Chess Records

A Complete Introduction To Chess packshot

When looking at the list of Chess recordings contained in this box set I'm still amazed at how many great records and great artists were recorded, produced, released and promoted by my family. Chess Records was one of if not the most important record label of all time. Chess helped shape the sound of Rock and Roll as well as influencing the sound of all popular music. This set clearly represents some of the best music to come out on the Chess labels.

- Marshall Chess - 2010

Buy Now

There are only a handful of record labels that can claim to have changed the course of popular music. Chess Records is one of them. Responsible for signing and developing some of the greatest names in music, such as Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Howlin' Wolf, Chess provided the blueprint for The Beatles and The Rolling Stones helping set the fundamental foundation stone for pop as we know it.

Not only did Chess lay the template for rock'n'roll, releasing what is widely considered to be the first ever rock'n'roll record, 1951's 'Rocket 88' by Jackie Brenston they are also responsible for kick-starting the British blues and beat boom the following decade. For without Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and others there would be no Rolling Stones, who were so in awe of the label and its stars that they named themselves after the Muddy Waters tune of the same name and took a pilgrimage to the Chess recording studios to record their 'Five By Five' EP and pay homage to the bluesmen that had inspired their group's early sound.

prev next

Free music - A Complete Introduction To Chess (International Version)

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is commonly referred to as The Queen of Soul.

Although renowned for her soul recordings, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B and gospel music. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Franklin No. 1 on its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time.

Aretha is one of the most honored artists by the Grammy Awards, with 18 competitive Grammys to date, and two honorary Grammys. She has scored a total of 20 No. 1 singles on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart, one of which also became her first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100: "Respect" (1967). "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (1987), a duet with George Michael, became her second No. 1 on the latter chart. Since 1961, Franklin has scored a total of 45 "Top 40" hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She also has the most million-selling singles of any female artist with 14. Between 1967 and 1982 Aretha had 10 #1 R&B albums - more than any other female artist.

Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley (December 30, 1928 - June 2, 2008) was the stage name for Ellas Otha Bates, an American rock and roll vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, and inventor.

He was known as "The Originator" because of his key role in the transition from the blues to rock & roll, influencing a host of legendary acts including Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, The Clash,The Yardbirds, and Eric Clapton.

He introduced more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard-edged guitar sound on a wide-ranging catalog of songs. Accordingly, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and a Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He was known in particular for his technical innovations, including his trademark rectangular guitar.

Muddy Waters

McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 - April 30, 1983), known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered "the Father of blues".

A major inspiration for the British blues explosion in the 1960s, Muddy was ranked #17 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

His influence is tremendous, over a variety of music genres: blues, rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, hard rock, folk, jazz, and country. He also helped Chuck Berry get his first record contract. The Rolling Stones named themselves after his 1950 song "Rollin' Stone", (also known as "Catfish Blues", which Jimi Hendrix covered as well). Hendrix recalled "the first guitar player I was aware of was Muddy Waters. I first heard him as a little boy and it scared me to death".

Howlin' Wolf

Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 - January 10, 1976), better known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player.

With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match Howlin' Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits"

A number of songs written or popularized by Burnett - such as "Smokestack Lightnin'", "Back Door Man", "Killing Floor" and "Spoonful" - have become blues and blues rock standards.

At 6 feet, 6 inches (198 cm) and close to 300 pounds (136 kg), he was an imposing presence with one of the loudest and most memorable voices of all the "classic" 1950s Chicago blues singers.

Chuck Berry

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music.

With songs such as "Maybelline" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), and "My Ding-a-Ling" (1972). Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.

Born into a middle class family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School.

Etta James

Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins; January 25, 1938) is an American blues, soul, R&B, rock & roll, gospel and jazz singer and songwriter.

James is the winner of four Grammys and seventeen Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer.

She is best known for performing "At Last", which has been featured in movies, television shows, commercials, and web-streaming.

In 1960, James signed a recording contract with Chess Records, signing with their subsidiary label, Argo Records (she later also recorded for their other subsidiary label, Cadet). James began her relationship with the label with five major hits, first with a pair of duets with singer, Harvey Fuqua; "If I Can't Have You" and "Spoonful".

Solomon Burke

Solomon Burke (March 21, 1940 - October 10, 2010) was an American singer/songwriter.

During the half-century that he performed, he drew from his roots: gospel, soul, and blues, as well as developing his own style at a time when R&B, and rock were still in their infancy. In 2001, Burke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a performer. His album Don't Give Up on Me won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 45th Grammy Awards in 2003.

Solomon Burke was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Some sources claim that he was born in 1936, others say 1938, but in a 2002 interview with Philadelphia Weekly Burke stated that he was born in 1940. He began his adult life as a preacher in Philadelphia, and soon moved on to hosting a gospel radio show. He met fellow preacher Martin Luther King, Jr. several times. Artistically, Burke was influenced by the music of the church, as well as by Little Richard.

Laura Lee

Lee was born in Chicago, but as a child relocated to Detroit with her mother.

After a few years, she was adopted by Rev. E. Allan Rundless, who had previously been a member of the Soul Stirrers, and his wife Ernestine, who led a gospel group, The Meditation Singers. Featuring Della Reese, they were the first Detroit gospel group to perform with instrumental backing. The group recorded on the Specialty label in the mid 1950s, appeared on the LP Della Reese Presents The Meditation Singers in 1958, and in the early 1960s recorded for Checker Records.

As Laura Lee Rundless, she replaced Reese in The Meditation Singers in 1956, and over the next few years toured widely around the country. In 1965, as Laura Lee, she launched her secular solo career as an R&B singer in clubs in Detroit, although she also continued to record occasionally with The Meditation Singers. She first recorded solo for Ric-Tic Records in 1966, with "To Win Your Heart".

Little Walter

Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 - February 15, 1968), was an American blues harmonica player whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix for innovation and impact on succeeding generations.

His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners' expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. Little Walter's body of work earned him a spot in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 making him the only artist ever to be inducted specifically for his work as a harmonica player.

His legacy has been enormous: he is widely credited by blues historians as the artist primarily responsible for establishing the standard vocabulary for modern blues and blues rock harmonica players.