The Chess Label Part II (1953-1955)

Revision note. We are slowly continuing our overhaul of the Chess pages. Most recently we have added photos of Lowell Fulson, Paul Gayten, Buddy Griffin, and Claudia Swann.

In 1953, the Chess brothers continued to make their sessions at Universal Recording in Chicago. After moving from 4858 South Cottage Grove to 4750, Leonard and Phil Chess would open a small studio in the back of the new offices. Announced in a Billboard article on June 19, 1954, this was basically used for demos. Any recordings made there and then released would have had to be done on the sly, as the studo eventually came up on the radar screen at Local 208 of the Musicians Union. And the sound quality fell well short of Universal's standards.

From some point in January through early May 1953, everything that Chess laid down at Universal was placed in the U4300 series. This had originally been opened in the ledger for Al Benson's freelance sessions. Over these four months, the matrix numbers ran from 4318 up through 4404; 4405 through 4410 were picked up in November and December 1953, and the remaining items, through 4418, were afterthoughts in 1954. There is no evidence that the U4300s past U4317 (with a few exceptions that were released on Benson's own Parrot label) involved performers under contract to him. It of course possible that Benson supervised some sessions with artists who were under contract to Chess. In any event, the customary U7000 series was interrupted during this period.

The U4300 series has never, to our knowledge, been systematically charted before. Many items with U4300 matrix numbers are missing from Michel Ruppli's Chess discography.

Overall, the company recorded 173 new tracks in Chicago (the total includes documented alternate takes but not gaps in the matrix series that may or may or not have been filled). For the very first time, the Chess brothers recorded more new material than Aristocrat had laid down in 1947. They had finally scored enough hits to feel comfortable making the investment.

Probably in January, the Chess brothers recorded pop singles on two White bandleaders, both active in Chicago at the time. Buddy Moreno had led a big band until 1950; he had subsequently been compelled to downsize his group, but continued to work regularly in Chicago nightspots. Moreno was recorded with a studio orchestra consisting of 2 clarinets and a bass clarinet (doubling two alto saxes and a tenor), 4 violins, guitar, bass, and drums. The illusion of a Hollywood big band is created without a brass section... or a commensurate payroll. Moreno has a pleasant vocal quality, and the clarinetists are good, but instead of swinging, the ork is deliberately producing the sappy rhythm that would become commonplace on Seymour Schwartz's Heartbeat label a few years later.

Tommy Nichols was also active in the Loop and on the North Side during this period; we have yet to hear his sides, so can say nothing about the accompaniment. The Moreno and Nichols sessions, which may well have been conjoined, were given matrix numbers in the U7000 series, which then went on hiatus for four months. In fact, the first master from May had to be given the number U7501A because U7501 had, oops, already been allocated to one of Nichols' entries.

Neither Moreno nor Nichols sold enough records to motivate a follow-up from the company, which would not really get involved in White pop recordings again until the launch of the Marterry label at the end of 1955.

What may actually have been the first session of the new year (we aren't quite sure because of the switch from the U7000 series to the U4300s) featured Little Walter, now firmly ensconced as the first hitmaker for Checker. We had previously placed matrix numbers 4318 through 4320 in December 1952, but Scott Dirks informs us that the original session log filled out by Bill Putnam at Universal Recording reads "January '53." Our thanks to Dirks for providing take numbers and the correct track identification for 4319. No title for 4318 was used on the session tapes, but Putnam wrote down "fast boogie" in the log; 4319 was left completely untitled until the track was issued in the early 1990s ("Don't Need No Horse" is a rather dismissive reference to the clop, clop being produced by the Fred Below). Amazingly, nothing from the session was released. Perhaps the Chess brothers weren't interested in putting out a remake of Charles Brown's "Driftin'"—meanwhile, less than six months after "Juke" had become a hit, Walter and his band were cranking out top-quality instrumentals way too fast to put them all out on singles.

In a session usually vaguely attributed to the month of January, Muddy Waters returned to the studio for another four sides. Junior Wells had been drafted into the army, and his replacement, for a time, was Big" Walter Horton. Horton's presence argues for January 9, when the company is known to have recorded him with Gus Jenkins. Although Horton played brilliantly on the session, and would do the same on some others for the company, this particular experiment would not be repeated. The band was rounded out with Jimmy Rogers on second guitar and an an assertive drummer, whose cymbal crashes dominate "She's All Right." Willie Nix, also known to have been on hand for the Jenkins outing, is the likely candidate. From Muddy's next session until May 1955 (when Junior Wells cut a single number with him), all of his studio outings would be scheduled when Little Water was in town and available. "She's All Right" (a breathless jump that picks up where the last verse of "Still A Fool" left off) and "Sad, Sad Day" were quickly paired on Chess 1537. "My Life Is Ruined," a lilting slow blues that made a considerable impact when finally released in the 1960s, was left in the can, as was the mournful "Flood."

A sign of improved cash flow was the Chess brothers' increased willingness to leave sides unissued. This was already apparent with the Little Walter session that started off the year. And just two tracks have ever been released from the get-together on January 9 that featured guitarist Honeyboy Edwards and pianist Gus Jenkins: "Drop Down Mama" (which had to wait 17 years) and "Eight Ball" (which had to wait a couple more). While "Drop Down Mama" is a respectable performance, and the band (just Edwards' guitar, Jenkins' piano, plus probably Willie Nix on drums) stays together throughout, there is a collective lurch from barline to barline, gently informing the listener that everyone on the session was drunk. It is unlikely that anything will ever happen with the other tracks; indeed, the last two Edwards tracks are said to be incomplete. On his own four sides, Jenkins was joined by Nix and "Big" Walter Horton on harmonica, to little avail.

Both Edwards and Jenkins would get better results in the future.

On January 17, the great bluesman Elmore James and his working band of J. T. Brown (tenor sax), Johnny Jones (piano), Ransom Knowling (bass), and Odie Payne Jr. (drums) paid a visit to Universal Recording. James and the Broomdusters, as they were usually billed, had been together since June 1952. They had recorded in Bill Putnam's studio in November 1952 and would be back there in April and August 1953, recording on those occasions for various of the Bihari brothers' labels, such as Meteor and Flair. Since Elmore James was under contract to Joe Bihari, the outing for the Chess brothers was, well, irregular. But no effort was made to hide Elmore's identity when Checker 777 was released in July. Apparently, Leonard Chess had resolved to steal the bluesman, whose first releases had had a major impact on the market, away from the Bihari brothers. Lester Bihari went so far as to accuse him of opening Lester's mail at Plastic Products, the Memphis pressing plant that Chess, Sun, RPM/Flair/Modern, and Meteor all used.

Elmore James was born in Richland, Mississippi, on January 27, 1918, the son of a farmhand named Leola Brooks. He began playing the guitar as a boy. He met Robert Johnson and assimilated some of Johnson's repertoire while working juke joints during his teens. Around 1940 he began working with harmonica player Aleck Miller, who was later billed as Sonny Boy Williamson. After service in the Naval Reserve from 1943 to 1945, James returned to Mississippi where he was active on the local musical scene. He was slowed, however, by a serious heart condition that was first diagnosed in 1947. In 1951, he began recording as a sideman for Trumpet Records, a label based in Jackson, and in August of that year, he was prevailed on to cut a version of "Dust My Broom" at the end of a Sonny Boy Williamson session. The only side he ever made for Trumpet became a hit, but when he resumed recording as a leader it was for Joe Bihari's Modern label, in 1952.

Five sides were laid down at the James session. The mood is a little subdued by comparison with some of the sides he made for the Biharis, but all five tracks were strong performances. Two were selected for Checker 777, which was released in the summer. "She Just Won't Do Right" was rather brazenly worded as a sequel to James' Trumpet release. Checker 777 was withdrawn after the Bihari brothers found out about it and threatened legal action, but Chess was in no big hurry to yank it and single is far from the rarest that Checker put out. The rest of the titles stayed in the vault until they saw release on an LP in 1969. As sometimes happened with Chess reissues during that period, the titles of the two released sides had been forgotten and new ones were substituted.

James stayed with Modern until 1956; faced with declining sales on all of their blues artists except B. B. King, the company dropped him. After a brief affiliation with Mel London's Chief label (1957), he struck up an alliance with Bobby Robinson's Fire, Fury, and Enjoy operation that lasted from 1959 until his death. In 1960, however, he snuck in a second session for the Chess brothers. After his health worsened, Elmore James suffered a fatal heart attack in Chicago on May 24, 1963.

Next up (approximately, anyway, because the U4300 matrix number series was being handled casually; the January 9 sessions don't seem to have been entered into the master book until late February) were two sides by R&B shouter Edna McRaney, who had previously accompanied Jackie Brenston. She was backed by an unidentified combo of tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums.

On February 5, Willie Mabon, now under contract to Chess, returned to Universal Recording for a follow-up to his breakthrough session. On this occasion, the pianist was accompanied by Fred Clark (tenor saxophone), Joseph "Cool Breeze" Bell (bass), and Steve Boswell (drums). "I'm Mad" successfully picked up where "I Don't Know" had left off; it was coupled on Chess 1538 with "Night Latch," a sort-of instrumental on which Mabon wordlessly sang part of the theme. The other two sides had to wait for years to see release. (Cool Breeze, who had been on the scene since the late 1940s, got regular club bookings on the South Side with his own combo, which often featured his own blues singing, but only Mayo Williams, proprietor of a boutique label called Ebony, ever showed an interest in recording them.)

Little Walter and his Jukes made a return visit to Universal in early March of 1953. The company initially slated "Don't Want to Hurt No More" (misrendered as "Don't Want to Hunt"--since it was an instrumental, the misspelling wasn't exactly self-evident) and "Tonight with a Fool" for release, on Checker 767. The instrumental side was one of Walter's best, but "Tonight with a Fool" (a phrase not to be found in the lyrics) was a run-of-the-mill downtempo number, with words apparently made up in the studio. Plans were hastily changed after the record had already been advertised, and the company went instead with Checker 770, "Off the Wall" and "Tell Me Mama," a much snappier piece with catchier lyrics. Both sides of 770 are now considered classics. (The hasty abandonment of 767 caused confusion later, when it showed up for the first time in the midst of a "reissue" series of Checker singles in the mid 1960s.)

On the same day, the Chess brothers brought in John Brim to perform with the Jukes, just as they had previously recorded Floyd Jones at the end of a couple of Muddy Waters sessions. According to Glover, Dirks, and Gaines, Little Walter was responsible for bringing John Brim to the label. Leonard Chess had made noises about signing him, but seemed to be interested only in Grace Brim as a singer. But at Walter's insistence it was John who recorded. Though the group was billed as the "Gary Kings," "Rattlesnake" and "It Was a Dream" were backed by Walter himself, playing as brilliantly as he ever did on his own sides, along with Louis and Dave Myers, guitars, Fred Below, drums, and Willie Dixon, discreetly added on string bass. In fact, "Rattlesnake" makes excellent use of the same rim clopping that Below had previously essayed on "Don't Need No Horse."

Through some terrible luck, Checker 769 was shelved shortly after it was announced. After holding back for months on Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog," Don Robey of Peacock had been prevailed on to release it and was suddenly enjoying a hit with it. He sued Sam Phillips over Rufus Thomas's "Bearcat: The Answer to Hound Dog," also recorded in early March. Sun Records did not withdraw the single; the company just took the subtitle and other references to "Hound Dog" off the label. Leonard and Phil Chess were obviously afraid that Robey would go after "Rattlesnake" as well. So "Rattlesnake" and "It Was a Dream" would unfortunately have to wait till the late 1960s, when they finally came out on a British LP.

Around this same date—the matrix numbers are actually sandwiched in among those from Little Walter's session, though that should not be taken literally—Chess began recording the prolific gospel sermonizer, Elder Beck. Charles Beck was a veteran preacher in the Chuch of God in Christ. He played trumpet, organ, vibes, bongos, and probably several other instruments, and had been recording his "religion in rhythm" since 1930. His most recent record company affiliations had been with Gotham (1948-1950) and King (1950). A title like "Wine Head Willie Put That Bottle Down" told the listener exactly what to expect. The Elder played the organ; his fire and brimstone were otherewise given a sparse accompaniment of electric guitar, piano, bass, and drums. And someone took the hapless Willie's speaking role ("Oh Lord, here come the Reverend"). "I'm Gonna Tell God" is an R and B ballad about all the wrongs someone did to the singer; only the tale's intended audience is different.

The next session was definitely done in coordination with Al Benson. It produced two sides by a vocal group that he had named the Parrots, after his fledgling record label. The group recorded with an unidentified trio of piano, bass, and drums. Over the next couple of months, there would be coordinated releases of a few Benson artists on both Parrot and Checker. But although Parrot 772 is not what we would call superabundant, it is a lot easier to find today than Checker 772.

On March 29, Mitzi Mars cut two sides for Checker. Ms. Mars was a brassy nightclub singer, who often made her appearances wearing a blond wig. She had been on the South Side club scene since at least 1951, when she made an extremely obscure record for JOB with Henry Palmer and his Boys. Unfortunately, the songs she was given to sing on that occasion were incredibly inane, dated Swing numbers. An answer song to "I'm Mad" was much better suited to her, and "Let It Roll" (on which Ms. Mars employs an Eartha Kitt-like device, stretching "roll" out into "rolllll-a"), builds up some considerable momentum. Expert backing was supplied by Sax Mallard (playing tenor sax on this R&B date) and his quartet.

The Chess brothers had recorded Jackie Brenston in Chicago in December 1951, in a session that led to the release of two singles. After Chess 1532 came out in December 1952, with less than gratifying results at the cash register, they decided to give him another try. The session of April 17, 1953, with unidentified tenor sax, piano, guitar, bass, and drums, produced 8 sides—not one of them deemed suitable for release. Only two have ever seen the light of day, on a Japanese LP issued many years later. The four tracks without matrix numbers that we have placed after these 8 ("I Want to See My Baby" through "Jackie's Chewing Gum") are thought by some to have come from the same session—they apparently have the same instrumental lineup—but Fancourt and McGrath's Blues Records 1943-70 places the matrixless items on a different session in Memphis, at an unknown date (presumably in 1951 or 1952). Research still neeed...

During what was shaping up to be a busy month, Danny Overbea returned to the studio. Although his first session had been recorded for Al Benson, he was now under contract to Checker. Overbea recorded four sides with accompaniment, once again, by King Kolax and his band. Checker 774 paired an uptempo blues with a catchy hook and lots of guitar soloing ("40 Cups of Coffee") with a pretty good ballad ("I'll Follow You"), on which Overbea managed to keep his penchant for sappiness in check. Besides Overbea's guitar, the instrumental lineup consisted of King K's trumpet, Dick Davis's tenor sax, plus a rhythm section of Prentice McCarey (piano), "Cowboy" Martin (bass), and "Little Gates" (drums). As typically happened with Overbea's efforts for the company, the other two sides were left in the can.

Next, Arbee Stidham returned to Checker for his third and last session. On this occasion, the quavery-voiced baritone was accompanied by J. T. Brown's tenor sax and Odie Payne's drums, along with a still-uncredited second saxophonist, pianist, and bassist. Two sides were released on Checker 778, which is very difficult to find today. Another two have never been released; some sources, in fact, have credited them to Danny Overbea. We'll go with Stidham here, but it sure seems as though some further vault research is needed.

Like the other older blues performers that the company had been trying out for the last couple of years, Arbee Stidham was not invited back after this session. He next surfaced on Joe Brown and Eli Toscano's Abco label in 1956. In 1957, he was responsible for a strong outing with an Al Smith band that proved to be the swan song for States. As audience interest declined during the late 1950s, there was a three-year period of no recording. When Stidham made his comeback in 1960, with an LP for Bluesville, he had learned how to play the guitar and was subsequently featured on that instrument. Two LP sessions for Folkways (both featuring Memphis Slim) followed in 1960 and 1961. His last session was done for Sam Phillips in Memphis in 1965; nothing was released off it till years later.

Next, if we take the matrix numbers literally, the Southern Stars cut two more gospel numbers, which were released on Chess 1540. Hayes and Laughton opine that these two numbers were recorded back in 1952 and came from the same session which produced Chess 1520. Since Chess purchased at least the former two sides from another company, we have very little to go on here.

A session in May brought Eddie Boyd and his group into the studio for four tracks. "Third Degree," Eddie's tale of woe based on the traditional "got me 'cused of forgin'" theme, and a solid instrumental, "Back Beat," promptly formed Chess 1541. The other two sides were also released, though "Four Leaf Clover," a perky tribute to his girlfriend's good luck properties, would have to wait until 1956. Boyd was backed by Robert "Little Sax" Crowder (on the tenor instrument), Lee Cooper (guitar), and Percy Walker (drums), plus a man who was beginning to be omnipresent—Willie Dixon on bass.

Another memorable session with multiple leaders took place on May 4, when Muddy Waters cut two sides ("Turn the Lamp Down Low" was the title on the original release for what is more commonly known as "Baby Please Don't Go"). By now, Henry "Pot" Strong was Muddy's regular harmonica player, but the company preferred to use Little Walter on the recording sessions. "Turn the Lamp Down Low" was released right away, while "Loving Man" (which should have been titled "Lover Man" in the interest of accuracy) was held for use as a B side, eventually appearing more than a year later.

Jimmy Rogers followed suit with "Act like You Love Me" and "Left Me with a Broken Heart," both promptly released. Then John Brim finished the session with two of his own. Since Little Walter was in the studio on this occasion to accompany Muddy, the melancholy "Lifetime Baby" and the amiably salacious "Ice Cream Man" put Brim in with Walter, Jimmy Rogers (not Eddie Taylor as suggested in some discographies), and Muddy's regular drummer, Elga Edmonds. Willie Dixon, whose string bass is often barely audible on sessions from this period, was definitely on the Jimmy Rogers sides. The Muddy and Rogers sides would soon reach the store shelves. But for some reason (lingering soreness over having to withdraw "Rattlesnake"? a reference to pineapple ice cream that Leonard Chess thought was silly?), the Chess brothers passed on "Ice Cream Man," which had to wait 15 years for release. Brim would make his next session for Al Benson's Parrot label; only after his "Tough Times" was a hit for Benson would he be able to return to Chess and actually get his recordings released.

On May 11, Morris Pejoe returned for a second session, cutting four sides that did not please the Chess brothers. At least that is our reference, because nothing was released from the session at the time, and nothing has been subsequently. (Since Pejoe would later record for United a slow, plaintive blues addressed to a woman with the implausible name of "May Bea," we suspect that it was one of the titles made on this occasion.

At the end of the session, Pejoe's pianist Henry Gray cut two vocal numbers of his own, which eventually saw release in the early 1970s. But Gray was much more highly valued as a session pianist than a leader or a singer. The same thing would happen to him when he cut for Parrot/Blue Lake in 1955.

Next in the matrix number series were two sides that Al Benson recorded on Herbie Fields, a jazz musician who played alto, tenor, and baritone saxes and led a strong sextet. Discographical controversies have raged over these for years, and not all of the questions have been resolved, but Fields and his combo appear to have recorded in April 1953. The first release from the session, pairing two tributes to Johnny Hodges, "Harlem Nocturne" and "Things Ain't What They Used to Be," was a joint project of Checker and Parrot. However, while copies of Parrot 775 (which sold well enough to chart) aren't too hard to find today, we have yet to see a copy of its Doppelgänger on Checker. The second release from the session is not listed here, because it came out in 1954, after Parrot and Checker had gone their separate ways and Benson had adopted a new matrix series.

Two sides by an all-male gospel group called the Silver Stars were done next. Hardly anything is known about them. A group by the same name had recorded one single for Hi-Lo a year earlier, and two singles on the Ebenezer label would be likewise credited. Probably in 1954, a group billed as "Silver Star" recorded at Universal for the tiny Chicago-based C. H. Brewer label; could this have been the same ensemble? Obviously, more research is needed...

They'd tried Memphis Minnie the previous year. Now the Chess brothers turned to two other veteran blues performers who had been regulars with the Melrose combine, and had since been displaced by the company's down home blues acts. During a couple of sessions in May 1953, the company cut four sides by Big Bill Broonzy and no less than ten by Washboard Sam. Just one single was released on each of these artists, however.

By 1953, Big Bill had worked through a major career slump (during which he had labored as a janitor at the University of Iowa, and finally learned how to read) and successfully rebranded himself as a folk singer. In fact, he had already made two tours of Europe in his new capacity, and recorded in Paris.

On his Chess sides, he was accompanied by Lee Cooper (electric guitar), Ernest "Big" Crawford (bass), and Washboard Sam. Despite the sparse instrumentation, Broonzy made an effort to update his sound, aiming "Little City Woman" and "Lonesome" squarely at Chess's down-home clientele. They were, in fact, chosen for release on Chess 1546.

Washboard Sam cut four sides with Big Bill and Lee Cooper (guitars) and Big Crawford (bass). "Shirt Tail" is a tour de force of washboard technique (yes, there is such a thing); Sam's instrument was recorded with unusual fidelity throughout these sessions. The last five sides were made with Memphis Slim (piano), Big Bill, and Big Crawford. Sam's release on Chess 1545 paired an ominous slow blues, "Bright Eyes," with a remake of his hit "Diggin' My Potatoes." Sam was less interested in updating, however; his rendition of Broonzy's "By Myself" (on which Big Bill contributes the backing vocal) still has the old Bluebird beat.

Enough material was laid down to fill an album, and it was with the 1961 release of all but one of the sides on Chess LP 1468 that these tracks really found a home.

The lack of sales on his Chess single made little difference to Big Bill Broonzy, who continued to perform and record extensively until he became ill in 1957. Broonzy died of throat cancer in Chicago, on August 14, 1958. Meanwhile, Washboard Sam would prove less resilient as a performer. His career already in decline, Sam shows noticeable vocal fatigue on such numbers as "Diggin' My Potatoes." He recorded very little after his Chess session. Washboard Sam died in Chicago on November 13, 1966.

A session usually dated June 10 marked the final collaboration with Parrot, which Al Benson was about to take independent. Baritone crooner Browley Guy, a 1936 graduate of Wendell Phillips High School, had recorded for Miracle and States. By 1953 his lugubrious ballad style and the harmonies of his vocal group, the Skyscrapers, had become thoroughly dated; he would not record again. One release from the session appeared on Checker 779. We know of no Parrot 779, but the tapes remained in Al Benson's possession and tracks from the session have appeared on Parrot reissue compilaitons.

The company was sufficiently encouraged by "I'm Glad" to bring Mitzi Mars in for a second session. But none of the four tunes have ever been released. Ms. Mars continued to perform locally for the remainder of the decade; what she did after that is not known.

In June 1953, Willie Mabon laid down two more tunes, including the rollicking "Monday Woman." The band for this occasion included Milt Larkin (trombone), Charles Ferguson (tenor sax), Ted Sturgis (bass), and unidentified musicians on trumpet, alto and baritone sax, and drums. The involvement of Sturgis, who did a lot of session work in New York, and Larkin (who had once led the big band that brought Tom Archia to Chicago, and later led R&B combos that recorded for Sunrise and Savoy) has fueled suspicions that the session was recorded in the Apple while Mabon was on tour. What's more, the composer credit on the flip, "You're a Fool," goes to Joel Turnero, a New York-based producer and arranger. Just over a year later, Turnero would be brought to Chicago to supervise a session by the vocal group the Spaniels for Vee-Jay.

In June, Cleveland DJ Alan Freed brought a second act to the label, a vocal group called the Coronets. The group was formed by second tenor Sam Griggs, who recruited his brother William to sing bass and two former classmates from Thomas Edison High, first tenor Lester Russaw and baritone George Lewis; the group was completed by Charles Carruthers, who sang lead, and guitarist Tony King. The group started hitting the clubs in Cleveland early in 1953; after making a demo of two songs at a Cleveland studio, the Coronets were successful got Freed to listen to it, and he signed the group to a management contract. Unlike the Skyscrapers, the Coronets were a doowop group, and the single that resulted, on Chess 1549, was a solid contribution to the genre.

Accompaniment was provided by Sax Mallard's quartet; the leader lays out on the ballad side, "Nadine," but his tenor sax can be heard to advantage on the jump side, "I'm All Alone." Both songs were in the group's initial (very limited) repertoire, and both appeared on the demo they made for Alan Freed. The Coronets did not see eye-to-eye musically with Mallard and his musicians, and were dissatisfied with the results; however, the conflicts are not apparent to today's listener, and "Nadine" spent 10 weeks on the Billboard R&B charts, peaking at #3.

Freed did not endear himself to the group's members by appropriating composer credits, though the theft was more serious in the case of "Nadine," which was Carruthers' song. "I'm All Alone" had already been filched from B. B. King's "Woke Up This Morning," released in March 1953 when the group was getting started.

The matrix numbering of the company's July sessions is confusing, to say the least: sessions seem to wrap around sessions that wrap around... There may, in fact, have been a trial run of two sides by Little Walter, then a longer session (or sessions) where releasable results were obtained.

To keep things manageable, we'll start with the four sides that Morris Pejoe laid down at some point during July, on his third session for the label. This time, the Chess brothers were pleased with the Louisiana bluesman's output, selecting "Can't Get Along" and "It'll Plumb Get It" for release on Checker 781. Maybe they liked "It'll Plumb Get It" a little too much... Philip Chess claimed to have composed it. The guitarist was accompanied by Henry Gray on piano, plus unidentified musicians playing tenor sax, bass and drums. Checker 781 is a hard-driving blues release, quite listenable today, but it must not have met the sales targets that had been set for it. Pejoe's contract was not extended, and he next showed up recording for United, in a session held in Al Smith's basement.

And while there may be some doubt about the exact recording dates, there is no doubt about the quantity or the quality of Little Walter's contributions. The harmonica-playing leader was absolutely on fire, cutting 11 sides in less than a month. What he really needed was an LP: Walter and the Jukes were turning out instrumentals much faster than the Chess brothers' release schedule could hope to absorb them. The outing produced his next two singles, Checker 780 and 786. But as sharp a vocal number as "Too Late" had to wait two years for release, and some of the instrumentals would spend 40 years in the vaults.

The Reverend Utah Smith, who recorded for Checker in August, was a traveling evangelist known for his slide guitar playing—and for the cardboard wings he wore while walking up and down the aisles in church. The company released a new version of his signature number on Checker 785; he had previously recorded it back in 1944 for Regis. But the sales must not have been there. The rest of his session has never been released.

In early September, Danny Overbea committed another four tunes to tape, with backing from King Kolax and his combo. Two were used on Checker 784.

September 24 was a busy day for the company. Muddy Waters and his band cut two sides for their next single, and Eddie Boyd returned for four tunes. "Tortured Soul" was promptly used on Chess 1552; two other tracks were used on Chess 1573 and 1576; and the fourth side wasn't picked up till 1956 for Chess 1634. Boyd's style hadn't changed in the interim, so record buyers would have no reason to suspect that such material wasn't brand new.

On October 11, the company brought the Coronets back to cut three numbers. A truce must have been declared, because the vocal group once again recorded with Sax Mallard's quartet, which was credited on the label this time around. And Charles Carruthers only had to share composer credit with Alan Freed.

Although both sides of Chess 1553 were strong performances ("Baby's Coming Home" also features Sax Mallard's best recorded tenor sax solo), the record didn't sell. Later in the fall, Carruthers was drafted into the military, and in March 1954 the group would lose Lester Russaw the same way.

Meanwhile, Leonard Chess had shown sporadic interest in the music that was coming out of New Orleans in the 1950s; various independent labels were recording R&B there, but apart from Imperial, which had grabbed up Fats Domino, none of them was really dominating the local scene. During a visit in September 1953, he heard Sugar Boy Crawford and his band rehearsing, and asked them to make an audition tape. He was so satisfied with the results that he had Universal master the two numbers, which appeared on Checker 783. The sonics on "I Don't Know What I'll Do" and "Overboard" are the worst to be heard on any of the company's releases—substantially more rugged than on Sam Phillips' early efforts, worse even than the sides that Howlin' Wolf made in Lester Bihari's establishment—and the horns aren't always in tune either. It's clear, though, that the spirited performance on "Overboard" prompted Leonard Chess's decision. Chess had to compete, not just with Imperial, but with Specialty, Atlantic, and other labels for New Orleans talent, and many of the top artists were signed by others, but the label would score a few successes.

Sugar Boy Crawford was born James Crawford Jr., on October 12, 1934 in New Orleans. He sang in church and learned to play piano and trombone. A band that he formed in high school got a spot on WMRY, where DJ Vernon "Dr. Daddy-O" Winslow became the group's manager. They made their first recordings for Aladdin in November 1952 as the Sha-weez, but Crawford had strained his vocal cords and couldn't sing on the session. The band that auditioned for Checker consisted of Crawford (vocals and piano), Edgar "Big Boy" Miles (trombone), David Lastie (tenor sax), and Eric "Skee-Za" Warner (drums), all of them together since high school.

A studio session followed in November. Besides the vastly improved sonics, Crawford's audition band benefited from the addition of Alfred Bernard (tenor sax), Snooks Eaglin (guitar), Frank Fields (bass), and Sylvester "Slim" Sanders (backing vocals). Of the two sides that resulted,"Jock-o-Mo" became a Mardi Gras classic.

The other two sides featured Slim Saunders (as Chess chose to spell his name) as the lead singer. Born George Sanders Le Blanc, Slim often worked with Crawford's band during this period. He later moved to the West Coast, recording a single for Cavalier in San Francisco (1956), one for Lamp in Los Angeles (1956), and, sometime in the late 1950s, a final single for U-M in Los Angeles. On records, he was variously billed as Sanders Le Blanc, Slim Sanders, and even Skinny Dynamo (when Aladdin reissued his Lamp single).

In November, Willie Mabon returned to Universal Recording, apparently for just three tunes. He was accompanied by an ensemble of Paul King (trumpet), Herbert Robinson (tenor sax), Andrew "Goon" Gardner (alto and baritone saxes), Bill Anderson (bass), and Oliver Coleman (drums). Discographies credit Gardner with playing alto sax only, but he can be heard taking a baritone solo on "I Got to Go." The leader's next single consisted of "I Got to Go" and an instrumental; the sardonically reflective "Life Could Be Miserable" was inexplicably left in the can. The contributions of Oliver Coleman, a veteran Swing drummer who had previously anchored Marl Young's house band for the Sunbeam label, to the success of Willie Mabon's recordings are rarely cited. He would anchor most of Mabon's subsequent recordings for Chess.

The year's final session featured another fading performer, though in this case not a blues singer. Valaida Snow, the "Queen of the Trumpet," had been highly successful in Europe before she got trapped in Denmark during World War II, and ended up in jail during the Nazi occupation of that country; after her return to the United States, she struggled to recapture her old popularity. She was recorded in mid November, during a gig in Chicago; a Red Saunders unit accompanied her.

We continue our practice of marking matrix numbers in bold when we have been able to verify them from the actual releases.

Meanwhile the Chess brothers were relying much less on purchased sessions in 1953—just 18 items that we know of.

Mainly this was because their arrangement with Sam Phillips in Memphis had wound down. The last items they would get from him were 2 sides by the Four Cruisers. According to Nadine Cohodas' book, Leonard Chess and Sam Phillips had a falling out about who was to pay for a promotional tour by Jackie Brenston and other artists. Although this appears to be true, the Chess-Philllips relationship had been subject to multiple strains, and it is not clear what the final one was. In 1953, Sam Phillips was concentrating in earnest on hisSun label. One possible downstream consequence: Chess never got an opportunity to relase anything by Elvis Presley. There's one of the bigger might-have-beens in the history of the music business...

The remaining 14 items that came out of Memphis were by Howlin' Wolf. These have been attributed to Phillips, but the lack of cooperation between Chess and Phillips in the second half of 1953, the rugged recording quality (Phillips was getting better sound by then), and some latter-day comments to Dave Sax indicate that the wayward Bihari brother, Lester, was in fact the responsible party. Bihari's Meteor label was on temporary hiatus at the time, and the less-than-cutting-edge recording equipment in his studio probably needed kicking to get it going, but Chess had not yet persuaded the Wolf to relocate to Chicago, so this was the best deal that could be managed at the time.

Two items seem to have come from Lillian Claiborne, who ran DC Records.

Activity in the Chicago (and, once in a while, New Orleans) studios was slightly less frantic in 1954: the Chess brothers were responsible for 146 known sides (again, we are counting alternates but not blanks in the matrix number series). Nearly everything was still being done at Universal Recording.

However, when the company moved to new quarters at 4750 South Cottage Grove, a back room was set up to record demos. Once in a while, a demo recording would be brought to Universal and the engineers there would have to spruce up the sound as best they could so it could be readied for release. Or so we are told in Nadine Cohodas's book. At one point Leonard Chess was called in front of the Board of Musicians Union Local 208 and asked whether he was doing any recording in the back room; he claimed he wasn't (otherwise he would have had to pay the musicians Union scale for the sessions). We know of at least one demo session that produced material used for release--the Muddy Waters session from November 1954 features notably muffled recording quality that could never have come out of Universal.

Danny Overbea led off the year with his last session to use King Kolax's group. Tenor man Dick Davis had taken ill (he would die later in January from pneumonia) and was replaced by Harold Ousley. This would be the guitarist's last outing with the Kolax; thereafter he was accompanied by studio bands, in all likelihood recruited by Willie Dixon.

Next, on January 7, came a classic session by Muddy Waters and his band.

Willie Mabon and his combo returned to Universal for a session in February. Chess continued its practice of releasing a vocal number ("Late Again") coupled with an instrumental, and leaving additional vocal numbers in the can. On this occasion, Mabon's usual front line of Paul King (trumpet) and Herbert Robinson (tenor sax) was reinforced by the great tenor saxophonist Harold Ashby, who takes a prominent solo on "Late Again." Bill Anderson (bass) and Oliver Coleman (drums) provided the customary rhythm support.

At some point in March, Elder Beck was invited back for a couple more musical sermons. On this occasion, the Elder was accompanied by piano and organ on "When" (just organ on "I'm Walking with Jesus at My Side"), plus guitar and drums. Chess dropped him after his second release, on Chess 1567. He next surfaced two years later, when he made the famous two-part "Rock and Roll Sermon" for Chart (it's hard not to like a sermon against rock and roll when the reverend's electric guitarist keeps breaking into ... rock and roll). Elder Beck's final recordings were made later that same year at a church in Buffalo, New York, where he broadcast a weekly show; they were eventually released on a Folkways LP.

Danny Overbeareturned to the studio in April to record for Checker. From here on out, the guitarist's sessions would no longer feature the King Kolax band that had accompanied him so ably on "Train, Train, Train" and "40 Cups of Coffee." Instead, there was a studio ensemble of tenor and baritone saxes, piano, bass, and drums. No telling who these musicians were, except that Willie Dixon is an obvious suspect on bass. The Chess brothers left a lot of Overbea sides in the can, but on this occasion they used two tracks right away on Checker 796, and a third about a year later on Checker 816. While "Roamin' Man" is a rather gloomy blues effectively sung by Overbea, "You're Mine" features sentimental balladeering in an overripe baritone—not a favorable sign of Overbea's future artistic direction.

The Chess brothers must have been mightily impressed with the commercial potential of Sugar Boy Crawford, because they brought him into the studio again in May 1954, this time for the regulation four tunes. On this solid session, he was accompanied by Alfred Bernard and David Lastie on tenor saxes, Frank Fields on the string bass, and Eric Warner on drums. Two cuts saw release on Checker 795, but the single apparently didn't do as well as either of the first two. It turned out to be Crawford's last for Checker.

Yet the company brought his band in for another session at which at least 7 tunes were cut. On them Crawford's May 1954 lineup was joined by an unidentified trumpet player, Big Boy Miles on trombone, and Snooks Eaglin on electric guitar. Slim Saunders sang duets with Crawford on two of the cuts. And still another 6-tune outing ensued a little later in the year; this was done by the same forces minus Saunders. We can't assign precise dates to either session, in part because no matrix numbers were assigned to any of the items at the time. But in the spring of 1959, consecutive series were allocated in the 9300s and 9400s, as might be done in preparation for mastering and releasing an LP. Still, nothing materialized until well after the brothers had sold the company to GRT; it was only in 1975, after the company had been acquired from GRT by All Platinum, that nearly the entire batch of Sugar Boy Crawford studio sides was packaged into a double LP. Some of the cuts featured sloppy instrumental work or whiny vocalizing from Crawford, who was not cut out to sing ballads. But it remains a mystery why, a year and a half before the company began to released LPs, Checker recorded so much of Crawford's band.

Sugar Boy Crawford next signed with Imperial, cutting four singles with Dave Bartholomew's band at three sessions in 1956 and 1957. Singles followed on Louisiana-based labels like Montel (1959) and Ace (1961). Crawford's career unfortunately came to an end one night in 1963, when his Cadillac was pulled over by a state trooper in Monroe, Louisiana. The Smokey expressed his dissatisfaction with African American men in expensive cars by severely pistol-whipping the driver. Crawford's band had to do a scheduled recording session for Peacock without him. After two years of recovery, Crawford realized that he would never going to be able to play piano professionally again. He became a locksmith and a building engineer, confining his musical activities to singing in church.

As their resources continued to expand, the Chess brothers began to sign established R&B artists from other parts of the country. Jimmy Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas, on August 18, 1921, where he did his first singing in a local Baptist church choir. He served in the Merchant Marine from 1941 to 1943, getting an opportunity to perform in Calcutta with Teddy Weatherford's band. In 1944 he joined Jay McShann's band. In 1947, he recorded four sessions for the Los Angeles-based Supreme label during that year's frantic last quarter; his new rendition of "Ain't Nobody's Business," on his fourth Supreme released, turned into a big hit. Witherspoon left McShann in 1948 to recruit his own combo, recording for Down Beat (1948), Modern (1949-1953), and Federal (1952-1953). His fortunes declined, however, and in 1953 he declared bankruptcy. The Chess brothers saw an opportunity to pick him up as he was rebuilding his career. The urbane blues shouter's first date for Checker took place on June 10. A studio band of Eddie Chamblee (tenor sax), Lafayette Leake (piano), Echford "Lee" Cooper (guitar), Willie Dixon (bass), and Fred Below (drums) accompanied him on four sides, two of them promptly shipped to retailers on Checker 798.

On February 22, the brothers made one isolated field recording—four sides cut in the heart of the Delta, in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Two members of Ike Turner's band (no longer available via Sam Phillips' operation, but happy to cooperate with just about any record company that showed interest) were featured.

Eugene Fox, who usually played tenor sax, had a comically gravelly voice. On "Stay at Home," he turned in a solid blues performance, with backing from Bobby Fields (tenor sax), Dennis Binder (piano), Ike Turner (guitar), Jesse Knight, Jr. (bass), and either Willie Sims or Robert Prindell (drums). The recording is listenable but would never be confused with anything out of Universal; the tenor sax seems to be emerging from somewhere down the hall. The outstanding side was "Sinner's Dream," a melodrama about none other than Eugene Fox's soul being led off to hell. Fox, Binder, and Annie Mae Wilson's voices and the ghostly special effects attributed to one C. V. Veal were accompanied by nothing but Ike Turner's wild, tremulous, distorted electric guitar. Chuck Berry's "Downbound Train" is innocuous by comparison, and the Stone Guest scene in Don Giovanni not quite so rough around the edges.

Fox's discography as front man is slender. Checker 792 was his debut; he would redo "The Dream" the next month as a two-sided production for RPM (a label that would be making much more use of Ike Turner's services in the future). Later that same year, he contributed another three sides in front of Turner's band to a small label called Spark.

Muddy Waters was back for another classic session on September 13. Willie Dixon provided "I'm Ready" as a follow-up to "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Just Make Love to Me."

Sax Kari (who, despite his moniker, also played guitar and piano) was born Isaac Saxton Kari Toombs February 6, 1920, in Chicago. He was raised in New Orleans, and went to high school in Gary, Indiana. In his late teens, he formed his first combo to play the strip joints of Calumet City, Illinois, and during the 1940s toured the South. At one point he inherited the musicians from the famed Carolina Cotton Pickers, and recorded them in New York on Apollo. He also played in a variety of big bands, notably that of Coleman Hawkins, with Tiny Bradshaw, and with the house band at the Rhumboogie in Chicago (probably in the club's waning days, when Floyd Campbell was the leader). In the late 1940s he became one of the Hi De Ho Boys at the Club DeLisa, working alongside Lefty Bates.

During the 1950s Kari was based mainly in Detroit. He recorded there for States (two sessions in 1953). "Daughter (That's Your Red Wagon)," with vocals by Gloria Irving, became a national R&B hit. His second single for States went absolutely nowhere, however, so he moved on to record for a much smaller operation called Great Lakes (1953, also done in Detroit)). When he came to Chess, he was taking another shot at the big time. Lena Gordon's vocal on "Mama Took the Baby" was one of a several "answer records" directed at the infamous "Work with Me Annie" and "Annie Had a Baby" by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters. "Disc Jockey Jamboree" was a novelty with a clever conceit, imagining a hit R&B record being auditioned by an assembly of DJs, an impressive number of whom are referred to by name. Kari chants the vocal, with some help from the other band members. Obviously Kari was familiar with the extracurricular habits of the individuals he was referring to, because in the story he tells Al Benson is the first DJ to sing along with the record. The band on the record features a prominent, jazzy tromboninst, whose name no one seems to remember, Fletcher Barnett on tenor sax, Jimmy somebody on guitar, Johnny Vincent on bass, and an unidentfified but prominent drummer. Kari played piano on the date. In October, Sax Kari quickly followed with another single featuring his Latin alter ego, Ron Rico, but neither was the breakthrough hit that he sought, and the Chess brothers dropped him.

Kari would return to the Chicago scene one last time in 1959, when he cut another sort of "answer record." Like many others during the peirod, this one was inspired by "The Purple People Eater." "Goldie the Green Eyed Octopus" was done for JOB. We got our biographical details from Dan Kochakian's exhaustively detailed story, The Sax Kari Story Part One: "I Should Have Been Born In New Orleans," which appeared in Blues & Rhythm 161 (August 2001).

On September 27, Danny Overbea was back with a studio band. Two of his sides were released on Checker 808. He continued to trend toward pop material. His Latin number, "My Love," is kind of overripe, but much more interesting than the schmaltzy "Toast to Lovers," where the accompaninment includes organ and violins.

With Lowell Fulson, already an established artist with a slew of recordings for other labels, the company established a policy of recording in other cities. The first two Fulson sides were cut in Dallas on September 27, 1954.

October 1954 turned out to be an extremely busy month in the studio. The Moonglows had been recording for Chance, with good artistic results but disappointing sales; now Art Sheridan was winding the label down. DJ Alan Freed, who had been sponsoring the doowop group, contacted Leonard Chess, who needed no arm-twisting to sign them. Chess paid Sheridan $500 for the Moonglows' contract and took them into the studio almost immediately. At this point, the Moonglows consisted of Bobby Lester (lead and tenor), Harvey Fuqua (lead and baritone), Pete Graves (tenor), and Prentiss Barnes (bass). The accompaniment consisted of tenor sax (probably Eddie Chamblee), piano, guitar, bass, and drums. Of the 5 sides at Universal Recording, two were released under the group's name on Chess 1581; another two featured Bobby Lester and Harvey Fuqua and were issued on Checker 806 with a credit to Bobby Lester and the Moonlighters. Getting the group's records on two labels at once was expected to increase the overall rate of play by DJs.

When Chess 1581 came out toward the end of the month, "Sincerely" built up into a national hit, reaching all the way to #1 and staying on the R and B charts for 20 weeks. Its flip, "Tempting," used still-fashionable mambo rhythms. Both "Sincerely" and "Tempting" were credited to Fuqua and Freed, but Freed's actual contribution consisted of an occasional tweak to the lyrics. "Shoo Doo—Be Doo" by the Moonlighters was released in November and garnered strong regional sales.

Willie Mabon was back in October for his third session of the year. This time the company was in a hurry to get two sides out. "Say Man" (a stop-time number which featured a compositional contribution by drummer Odie Payne) and "Poison Ivy" (written for Mabon by Mel London) made a strong release on Chess 1580; "Poison Ivy" would be Mabon's last top-10 R&B chart hit. The combo on this occasion consisted of the faithful Paul King (trumpet), Goon Gardner (alto and baritone saxes), and Herbert Robinson (tenor sax), with Bill Anderson (bass). But the drummer on the session sounds like Odie Payne, making a guest appearance.

Indeed, the two Mabon tunes were followed (probably immediately) by a lengthy session featuring Odie Payne and his combo. Payne, best known for his work in blues bands, such as Elmore James and the Broomdusters, was leading a Latin ensemble at the time. But the company apparently saw no commercial promise in the results, which remain unreleased after 53 years.

On October 25, 1954, the company split a session between Otis Spann (who had not previously recorded as a leader) and Howlin' Wolf. Jody Williams recalled B. B. King, who knew The Wolf from his Memphis days, dropping by.

Spann's debut featured his piano and vocals, with George "Harmonica" Smith (on "It Must Have Been the Devil"), Jody Williams and surprise guest B. B. King on guitar, the omnipresent Willie Dixon at the bass, and Earl Phillips on drums. Both Spann's idiosyncratically upbeat approach to "It Must Have Been the Devil" and the instrumental side, "Five Spot," were successful performances, but Spann lacked name recognition at this point in his career, and his debut release on Checker 807 is a rarity today. Spann would record two more sides in 1956, but they were not released until years later. Otis Spann began enjoying more success as a recording artist in 1960, when he recorded an LP for British Decca and one for Candid (when fully mined, the session would generate a couple more for reissue labels such as Barnaby and Mosaic). Although he stayed in the Muddy Waters band during most of this period, Spann continued to record regularly until shortly before his death in 1970.

The session continued with the Wolf (vocals and harmonica), Spann at the piano, Jody Williams and Hubert Sumlin (guitars), Willie Dixon and Earl Phillips. The Wolf's malevolent remake of Roosevelt Sykes's "Forty Four" and the even creepier "I'll Be Around" (which seems to promise a visit from his ghost) made a classic blues single when released in January 1955 on Chess 1584. It sold well enough to show up on the Cash Box regional charts for Memphis and New Orleans.

Another significant step in the company's evolution took place in October 1954, when the Chess brothers annnounced the signing of the Griffin Brothers band and Lowell Fulson. Both were established artists. And the moves were announced in the October 30 issue of Billboard—before the Griffins had cut anything. Buddy Griffin and Claudia Swann would record on November 8. In the past, signings were rarely announced until all of the artists had already recorded. Now the Chess brothers were well enough established in the business to be less fearful of pre-emptive moves by the competition.

In November, the company brought Jimmy Witherspoon back to Universal Recording for another four sides. On this occasion, the singer was accompanied by Lee Cooper (guitar), Willie Dixon (bass), and Fred Below (drums). But Eddie Chamblee had gone on the road with Lionel Hampton. He was replaced by Harold Ashby on tenor sax, as can be easily judged from the solo on "Time Brings About a Change." A baritone saxophonist was also added. Two of the four sides were promptly released. Although the pianist on this date has been listed as Lafayette Leake, both sides of Checker 810, which draw a good deal of their inspiration from "The Things I Used to Do," are credited to "Dixon-Fleming." One wonders whether King Fleming might had something to do with this... To be researched.

Based in Washington, DC, the Griffin Brothers band had been a premiere R&B ensemble since it began recording for Dot in September 1950. Around the beginning of 1954, trombonist Jimmy Griffin left to form his own band. Edward "Buddy" Griffin made one more session for Dot in January or February 1954. Buddy Griffin played piano and a female vocalist named Claudia Swanson made her recorded debut. Landing the Buddy Griffin Orchestra was a fair coup for Chess. At their first session at Universal, on November 8, 1954, Buddy Griffin and Claudia Swann, as she was now known, sang "I Wanna Hug Ya, Kiss Ya, Squeeze Ya," a catchy love duet; it was released on Chess 1586. The lovelorn flip, "Please Come Back to Me" was entrusted to Claudia Swann with uncredited help from the Moonglows. The other members of the band on this occasion were "Silly Willie" Wilson (trombone), Chuck Reeves (alto and baritone saxes), Earl Swanson (tenor sax), Lawrence Burgan (bass), and Courtney Brooks (drums).

Muddy Waters' final session of the year, in November, took place in the back room at the Chess offices. The sound on "Natural Born Lover" is a bit murky, and on "Ooh Wee" (which waited a long time for release) the microphones are uncomfortably close to the performers. But Leonard Chess liked the performances and shipped the tapes to Universal to prepare the material for release.

Local 208 of the Musicians Union would eventually catch up with this off-the-books activity, which involved no union contracts, and no union scale for the musicians. On February 16, 1956

Mr. Leonard Chess of the Chess Record Corporation appeared before the Board as notified to explain certain phases of his recording activity [...]

The Board questioned Mr. Chess at length regarding the use of his studio in his office. He stated that the studio is used for rehearsals and auditions but that he never used the tapes for masters. After the group got their tunes together the session was made at Universal. Under further questioning he stated that he never made a tape for rehearsals unless requested to do so by the orchestra leader. He further explained that his studio is not fully sound proof and it would be impossible for him to produce a tape good enough to be sold. He also advised that he did not employ a technician and that he usually sat at the controls himself and he was far from being perfect.

Mr. Chess was told that he was in violation when he made an audition tape as this procedure was not permitted by the National office. He advised that he was not familiar with this ruling and stated that most of the rehearsals and auditions were with vocal groups where no accompaniment was required. [...]

The matter was discussed at length with Mr. Chess and he was told in no uncertain terms that unless he complied fully with the rules and regulations of the Local and the Federation that his recording license would be in jeopardy. To this, Mr. Chess replied that he had worked too hard to build his business to jeopardize it by entering into collusion with any member in order to save a few dollars. He stated that several years ago this may have happened because he was not in a position at all times to meet his financial obligations. (Local 208 Board meeting minutes, pp. 1-2)

We may be reasonably sure that there no recording for release in the back room studio after February 1956, when Leonard Chess was threatened with the revocation of his recording license.

Making up to some degree for decreased vigor at Universal Recording, the Chess brothers bought 52 sides from other sources in 1954.

Four of these were from Joe Von Battle's boutique operation, J-V-B, in Detroit; Von Battle had previously supplied Chess with some John Lee "Booker." The brothers got some more of John Lee himself from the eccentric Fortune operation, also out of Detroit (this was one of the few occasions on which Fortune licensed any of its product).

Finally, Chess launched a new, productive relationship with bandleader and producer Paul Gayten in New Orleans. (Years before, Aristocrat had tried to sign Gayten's singer Annie Laurie, but the deal fell through and Gayten stayed with the DeLuxe label.) The Sugar Boy Crawford sessions from 1953 have sometimes been attributed to Paul Gayten in the past, but although these were done in New Orleans, the studio material seems to have been made under Leonard Chess's direct supervision.

They also began to acquire sides by Larry Liggett, leader of an instrumental R&B combo that, on his first release, consisted of alto sax, piano, guitar, bass, and drums. (Liggett's only recorded vocal can be heard on "That Man Is Walking," a blues on which he plays tenor sax). The initial release of the first Liggett single was on Note, an Indianapolis-based label, and Chess release carried the same "foreign" matrix numbers. Liggett's subsequent releases appeared solely on Chess, but as they were always entered into the master books in pairs and the publisher for Liggett's originals was listed as Condor, we are pretty confident that these were produced elsewhere: Note material originated in either Indianapolis or Cincinnati.

Two previously unknown sides (their matrix numbers, 7687 and 7688, were listed as unused in previous discographies) appear on a Universal Recording Studio test pressing that came up for auction in the fall of 2002, when it was acquired by Dan Kochakian. 7687 is an R&B electric guitar instrumental, done by a T-Bone Walker disciple. 7688 is an unaccompanied male gospel quartet number. There is no further documentation on these items, so we don't know where the Chess brothers picked them up or who the artists were.

The Chess brothers had never been committed to "hillbilly" or "country and Western." (We have no idea whether Leonard Chess was n the studio when Dick Hiorns cut the only country offerings for Aristocrat, back in December 1947.) In the early days of the label, they obtained a few sides from Sam Phillips in Memphis, plus a Tommy Trent single from an unknown source on the East Coast. In May or June 1954, however, Leonard and Phil Chess entered into a deal with their friend and long-time distributor Stan Lewis, who was located in Shreveport, Louisiana, to issue country singles that he produced himself or obtained from sources in the area. The first release in the new series came out in June 1954. These items got a special series, starting at 4858 (the first address of Checker Records), and (in most cases) a special label scheme. The 78 labels were usually printed in blue on pink instead of the standard blue on white; the 45-rpm labels stuck with the "silver top" format. The series apparently was not a success from their standpoint; Chess and Stan Lewis pulled the plug on it after about a year. In all, 7 releases saw the light of day, the last of them in late March of 1955.

In 1955 the Chess brothers were well heeled enough to pay for 202 studio tracks of their own. Most were still being done in Chicago at old reliable Universal Recording, but we know of at least one session (by Lowell Fulson in August) that was recorded specially for Chess in Los Angeles.

The Moonglows had scarcely gotten their first two releases out when the company whisked them back into Universal Recording for the company's first session of the new year (we had previously dated this session to the previous month, but according to vocal group expert Ferdie Gonzalez, it was in fact done in January 1955). "Most of All," which was featurned on their next release, Chess 1589, reached #5 on the Billboard R and B chart in the spring of 1955, sticking around for 11 weeks all told. The studio band on this occasion included guitarist Wayne Bennett, who was working at the time in the house band at the Crown Propeller Lounge. Bennett would tour with the Moonglows in December 1955, but he subsequently returned to Texas, where he would become famous for his work with singer Bobby "Blue" Bland. The session also yielded a second single credited to Bobby Lester and the Moonlighters, but Checker 813 went nowhere at the cash register. The remainder of the 6-tune session was left in the can.

Two tracks that we used to think came from the end of this sesion (U7758 and 7759) are, according to Ferdie Gonzalez, not by the Moonglows at all. Instead, they are the work of the Five Thrills, a vocal group that had previously made two sessions for Al Benson at Parrot. In fact, the titles as recorded in the Chess master book suspiciously resemble two titles ("LaVerne" and "Darlene (Girl of My Dreams)" thought to have been done for Parrot in March 1954, with a combo led by Paul Bascomb. Al Benson struck some kind of deal with the Chess brothers in the early months of 1955, as we will see below. And the Five Thrills may have already broken up by this time. Obviously more research is needed.

On January 13, Chess took advantage of Lowell Fulson's presence in Chicago to arrange a session for him--the guitar-playing bluesman's second for the label. The complete lineup is not known, but Earl Brown was on alto sax, Otis Spann at the piano, Willie Dixon on bass, and probably Fred Below on drums, along with tenor and baritone saxes. All four sides quickly appeared on two Checker releases.

After his sojourn at Parrot, bluesman John Brim returned to Chess in January 1955. On this occasion, he recorded with his working group, instead of Little Walter or Muddy Waters' band, and actually saw his sides released. Brim's band, the Gary Kings, consisted of James Dalton (harmonica), W. C. Dalton (guitar), and Grace Brim (drums). Brim would record one more for Chess, in April 1956.

Next up, probably on January 25, was the Reverend Robert Ballinger, an exponent of sanctified gospel singing. During this portion of his career, he was serving in Chicago as an assistant to Bishop J. E Watley, Sr., of the Church of God in Christ. Ballinger had previously laid down seven tunes for United in December 1952, but Leonard Allen never released any of his sides. Ballinger presumably played piano, and the omnipresent Willie Dixon played bass on the session. After a second outing for Chess later in the year, Ballinger eventually moved to the Peacock label, where he had several gospel hits in the early 1960s. He died in 1965.

Studio activity continued on the 25th with a doowop session, on which the Fortunes and the Clouds were responsible for two sides each. These have caused all manner of discographical confusion, as none of these sides were released at the time--and when they did eventually appear it was on Parrot reissues. The Fortunes consisted of Donald Jenkins (lead), Ronnie Strong (tenor), Walter Granger (baritone), and William Taylor (bass). The members of the group were just 12 or 13 years old at the time, but Ronnie Strong, a former member of the Hambone Kids, was already a veteran. The Clouds were led by Sherrard Jones; the group's remaining members have not been identified, although Albert Hunter was probably there when the Chess/Parrot session took place. The groups had been finalists in a talent contest put on by disk jockey McKie Fitzhugh at the Pershing Ballroom; the prize was a recording session, and a joint venture between Al Benson and Leonard Chess was involved. Nothing is known about the ensemble that backed the groups (tenor and baritone saxes, piano/celeste, guitar, bass, and drums) except that it was led by Willie Dixon (note the accompaniment on "Bread"). The tenor saxophonist sounds like Harold Ousley or Von Freeman, but there is nothing else to go on. (It doesn't help that the master tapes were stolen from the Chess vaults in the 1970s.). The Fortunes would stay with Chess, making two further sessions in March and May; the Clouds, enjoying the sponsorship of DJ McKie Fitzhugh, would record for Cobra in 1956 and remained on the scene into 1957.

A little later, Willie Mabon recorded one side. Why "Wow I Feel So Good," with its mambo rhythm, was the only number recorded that day we have no idea, but the number was deemed suitable for Mabon's next release. Mabon was accompanied by his usual rhythm section of Bill Anderson, bass, and Oliver Coleman, drums. There is long solo for a tenor saxophonist, probably Herbert Robinson. The trumpet player and what sounds like a second tenor saxophonist get nothing but a couple of riffs to play; Paul King is the likely suspect for the trumpeter, but with the second tenor there is nothing to go on.

February 3 was divided between two long sessions, one featuring Muddy Waters' band, and the other featuring Howlin' Wolf's. Waters recorded 4 sides with Little Walter (harmonica), Jimmy Rogers (guitar), Otis Spann (piano), Willie Dixon (bass), and Francis Clay (drums). "I Want to Be Loved" and "My Eyes (Keep Me in Trouble)," both expounding familiar themes, were promptly released on Chess 1596, while "Young Fashioned Ways" came out on Muddy's next single. Only "This Pain," a ponderous slow blues, was held back. After Muddy had finished his numbers, the rest of the band stuck around for a first try at a Jimmy Rogers vehicle, "You're the One." The company was not satisfied with the Jimmy Rogers number, choosing to retry it at a later session. To today's ears, it is an excellent performance featuring a powerful harmonica solo by Little Walter, but Rogers' vocal moves along a little briskly.

With backing from Jody Williams and Hubert Sumlin (guitars), Henry Gray (piano), Willie Dixon (bass), and Earl Phillips (drums), the Wolf turned in four strong performances, which made up his next two releases on Chess. By this point, the Wolf was no longer being referred to in New York Times style.

Chess was now fully prepared for the rock and roll revolution. The first offensive was launched by Bo Diddley.Ellas McDaniel was born Otha Elias Bates in McComb, Mississippi, on December 30, 1928. He was raised by one of his mother's cousins, who moved to Chicago in 1948. McDaniel had been leading a street corner band for several years; occasionally they would land a gig in the clubs. We learn from the Board meeting minutes of Musicians Local 208 that he had been playing a gig at the 708 Club (708 East 47th Street) when he was fined $50.00 on April 17, 1952 for accepting less than Union scale. McDaniel was promptly "erased" for nonpayment. Apparently not getting a lot of offers from Union establishments in Chicago, he did not apply for reinstatement until October 7, 1954, when the Local allowed him to return to the membership rolls for $12.61, giving him 6 weeks to pay the fine.

It was early in 1955 when McDaniel recorded some demos and made the rounds of the independent record companies in Chicago. United wasn't interested enough in the band to offer to pay them for recording; a visit to Vee-Jay brought a brush-off from a secretary, in one version of the story, and an emphatic rejection from Ewart Abner, in another. Leonard Chess, however, heard something new. Chess pressed McDaniel to come up with lyrics to a hambone number, previously called "Uncle John" or "Hey Noxema," that could be played on the radio. Supposedly the words took a week to retool. The tune ended up being titled "Bo Diddley"; whether the leader had gone by that name before or not, it was firmly attached to him by the time he completed the session on March 2, 1955.

On the eponymous tune, the band consisted of Bo Diddley (vocals and guitar), Jerome Green (maracas), and Clifton James (drums). Bo's 19-year-old harmonica player, Billy Boy Arnold, joined the band on the other tracks, along with Otis Spann (piano) and Willie Dixon (bass).

After the four Bo Diddley numbers were finished, Chess gave Billy Boy Arnold an opportunity to sing on three tunes. One was rejected outright, and the other two were left in the can after Billy Boy signed a contract with Vee-Jay a couple of months later.

The company rushed out Checker 814, a coupling of "Bo Diddley" and the blues "I'm a Man," before the month was over. The record was a massive hit. Bo Diddley's music looked to many at the time to be a straightforward outgrowth of the Chicago blues scene--to such an extent that Muddy Waters hurried to make his own version of "I'm a Man" and Little Walter was eager to collaborate with the band--but very quickly rock and roll would be outcompeting the blues for the affections of the record buying public. Meanwhile, Bo Diddley's decision to seek reinstatement with the Musicians Union paid off when Elas [sic] McDaniel posted an indefinite contract with the New Hollywood Show Lounge on April 21, 1955.

March was not reserved for Bo Diddley; it turned out to be a busy month in the studio. Eddie Boyd cut two sides, only one of which was released. Danny Overbea, whose popularity was now on the wane, came in for four, and the company ended up using one.

The Flamingos (Nate Nelson, lead; Johnny Carter, tenor and falsetto; Zeke Carey, second tenor; Paul Wilson, baritone; and Jake Carey, bass) were already an established doowop group when they signed with Checker. They had begun recording for Chance in 1953. In the middle of 1954, as Chance was beginning to falter, their manager, Ralph Leon, signed the group to Parrot, but after two sessions for Al Benson failed to produce a hit, Leon began negotiations with the Chess brothers. Leon died before the deal was finalized, but in March 1955 the group was ready to record for Checker. Reportedly at least the version of "When" that appeared on Checker 815 was cut in the back office, and released in preference to a version done at Universal. Two of the sides from the session were paired on the group's first release, in April 1955, which did nothing special sales-wise. The third, "Need Your Love," was held till January 1956, when it became the B side of the group's first hit for the label, "I'll Be Home."

The Fortunes, who seem to have interested the Chess brothers more than the Clouds did, also returned to the studio in March, cutting two more sides as the company continued its search for releasable material. "My Baby Is Fine" showed up on their only release, Checker 818, with a bogus composer to credit to one Russ Fratto, who owned the stationery store next door to the Chess headquarters.

Then on March 22, Buddy and Claudia Griffin, now a married couple, returned to Chess for a second session. Besides Buddy's vocals and piano and Claudia's vocals, the group included "Silly Willie" Wilson on trombone, Chuck Reeves on alto and baritone saxes, Earl Swanson on tenor sax, Lawrence Burgan, bass, and Courtney Brooks, drums. Two of the five sides came out on Chess 1597, which turned out to be the group's last release.

On April 12, basso blues singer Percy Mayfield made his debut for Chess, cutting four sides with Fred Clark on tenor sax, plus alto and baritone saxes, piano, bass, and drums. Mayfield was another veteran. Based on the West Coast, he had made his debut for Gru V Tone in 1946, picking up with Supreme in 1949, then settling in with Specialty from 1950 through 1954. His biggest hit, "Please Send Me Someone to Love," was done at his first session for Specialty. Chess got one good-quality single out of the session. Both sides of Chess 1599 were credited, once again, to Russ Fratto, who does not seem to have harbored any aspirations as a songwriter. The Chess brothers must have owed him big... Leonard and Phil retained enough interest in Percy Mayfield to call him back for a follow-up in 1956. After that, however, he returned to recording for West Coast labels.

Little Walter, who was present during the rehearsals for Bo Diddley's first session, returned to the studio on April 28, 1955. Along with Luther Tucker, Wilie Dixon, and Fred Below, Bo Diddley was on hand to play on "I Hate to See You Go" (an obsessional boogie modeled after "You Don't Love Me" from his first session) and "Roller Coaster" (an instrumental that evolved out of another composition of his). On "I Got to Go," which bears down like a jubilant express train, Robert Jr. Lockwood took Bo's place. This session formed one of the peaks in Little Walter's output: "Roller Coaster" was a transcendental exercise in rhythmic displacement. The superb instrumental and the "I Got to Go" were paired on Checker 817. Before "Hate to See You Go" was released on Checker 825, it was edited down to just 2:17. In this case the decision to cut Walter's last two vocal choruses, which hint at reconciliation and dull the sting, was the right one artistically. The editing and remastering were done on August 12, 1955, which has sometimes led discographers to give the wrong recording date in the past.

In May, the company's other major doowop act, the Moonglows, cut 6 tunes. Bobby Lester (lead and tenor), Harvey Fuqua (lead and baritone), Pete Graves (tenor), and Prentiss Barnes (baritone) recorded with Eddie Chamblee (tenor saxophone), Sax Mallard (baritone sax), unidentied piano and guitar, Willie Dixon (bass), and Leon Hooper (drums). Chamblee solos on "Slow Down," whileMallard remains underemployed on this session (the only one he is known to have made on the baritone). "Slow Down" and "Foolish Me" came out on Chess 1598 in June 1955, followed by "Starlite" and "In Love" on Chess 1605 in July. Despite excellent performances, neither record showed up in the R&B charts.

It appears that at the end of this session, the Fortunes cut one more side. The Chess brothers would couple it with one of the tracks from March on Checker 818—an odd choice because the group's work on the January session had been better. Again, Russ Fratto showed up as absentee co-composer of "Believe in Me." However, it is doubtful that the slow-selling Fortunes single put many dollars in Mr. Fratto's pocket. The company would not be recording them again.

The Moonglows were also on hand for Bo Diddley's second session as a leader, on May 15. Matters became complicated when Billy Boy Arnold informed Leonard Chess that he had signed with Vee-Jay and recorded "I Wish You Would" a few days earlier. Bo had been planning to record the same number, which was hastily reworked into "Diddley Daddy," with backing vocals by the Moonglows. Little Walter was responsible for the harmonica work on "Daddy," which was otherwise the work of Bo's regular band with Clifton James on drums and Jerome Green on maracas. Billy Boy made his farewell appearance with the band on "She's Fine, She's Mine," which also featured an added percussionist. The results were promptly released on Checker 819.

Next, the Chess brothers gave Stomp Gordon and his touring R&B unit a try. Archie A. Gordon was born in Columbus, Ohio, on February 10, 1926, where he was raised as the adopted son of Squire and Elizabeth Bagby. At age 13, he was already performing locally as a pianist. He was also already known as "Stomp," because of his attention-getting habit of taking his shoes and socks off and playing the bass line with his feet. By 1948 he was leading an R&B combo, whose live appearances eventually became a big enough draw to interest the record companies. Gordon's working quartet cut two sessions for Decca in August 1952 and January 1953, but gate receipts didn't translated into record sales and the group's contract was not renewed. By 1952, Gordon was also landing high-profile club gigs in Chicago, as the Local 208 contract lists attest. In June and July 1953 two different editions of the Stomp Gordon combo recorded in Chicago for Mercury, producing a classic set of blues lyrics in "What's Her Whimsey, Dr. Kinsey?" But sales again failed to meet expectations and several tracks were left in the vault. Whether Leonard Chess became aware of Stomp Gordon because the group had previously recorded in town, or because he'd caught the act live, he decided to give Gordon a try in May 1955. Just two sides were laid down at Universal Recording. Gordon usually worked with tenor sax, guitar, bass, and drums; for the session, a trumpet and a second tenor sax were added. "The Grind" is a raucous dance number closely related to its contemporary rival, the Chicken; apparently the lyrics normally used were not suitable for radio play and were replaced on the record with more innocuous wording. "Don't Do Me That Way" was a gimmicky blues. The ambience is loud and frantic, as Gordon seems determined to out-shout the band; much of his and their stage magic fails to come through.

A second front was opened in the rock and roll revolution began on May 21, when Chuck Berry entered Universal Recording for the first time. After Berry was turned down by Vee-Jay, Muddy Waters encouraged him to take his demo of "Ida Mae," a number intended as a parody of Country and Western music, to Leonard Chess, and helped to persuade Chess to record it. Supposedly "Maybellene" (as the number was retitled in the studio) required 36 takes to complete, though in typical Chess fashion the obvious failures were recorded over on the tape. The Charles Brown style B side, "Wee Wee Hours," was much easier to record. The band consisted of Berry, vocals and guitar; Johnny Johson, piano; Willie Dixon, bass; Ebby Hardy, drums; and, on "Maybellene," someone on maracas. Since Bo Diddley's main man Jerome Green was on the road at the time, the most likely suspect is... Leonard Chess. On release, the record was such a huge hit that both sides charted.

The first pressing of Chess 1604, on 78 and 45, credits "Maybellene" to Chuck Berry alone. But quickly two other names appeared in the composer credit: Alan Freed, the powerful DJ; and Russ Fratto, whose stationery store was next door to the Chess offices. The cut accorded to Freed was part of Chess's overt program of payola, but Fratto? Was the company behind in its payments on letterhead?

Three days later, Muddy Waters was in the studio with one urgent mission, to cut his response to "I'm a Man." (He felt entitled, insofar as Bo Diddley had borrowed liberally from "Hoochie Coochie Man.") Muddy was accompanied on the occasion by Jimmy Rogers (guitar), Fred Below (drums), and Junior Wells (harmonica), plus a chorus of three women who scream in the appropriate places. This would be Muddy's only studio session without Little Walter between January 1953 and June 1957; in fact, Junior Wells was recording with Muddy for the first time since September 1952, when he was a regular member of the band.

Willie Mabon returned to Universal on June 1 for the full four-tune treatment. The only important song that Wille Dixon wrote for the pianist, "The Seventh Son," was a highlight of the session. With its discmate, "Lucinda," it made for one of Willie Mabon's strongest releases. Mabon was accompanied by his usual ensemble of Paul King, trumpet; Herbert Robinson, tenor sax; Bill Anderson, bass; and Oliver Coleman, drums. (Discographies usually put Andrew "Goon" Gardner on this session playing alto sax, and some have expanded the reed section even further with a second tenor sax. In fact, there are just two horns.) With such experienced jazz players on hand, it's regrettable that only Robinson was called on to solo, though King does get some nice independent lines in the accompaniment. The atmosphere on this particular session was unusually mellow; a number like "Someday You Will Have to Pay" comes across as more nostalgic than minatory. On "He Lied," Willie Dixon contributes some falsetto rejoinders to Willie Mabon's vocal complaint.

On June 15, Jimmy Witherspoon visited Universal Recording for the third time. On this occasion the veteran blues shouter was backed by a band featuring Harold Ashby on tenor sax and Willie Dixon on bass; the pianist, guitarist, and drummer have not been identified. Two sides saw prompt release on Checker 826, which would be his last single for the company. Leonard Chess saw fit to turn over half the composer credit on "It Ain't No Secret" to Russ Fratto, who was soon to be enhancing his revenues with one third of the composer royalties for "Maybellene." We doubt that the real author of the tune, Willie Dixon, was especially pleased with this business arrangement.

Witherspoon would make another four-tune session for Checker in August 1956; nothing was released off it for years. The singer then recorded in New York and Los Angeles for other labels from 1956 through 1958. Chess got him on disk one last time in January 1959, with his old bandleader Jay McShann in Kansas City, but again nothing was used for a long time. Witherspoon's last session in Chicago would take place for Vee-Jay, later that same month. He appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1959, which opened up many opportunities to work and record with jazz musicians. He went on to record prolifically for a slew of record companies from the 1960s through the 1980s. In 1983, he underwent successful treatment for cancer and returned to performing until a few months before his death. Jimmy Witherspoon died in Los Angeles on September 18, 1997.

Another June session was reserved for the Flamingos, who cut four sides. The first two selected for release ("I Want to Love You" b/w "Please Come Back Home") appeared on Checker 821; the others were held till much later. The group would not score a hit for the Chess brothers, however, until their third release for label in January 1956.

July 14 was a busy day at Universal, featuring back-to-back sessions by Little Walter and Bo Diddley. Further collaboration between the leaders would have been interesting, but each was focused on his own material that day.

Bo Diddley used his working band of Lester Davenport (harmonica), Jerome Green, and Clifton James; Willie Dixon helped out on bass on three of the four sides (he laid out on "Pretty Thing"). "Pretty Thing" and "Bring It to Jerome" (the first of the band's numbers to give the percussionist a vocal role) were chosen for release on Checker 827, "Bring It to Jerome" in an edited version with awkwardly audible tape splices. "Spanish Guitar," an instrumental too long for a jukebox single, was held till Chess put out its second Diddley LP. "Heart-O-Matic Love," a rather labored effort to compete with Chuck Berry in the automotive arena, would not be heard until well into the CD era.

On August 3, Lowell Fulson recorded 4 sides in Los Angeles, with a band and arrangements of his choosing. Fulson was much more comfortable in this setting (his two sessions in Chicago would both be contentious affairs). There are two more tracks on the same tape reel in the Chess vaults, but neither "The Checker" (as it was probably meant to be titled) nor "My Baby's Gone" are by Lowell Fulson. Who the singer was remains a mystery.

On August 12, the company conducted its long awaited first session with Sonny Boy Williamson. A harmonica-playing bluesman of highly uncertain age (supposed years of birth, somewhere in rural Mississippi, have ranged all the way from 1894 to 1912), Sonny Boy was originally known as Aleck Miller, and in his younger days was sometimes billed as Little Boy Blue. But a crass advertising decision, made in the early 1940s when he was appearing on the King Biscuit Program on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas, deliberately confused him in the minds of listeners with the then-popular John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, who recorded extensively between 1937 and 1947. Miller clung to the imposture after the real Sonny Boy's early death, in 1948. Like his old associates Howlin' Wolf and Elmore James, he finally broke into the recording scene in 1951. He recorded for Lillian McMurray'sTrumpet label until 1954, when the foundering company sold his contract to a Memphis-based pressing plant to which it owed a large sum of money. The pressing plant, in turn, dealt his contract to Leonard Chess, and well into the next year he was finally in Chicago ready to record.

The red carpet was rolled out for Sonny Boy's first session: on hand were Otis Spann (piano), Muddy Waters and Jody Williams (guitars), Willie Dixon (bass), and Fred Below (drums). Five sides were cut, and the two that were selected for his first Checker single, "Don't Start Me Talkin'" and "All My Love in Vain" are both considered classics.

Although Sonny Boy finally arrived in Chicago as popular demand for the blues was beginning to soften, he recorded regularly for Checker until 1964. From 1963 through 1965 he toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival; many of his overseas appearances were recorded. Not long after returning to Helena and the King Biscuit radio show, the second Sonny Boy Williamson died suddenly on May 26, 1965.

The cooperation with the Parrot label evident in the vocal group sessions from January proved to be short-lived, for as the rival company began to decline the Chess brothers started luring away some of Al Benson's talent. On September 14, the eccentric guitar-plauying bluesman J. B. Lenoir cut 9 tracks, two of which saw fairly prompt release on Checker. Checker spelled the bluesman's name as his previous record label had spelled it: "Lenore." From late 1950 through early 1953, Lenoir had recorded for JOB (though his first session for that label, back in December 1950, was promptly sold outright to Chess). In 1954 and 1955 he'd cut 3 sessions for Parrot, where "Mamma Talk to Your Daughter" was a hit.

On his first outing for Checker, J. B.'s vocals and guitar were accompanied by his working band: Alex Atkins (alto sax), Ernest Cotton (tenor sax), Joe Montgomery (piano), and Al Galvin (drums). (Some sources have put Willie Dixon on these tracks, but there was no string bass in Lenoir's working ensemble and none is audible on the sesssion either.) None too thrilled about Lenoir's defection, Al Benson put out one last release on the bluesman in the fall of 1955, with the matrix numbers doctored to make it look like a new recording. Although much of Lenoir's output was left in the can until well into the reissue LP era, the Chess brothers stuck by this quirkily brilliant artist, recording him again in December 1956 and March 1958.

The fallow period continued as the company brought Stomp Gordon back for a standard-size four-tune session. But his first Chess release went nowhere, and the advent of rock and roll suddenly made his brand of R&B seem dated. In fact, none of the sides from his second session have ever been seen the light of day. As the company's assets grew, and the cost of recording slowly declined in relative terms, the brothers were willing to take risks that would have been inconceivable in 1950 or 1951.

Stomp Gordon would make his last session in September 1956, for Savoy; the two sides that were released featured frenetic, raspy singing. Although Universal Attractions picked him up in 1957, rock and roll was cutting more and more deeply into his bookings, and Gordon had developed a heroin habit. On January 18, 1958, he was found dead in the driver's seat of the band's station wagon, which was parked on an avenue in Harlem.

In October, the Moonglows returned for a fairly long session at Universal. The documentation is confusing, perhaps incorrectly suggesting multiple attempts at the song that was released as "Lover, Love Me" on Chess 1611. Just this tune and its flip, "In My Diary," were released at the time. Another track came out on an LP in the 1970s. There were no parallel releases on Checker this time around.

Somewhere in October, Chess laid down two sides by a doowop group called The Five Notes. The group was originally formed in Dallas, Texas. Al Braggs was the lead singer, Cal Valentine was the second lead, and the other members were Robert Lee Valentine, Jesse Floyd, and Billie Fred Thomas. After winning some talent shows in Texas, the group moved to Milwaukee, where DJ Chuck Dunaway promoted the group at his stage shows and took co-composer credit on their songs. The Five Notes recorded just two sides for the company, but their single release, on Chess 1614, is considered a classic of the genre. According to Robert Pruter, "With its relaxed lope, vigorous doowop chanting, and splendid work by the bass and high tenor, 'Park Your Love' was the side that got the most plays across the country. 'Show Me the Way,' the ballad side, likewise got strong doowoppy support from the chorus" (Doowop: The Chicago Scene, p. 81). The group was backed by an unidentified rhythm section of piano, guitar, bass, and drums.

The Five Notes returned to Dallas in 1957, appearing in a locally made rock and roll film; they recorded two sides as the Five Stars for Blues Boy Kingdom, a label operated by B. B. King (1957), and two more as the Five Masks, for a label of uncertain geographical location called Jan (1958). It probably didn't help that there were several other active groups called the Five Stars, including one that recorded in Chicago for the Indianapolis-based Note label. The group broke up in 1958. Subsequently, Al "TNT" Braggs performed as a soloist, recording for Duke and working as a popular opening act for Bobby "Blue" Bland. The brothers Valentine started a group called the Valentines, which recorded six blues sides for King.

On November 3, Muddy Waters and his band laid down four tunes. The results of this session were uniformly strong, and all of the sides would be released on singles, starting with "Sugar Sweet" b/w "Trouble, No More" on Chess 1612. However, Muddy was entering a period in which his studio recordings and club appearances concentrated on his singing, making the "Muddy Waters & His Guitar" billing a little archaic. During 1956 and 1957 he actually hung his instrument up, though the decision turned out to be temporary.

Tucked into the next few days was another session for Willie Dixon as a leader. As with so many of the sessions that Dixon supervised, the personnel isn't known with certainty: two tenor saxes, guitar, piano, the leader's bass, and drums. Willie Dixon's stolid bass wasn't an ideal lead, but he makes a good account of himself on "Crazy for My Baby," one of his better songs. The number also features a rockin' tenor sax solo that may the work of Harold Ashby. "I Am the Lover Man" is a rather strange song that too often exposes Dixon at the bottom of his range. These two sides came out on Checker 828, a third was held for Checker 851, and a fourth left in the can.

A week after the Muddy Wates session, a very busy Bo Diddley was back for his fourth session in 8 months. Little Willie Smith was now playing harmonica in his working group (after he left, Bo would drop the instrument entirely), and was duly featured on the classic "Diddy Wah Diddy," along with backing vocals by the Moonglows. "I'm Looking for a Woman" featured the guitar lead of Jody Williams, a significant addition to the band who was a month away from making his own classic session for Parrot. Jerome Green and Clifton James rounded out the session, with help as usual from Willie Dixon on the bass.

Although members of the group told Robert Pruter that they had record "I'll Be Home" back in March, the matrix number series suggests that the Flamingos made their famous ballad, "I'll Be Home," at their third session, which took place in November. However, the existence of two matrix numbers for the same title does support the recollection that "I'll Be Home" was first cut in the company's back office, and Leonard Chess ended up preferring that version to the one that the group subsequently made at Universal Recording. When it came out in January 1956, "I'll Be Home" would be a hit, reaching #5 on the Billboard R&B chart.

On December 15, Chess recorded Bull Moose Jackson with brass and reed sections, piano, bass, drums, and female backing singers. Benjamin Clarence Jackson had been a top R&B artist since August 1945, when he first recorded for King Records. After "I Love You Yes I Do" (1947) and "Big Ten Inch Record" (1952), Jackson's decade-long association with King ended with a session in January 1955. According to some accounts, Jackson was signed for the brothers' new Marterry label. But nothing was released from his session on any label, until well into the CD era. The Chess brothers may have concluded that Jackson's material was dated and wouldn't sell. But surely it didn't help when Leonard Chess was called on the carpet by the Board of Musicians Union Local 208 for recording Jackson while he was an "erased member" of the local. (See the Musicians Union Local 208 Board minutes for February 16, 1956, p. 1; we learned the precise date of the session from this source.)

Bull Moose Jackson recorded little after his failed session at Chess: 4 sides for Encino in Los Angeles (1956), two for Warwick in New York (1960), and two more for 7 Arts, also in New York (1961).

At some point during the month, Chess also worked in two sides by The Flock Rocker, a prominent St. Louis DJ. What these were like we have no idea, because they've never surfaced in any form. Were the Chess brothers trying to compete with Vee-Jay, which had recorded one of the Flock Rocker's Chicago-based competitors, the Magnficent Montague?

Closing out their blues recording for the year, the Chess brothers brought Little Walter into the studio for another four sides. "Who," a cleverly worded number by Bernard Roth, and "It Aint' Right" formed his next single on Checker 833. "One More Chance with You" made his next release, and "Boom Boom Out Goes the Lights" would see release on Checker 867. Unusually for Walter and band, all four numbers had vocals.

To round out the session, Jimmy Rogers came in with a single mission: to remake his song "You're the One." The new laid-back rendition was quickly released on Chess 1616 and became a hit.

Around this same time, under circumstances no longer recalled, Eddie Boyd laid down a single track that lay unreleased for 40 years.

In the second half of 1955 the Chess brothers, now in a position to expand their operations significantly, began preparations for a third record label. According to a story in Billboard for December 24, 1955, they had recorded four pop sessions for the new imprint; the first releases were scheduled for January 1, 1956. The master numbers indicate that the first LP and EP on the label were also put together in 1955. The original plan was to name the new brand after Leonard Chess's son Marshall and Phil's son Terry. But the Marterry name would soon elicit complaints from society band leader Ralph Marterie, and after just two Marterry singles the name was quickly changed to Argo. (There may have been an unstable intermediate state called Creative, but we have yet to verify that...) The Marterry/Argo release series began at 5249, another significant address in the history of the Chess brothers. The two Marterry singles were promptly followed by two more on Argo; the Savannah Churchill release on Argo 5251 was rebranded so quickly that the M for Marterry remained on the matrix numbers. Activity then would revive at Argo 5255 after an interruption lasting a couple of months.

The first release on Marterry was by a doo-wop group called The Daps. The personnel of this group remains unknown. In April 1956 the Daps appeared in a package show at the Madison Rink (2560 West Madison) put on by DJ Sam Evans; Ray Charles and the Diablos were the headliners. The group did not record again and its subsequent activities have not been traced.

Our thanks to Dan Ferone for alerting us to the very rare second Marterry release, by a pop singer named Harvey Norman. The Savannah Churchill single was her only recording for the Chess brothers. And with the advent of rock and roll, Danny Overbea had turned into a pop singer, hence his inclusion on the new label.

The Chess brothers acquired material from other sources at a fairly slow rate in 1955: 33 items all told. They picked up an R&B single by Jon Thomas from the Note label in Indianapolis; the house publisher, Condor Music, is a clear sign of a Note import. Thomas led a quartet of tenor sax, piano, guitar, and drums. On "Rib Tips," the names of various down home comestibles are roughly chanted over a funky background featuring slashing guitar and a few saxophonic whinnies; "HI Fi" is a hard blues instrumental at a medium tempo featuring the tenor sax.

Note was already contributing Larry Liggett's singles to Chess. In 1955, one more was released on Chess 1594. Because the company never would acquire any distributional muscle, some of Note's later releases would also show up on Checker (see our Jimmy Coe page for some examples from 1958).

The single by Jimmie "T99" Nelson seems to have emanated from some little operation in Houston, Texas. Nelson's baritone vocals were accompanied by tenor and baritone saxes, piano, guitar, bass, and drums (musicians all unidentified). "Great Big Hunk of Man" is an exuberant blues on which Nelson does a pretty good approximation of Big Joe Turner; the slow "Free and Easy Mind" ranges into Lowell Fulson territory. Chess would pick up further Nelson sides made in Houston in October 1957 and December 1959.

One by the vocal group The Rays arrived from Bob Crewe Productions in New York City, and the Emmett Davis sides may have been the work of the Atlas label.

Some kind of pact was struck with Ace Records in southern Louisiana, but it must have fallen through because none of the material (by Lightnin' Slim and Henry Talbert) ever hit the store racks with the Chess company brand on it.

The Chess brothers wrapped up their joint venture with Stan Lewis, ending the short Chess 4858 series after two more country releases in March 1955. According to Dr. Robert Stallworth, only one item out of the 4858s was in the emerging rockabilly style: that was "Love Me" by Jimmy Lee and Wayne Walker. Chess would never get much farther into country music than it did during this abortive venture.

The collaboration with Paul Gayten in New Orleans proved more fruitful. Early in the year, The Hawketts served up "Mardi Gras Mambo" on Chess 1591.

In the fall, Gayten followed up with a rock and roll hit in "See You Later, Alligator" by Bobby Charles (in its earliest pressings, the number was more succinctly titled "Later Alligator").

Gayten was also responsible for Checker 831, a release headlined by Charles Williams. Four additional sides from the Gayten aggregation were left in the can.

The company's sporadic dealings with J-V-B in Detroit yielded a sermon by the Reverend C. L. Franklin (best known today as the father of Aretha). The single appeared both as Chess 1600 and as Chess 65. The Reverend Franklin's sermons were a powerful addition to the company's gospel offerings; an entire wave of them, in a special series, would follow in 1956.

The end of 1955 marks a watershed in Chess history. Up to this point the label had been strictly a singles operation, like nearly all of the smaller independents. The 33 1/3 rpm LP had become enough of a commercial force by this time, however, that the Chess brothers were now preparing to enter that market (they were apparently never tempted during the days of 10-inch LPs).

For their first 12-inch microgroove release, they turned to the singer who had saved the label commercially back in 1951. The Al Hibbler LP (matrix numbers 7881A for Side A, 7881B for Side B) was a straight reissue of the five Chess singles that had featured him. "Feather Roll Blues," an instrumental by Billy Strayhorn and band from Hibbler's first session for Sunrise, was included in the LP because it had been the flip side of Chess 1457. There was additional material from Sunrise and Miracle in the Chess vaults, but none of it was used on this occasion. Argo also released a 45-rpm EP consisting of four of the Hibbler items.

Melodies by Al Hibbler

We are indebted to Michel Ruppli's Discography of the Chess Label for our basic listing. We have supplemented this with Les Fancourt's Chess Blues Discography and many other sources. Ian Saddler's article, The '4800 Series' Hillbillies, in Roll Street Journal (Volume 1, No. 4, May 1983), pp. 1-3, was extremely helpful with the country series that the Chess brothers operated in 1954 and 1955 with material obtained from Stan Lewis in Shreveport, Louisiana; Dr. Robert Stallworth and Ferdie Gonzales provided significant corrections. Scott Dirks gave us full information on the Little Walter session that now sits at the head of the 1953 newly recorded listing, and improved our listing for the session of May 22, 1954. Bill Daniels researched Billboard from 1953 through 1955 to find the first mentions of most Chess and Checker releases during that period. Dave Sax provided corrections to our Eddie Boyd listings (email communication, September 7, 2006). Moanin' at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf, by James Segrest and Mark Hoffman (New York: Pantheon, 2004) contains a valuable sessionography.

We strongly recommend Nadine Cohodas' book on the Chess brothers and the Aristocrat/Chess label: Spinning Blues into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records, published in May 2000. (For more about the book see http://www.bluestogold.com.) This is not just one of the best books ever written about the Chicago scene, it may be the best book ever written about the record business. Among other things it is our source for the date of the company's move to 4750 South Cottage Grove and the occasional recording activity in the back room there.

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