Spinning Blues into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "brother, and his nephew-in-law, Yasef, her husband. The men began their trip to America at the end of November..." (more)
Key Phrases: Cash Box, New York, Muddy Waters (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Polish Jewish immigrants who moved to Chicago in 1928, Leonard and Phil Chess founded an independent record company that produced classics by rock and roll pioneers, along with jazz, soul and gospel artists. An engaging stroll down memory lane combining meticulous scholarship with indelible portraits of musical greats, this history of Chess Records, founded in 1950, and its permutations (Checkers, Argo, etc.) traces the genesis of hits including Chuck Berry's "Rock 'n Roll Music," Etta James's "At Last," the Monotones' "The Book of Love" and Fontella Bass's "Rescue Me." Cohodas (The Band Played Dixie) sensitively explores the complicated dynamic between the Jews who dominated the early "indie" music business and the black performing artists whose music they produced. Although allegations of exploitation and underpayment of royalties led to lawsuits against the Chess brothers in the 1970s, Cohodas stresses the large common ground between Jews and blacks. Leonard's Macomba Lounge, the club he opened in Chicago in 1946, became a magnet of African-American nightlife. His radio station, WVON (Voice of the Negro), was an integral part of Chicago's black community in the 1960s. While long stretches of this book are a workmanlike chronicle of business dealings, Cohodas vibrantly tracks the crossover of R&B to the pop charts, and she dispels many myths and false legends surrounding the Chess brothers, e.g., Keith Richards's fabricated story that he saw downtrodden blues legends Muddy Waters on a ladder painting the Chess studio's ceiling. 16-page photo insert. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

As boys in the 1920s, Leonard and Phil Chess left Poland and immigrated to the Jewish section of Chicago. After an unhappy apprenticeship in their father's junk business, the Chess brothers began operating the Macomba Lounge, which catered to rural blacks recently arrived in the city. Grasping the profitability of the music business, they eventually formed Chess Records, which would reshape American popular music with its roster of blues icons Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Willie Dixon and rock'n'roll pioneers Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. The many artists who regarded the brothers more as friends than bosses belie myths about the mistreatment of musicians and the withholding of royalties. Much more in-depth than John Collis's The Story of Chess Records (LJ 2/15/99), this provides a bibliography that includes citations from Chess recording sessions and the private papers of Chess family members. An essential purchase for any serious popular music collection; Cohodas also wrote The Band Played Dixie.
-Dan Bogey, Clearfield Cty. P.L. Federation, Curwensville, PA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 358 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (April 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312261330
• ISBN-13: 978-0312261337
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #732,024 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent History of Chess Records, June 20, 2000

By	Michael B. Smith (Greenville, SC) - See all my reviews

This is the riveting story of Chess Records, the home of Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Etta James and other legendary blues artists. It the story of triumph. The story of a record label that took a genuine American art form, the blues, from the back porches and dusty streets and into the American mainstream. It is the amazing story of two Jewish brothers, Leonard and Phil Chess, who came into the USA as immigrants in 1928 and proceeded to build a record company that would influence the face of music for the next 72 years and beyond.

Cohodas does an admirable job in piecing together all of the events which lead the Chess brothers from Poland to the shores of America, and into Chicago, where they began their new life working in their father's junkyard. The Chess brothers would later operate a liquor store deep in the heart of the windy city's black community, where they were exposed to rough and tumble blues via a juke box in the store. The brothers went on to open the Macomba Lounge on Chicago's South Side, which would become a favorite after-hours spot for music lovers and red hot blues musicians.

It wasn't long before the brothers focused their acute business senses on the recording industry. Leonard hooked up with a fledgling record company called Aristocrat, and soon he met up and coming guitar player from Mississippi named McKinley Morganfield, who would come to be known the world over by his nickname, Muddy Waters.

The Chess brothers bought out Aristocrat in 1949, and changed the name to Chess Records. The company produced successful recordings by The Moonglows, Ramsey Lewis and even early rock and rollers like Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. Later, the label would release LP's by comedians as diverse as Moms Mabley and Bob Hope.

This is the story of two brothers who were driven to succeed. Two men who never played a musical instrument, and knew absolutely nothing about the music industry or the blues, but possessed an innate inner drive and a real ability to make money.

For any fan of the blues, or anyone wishing to gain some real background on the very roots of the rock and roll family tree, Spinning Blues into Gold is a must read. Nadine Cohodas (who also authored The Band Played Dixie: Race and Liberal Conscience at Ole Miss and Strom Thurmond and the Politics of Southern Change has turned in an excellent history of a legendary record label, and a musical reference book of considerable magnitude.

-Michael B. Smith, gritz.net

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read for Blues fans!, October 12, 2000

By	Michael P. Mesaros (Burlingame, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a newbie Blues music fan, I found Ms. Cohadas' book very informative and enjoyable. Thoroughly researched, she does a great job of explaining the factors that led to the growth of the Chicago music scene, and many of the men and women who made it possible.

When I listen to a recording of a song, I tend to think about the "creative" talent involved in making it, i.e. the writer, arranger and performers. It's easy to forget, however, that there are a lot of creative talents involved in producing, marketing and distributing the music, and their contributions are as important. The Chess brothers were clearly a central force in bringing a lot of great music to the public.

One aspect of the book that I found particularly interesting and well-researched was the author's description of the economics behind the music business. What seems like a simple business is actually pretty complex. While the author does not excuse practices such as royalty sharing arrangements and the informal way the Chess brothers paid their artists, she manages to show how these could be interpreted in the context of the industry at the time.

If nothing else, this book prompted me to purchase several of the great Chess reissues which are now available on CD.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes you want to break out the 45s, July 25, 2000

By	"dixon28" (Astoria, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Cohodas has done an amazing job of researching and telling the story behind the roots of rock! This proves that sometimes what's behind the scenes is often more interesting and entertaining than what's playing on the jukebox!