Chess Records - A Brief History
Leonard and Phil Chess
Chess Records was founded by Leonard and Phil Chess in the 1940s. These Polish brothers Lejzor and Fiszel Czyz became Leonard and Phil Chess. They had come to the United States from Poland in the late 1920s. In 1947 Leonard Chess was a nightclub owner in Chicago, Macamba night club on Chicago’s Southside. He bought into the local Aristocrat label. Aristocrat was not a famous blues label at that time, (pop and jazz). Chicago was a magnet for black immigrant workers from the South many were the blues artists that Chess signed. The address of Chess studios is 2120 South Michigan made famous as an instrumental track by the Rolling Stones.
Phil Chess – Wikipedia