Tonight I'll be playing all music from Chess Records including
Chess Records was an American record
company, founded in 1950 in Chicago and specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. Over time it expanded into soul music and gospel music
early rock and roll, released on the Chess, Checker, Argo,
and Cadet
labels.
Chess Records was founded and run by Jewish immigrant brothers from Poland, Leonard and Phil Chess. The company produced and released many singles and albums regarded as central to the rock music canon.
Chess was based on the south side of Chicago immortalized by The Rolling Stones recorded there during the group's first U.S. tour in 1964. The Stones recorded at Chess Studios on two more occasions. The building is now the home of Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation. In the mid-1960s, Chess relocated to a much larger building, at 320 E. 21st Street, the label's final Chicago home.
Chess Records was the subject of two films produced in 2008, Cadillac Records and Who Do You Love? . In addition to the Chess brothers, both films feature portrayals of or characters based of Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf and Etta James. I'll be playing all those artists on "LA Sounds" tonight.
