in a fire on 1st June 2008 at the Universal storage facility in California.

New York Times - The Day The Music Burned

Universal Chess Records

About Chess Records 80 

Our Facebook page

This updated site has been created to celebrate 80 years since the Chess Brothers opened their first night club in Chicago and became promoters of rhythm and blues and other forms of music, before investing in Aristocrat Records, which they renamed as Chess when they completed their takeover of Aristocrat in 1950.

Our original site, Chess Treasures, was started in 2013 and as at 1 August 2024 there were 2,444 posts. I no longer have access to the old site, which is no longer maintained.

There is still some information missing in our artists’ details. Putting this web site together is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle which is so large it creeps out of the front door and down the street; there is no picture to help you put it together, and most of the pieces are buried and could turn up anywhere.

One of the saddest aspects of this project has been the realisation that so many recording artistes who recorded for or who were issued on Chess labels have sunk into obscurity and there is no known information about them. If you can help with missing information, for instance if you are related to those missing people, please get in touch by leaving a comment.

There remains a large body of interest in these old recordings, which over the years have been extensively re-pressed and re-mastered, many of them finding their way onto compact disc and download media.

Since starting this amazing jigsaw of a web site, and learning so much about recording, music and musicians in the process, I have made many friends among its readers, many of whom have helped with information and priceless memories.

Thanks to all the individuals and record companies who have uploaded their record collections and master copies to YouTube.

Thankyou so much!

Behind this web site there is a relational database with more than 2,450 individual data records, which means the site can be searched for what you want. 

Over time records will be transferred from the old site to this site.


The Chess recording studio in Chicago | Joseph | 14608







Recounting is under way, as the whole site is checked. 

A-C:  Total: 261    Found: 214    Not Found: 47

I have tried to find information about all of the people who recorded, or were involved with, Chess Records of Chicago.

Due to the passage of time and lack of information on obscure artists, it is unlikely that I will ever find them all, which is a huge shame. Do you have any information about any of the missing people? Please help. 

Paul 

110 | 5 July 2026


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chuck Berry

  Chuck Berry | Rolling Stone | tc036 Charles Edward Anderson “Chuck” Berry was born on October 18, 1926 in St Louis, Missouri.,  He traveled to Chicago in May 1955, and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. The resulting record of "Maybelline", based on the country song "Ida Red", sold over one million copies and set a high standard – a combination of amazing guitar playing, developing the playing style of T Bone Walker, which inspired whole generations of musicians, and composing articulate descriptive songs. He became known as "The father of rock and roll". His lyrics concentrated on teenage life and consumerism.  Berry has had a number of spells in prison for a variety of offences including offences against the Mann Act and of tax evasion. Having been ripped off, Berry insisted on being paid cash in a paper bag which he transferred to his attache case. Although mainly associated with Chess Records, Berry signed with...
Post a Comment
Read more

Anthony La Mont

  Lamont Dozier | Uncredited photographer/Creative and Dreams | tc494 Lamont Herbert Dozier (La Mont Anthony) is a well known record producer, song writer and singer.  He is best known as a member of the Holland-Dozier-Holland producing and writing team who were behind big successes for The Supremes and The Four Tops. He co-wrote and produced 14 US Billboard number 1 hits and 4 UK number one hits. Mr Dozier was born in Detroit, Michigan on 16 June 1941 and began singing for some small Detroit labels with groups including The Romeos before joining up with Brian and Eddie Holland in 1962. Their first successes for Motown were for Martha and The Vandellas. He split with the Hollands in 1972 to pursue a solo career.  The recording on CheckMate was made around 1961. Mr Dozier and the Holland brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Mr Dozier moved to California and has spent some time teaching music. He was a Trustee of NARAS and chaired its Advocacy...
Post a Comment
Read more

Arthur and James Booker

  James Booker | NPR | tc358 Arthur and Booker are thought to be Arthur Booker and James Booker, who were not actually related. Originally the session was to have featured Art Neville but Arthur Booker substituted for him. The recording was made in New Orleans. Pianist, multi instrumentalist and singer James Carroll Booker III, known as "The piano prince of New Orleans",  was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on December 17, 1939. He began playing piano age six, was a child prodigy and was discovered by talent scout Paul Gayten, was injured by an ambulance in a traffic accident when he was nine,  recorded a handful of songs for Chess in his teens, and is associated with Lloyd Price and Fats Domino. He toured Europe extensively in the 1970s. J ames Booker died in New Orleans, Louisiana, from renal failure following alcohol and drug use, on November 8, 1983.   A feature length documentary film, Bayou Maharajah: The Tragic Genius of James Booker, was made in 2013. I have ...
Post a Comment
Read more