Chess Records
Chess Records, founded 1950: jazz artists and albums on the label.
Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll, and jazz and comedy recordings, released on Chess and its subsidiary labels Checker and Argo/Cadet. The Chess catalogue is owned by Universal Music Group and managed by Geffen Records and Universal Music Enterprises. Established and run by two Jewish immigrant brothers from what was then Poland, Leonard and Phil Chess, the company produced and released many singles and albums regarded as central to the rock music canon. The musician and critic Cub Koda described Chess as "America's greatest blues label". Chess was based at several locations on the south side of Chicago, initially at 4750 South Cottage Grove Ave. The most famous was 2120 S.
Read the full article on Wikipedia ↗ · From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Artists on Chess Records
Etta James
1938–2012 · American singer (1938–2012)
Benny Goodman
1909–1986 · American jazz clarinetist and bandleader (1909–1986)
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
1935–1977 · American musician (1935-1977)
Gene Ammons
1925–1974 · American tenor saxophonist (1925–1974)
Lucky Thompson
1924–2005 · American jazz saxophonist (1924–2005)
The Crew-Cuts
1952– · Canadian pop band
Billy Stewart
1937–1970 · American singer (1937–1970)
Al Hibbler
1915–2001 · American baritone vocalist (1915-2001)
Eddie Bo
1930–2009 · New Orleans R&B musician (1930-2009)
Valaida Snow
1902–1956 · American musician (1904-1956)
Eddie South
1904–1962 · American musician (1904–1962)
James Crawford
1934–2012 · New Orleans R&B musician (1934-2012)
Leo Parker
1925–1962 · American musician (1925–1962)
Tab Smith
1909–1971 · American saxophonist (1909–1971)
Jack McVea
1914–2000 · American musician (1914–2000)
Bobby Bryant
1934–1998 · American trumpeter (1934-1998)
Label profile
For bootlegs/unofficial releases, see . Also appears as "Chess Record Corp." on earliest releases and as "Chess Records" from 1967/68.
Based in Chicago, Illinois, Chess was one of the premier blues labels of the 1950s and 60s, also releasing R&B, soul, jazz, gospel and rock. They released records by every major blues artist in Chicago, including John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Little Walter and many others.
Brothers Leonard Chess and Phil Chess emigrated from Poland to the United States in 1928. In the 1940s they owned the upscale Macomba nightclub in Chicago's Southside neighborhood and several other bars. Blues artists performed regularly at The Macomba, and the Chess brothers realized they were not being recorded. They bought in to the small R&B label The Aristocrat Of Records in 1947, then bought out the remaining partners in 1949 and changed the name to Chess in 1950. The label sold to General Recorded Tape (GRT) in January 1969 for $6.5 million, and was sold again to All Platinum Record Group in 1975. Leonard Chess died on October 16th, 1969.
Company: Chess Producing Corp. or sometimes Chess Records
Associated to the publ
Profile from Discogs (CC0)