VA - Chicago Bound: Chess Blues, R&B and Rock 'N' Roll (2014)

Compiled by R&B authority Lois Wilson, who writes for for Mojo and Record Collector, Chicago Bound is a wide-ranging 3CD set, capturing many of the finest moments of the legendary Chess Records in its heyday from the late Forties to the early Sixties. With 86 tracks, there is plenty of opportunity to celebrate the prime blues, R&B and rock n roll released on Chess and its associated labels Checker and Argo, as well as its predecessor Aristocrat. In 1928, the brothers Leonard and Phil Chez, both children, made the journey with their mother and sister from Poland to the United States, joining their father in Chicago. He had changed his name to the more American sounding Chess and they adopted it. Some years later, Phil went off to serve in the army in World War II, while Leonard, ineligible for service, opened a string of night clubs, one of which played host to a wealth of hugely talented blues and jazz singers, many of whom were struggling to be heard on record. Leonard saw an opportunity. He joined forces in 1947 with a wife and husband outfit who had founded Chicago s Aristocrat Records label to release blues, jazz and R&B, and two years later he and his brother took it over, renaming it Chess in 1950. At the height of its power, the company, at 2120 South Michigan Avenue, was unrivalled; the cornerstone of blues with a roster that included Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter, it also birthed rock n roll with Jackie Brenston, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry and had a hand in soul music s big bang too with Etta James, the first queen of soul. Chess was also responsible for igniting the British blues and beat boom, its catalogue providing the foundation on which The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Pretty Things, The Who, The Yardbirds et al built their own sound. As well as the well-known Chess names listed above, Chicago Bound includes tracks by less celebrated artists including Willie Mabon, Betty James, Bobby Saxton, John Brim, Arbee Stidham and Blue Smitty, to present a rounded picture of the wealth of material released on the legendary label.