The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums, piano, and sometimes saxophone, and making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier. The music developed when poor Black workers did the "Great Migration" from the South into the industrial cities of the North such as Chicago in the first half of the twentieth century.

Chicago Blues has a more extended palette of notes than the standard six-note blues scale; often, notes from the major scale and dominant 9th chords are added, which gives the music a more "jazz feel" whilst still being in the confines of the blues genre. Chicago blues is also known for its heavy rolling bass.

Guitarist Buddy Guy performing at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2006.

Notable musicians

Well-known Chicago musicians include singer/songwriters such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Willie Dixon; guitar players such as Freddie King, Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley and Elmore James ("The King of Slide Guitar"); and "harp" (blues slang for harmonica) players such as Big Walter Horton, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson I, Charlie Musselwhite and Junior Wells.

Influential musicians or forebears of the Chicago sound include Big Bill Broonzy.

Notable record labels

Chess Records

Chess Records, run by brothers Leonard and Phil Chess, was probably the most famous of the Chicago record labels to feature or promote blues. Musician and critic Cub Koda even described Chess Records as "America's greatest blues label."^[1] It was active from 1956?1969 when the brothers sold the company. Most solo artists also did double duty as session musicians on the records of others.

Checker Records was a subsidiary of Chess that recorded Chicago blues greats such as Bo Diddley, J.B. Lenoir and Sonny Boy Williamson II.

Delmark

Delmark was formed when Bob Koester moved his Delmar label from St. Louis to Chicago in 1958 and remains active today. They are still known for Jazz and Blues. Artist recorded by the label includes Roscoe Mitchell, Junior Wells and Sonny Boy Williamson II.

Alligator Records

Alligator Records was formed in 1971 by Bruce Iglauer, a former employee of Delmark and remains a premier blues label to this day. They have recorded Chicago blues greats such as Koko Taylor, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Hound Dog Taylor and Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater.

See also

• Chicago record labels
• Chicago Blues Festival (1984?)
• Maxwell Street
• Music of Chicago

References

External links

• Mojo Machine
• Chicago Blues Playlist
• France Jean Baptiste
• Chicago blues example and lesson
• Windy City Blues Internet Radio Station Featuring The Best In Chicago Blues Plus Other Blues Greats
• Blues Festival

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