CHESS, LEONARD

CHESS, LEONARD (Lazer Shmuel Czyz; 1917–1969), U.S. record producer instrumental in the development of electric blues through the company he co-founded with his brother Phil (Fiszel), Chess Records, the most important and influential post-World War II blues label. Chess was born in Motol, Poland, to Yasef and Cyrla Czyz. His father settled in Chicago upon immigrating in 1922, changing his name to Joseph Chess. In 1928 he sent for the rest of the family, including Leonard, his mother, his elder sister Malka (Mae), and his brother Phil, four years his junior. The house was kosher, the language Yiddish. Chess's father owned a scrap yard and junk shop across the street from a black gospel church and the young Chess began his working life behind the counter there in 1941. In 1945 he took a job at a South Side liquor store and then bought his own liquor store and a bar. He borrowed money from his father to open the upscale Macomba nightclub on Chicago's South Side, with Phil joining him in the business after being discharged from the army. Chess entered the record business by buying into Aristocrat Records in 1947, and in 1950 took over the label entirely with Phil as partner and renamed it Chess Records. The company signed significant blues artists such as Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, Etta James, and Koko Taylor, jazz artists Ahmad Jamal and Ramsey Lewis, and rock 'n' roll legends Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, thus playing a major role in introducing black music to a wider white audience. It was an historic marriage of two first-generation migrant groups: African-Americans who had moved to Chicago from the Mississippi Delta and Jews recently arrived from Eastern Europe. Even the location of their company, 2120 S. Michigan Avenue, became famous as the address of a record label synonymous with the sound known as "Chicago Blues." The Rolling Stones even recorded an instrumental song with that address as the title and the building was designated a Chicago Landmark in 1989. At first the two brothers ran the whole business. Phil was in charge of the nightclub and running the office of Aristocrat/Chess and its subsidiaries Checker, Argo/Cadet, and Specialist, while Leonard scouted talent, produced the sessions, and delivered the recordings to radio stations, sometimes accompanied by payola to gain the records airtime. While Leonard has been described as a slick operator who both greatly admired and frequently duped the performers who made him a multimillionaire, there is no denying that he changed the face of music in America and influenced three generations of musicians. Leonard died in Chicago and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a pioneer in 1987. (Elli Wohlgelernter (2nd ed.)