For all its influence, it sometimes feels like the Chicago blues label Chess Records doesn’t get the respect it deserves. That changes this fall with a series of new compilations and reissues of old ones, set for release from Universal Music Group to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the label’s creation. Polish immigrants Leonard and Phil Chess became ingratiated into the club scene on the south side of Chicago in the ’30s and ’40s. They were intrigued by the thriving local talent – many of them Black transplants from the Mississippi delta…
The Beat of Our Hearts: Bear Family Collects Definitive Survey of “R&B in D.C. 1940-1960” Featuring Early Recordings of Marvin Gaye, Don Covay, Billy Stewart
Washington, D.C. is associated with a great many things…but R&B? Leave it to German label Bear Family to take the emphasis off politics to uncover a lost chapter of the American capital’s rich story. R&B in D.C. 1940-1960 is the name of the upcoming LP-size, 16-CD box set comprehensively surveying two decades of regional music as only Bear Family can – with 472 tracks (that’s around 20 hours of music) and a 352-page hardcover book. This one-of-a-kind set is due on September 3 and limited to just 1,500 copies worldwide. It spotlights…
