Thefirst great wave o fnew ln the early days o frock and roll, afew In 1928, an Orthodox Jewishfamily independent record labels came men made itpossible fo r the voice of named Checz came to Americafrom between the years 1944 and 1947. The change to be heard. Thefo rces that Poland. They moved to Chicago, m ajor labels o fthe tim e—RCA, were then shaping musicforeshadowed living at 1425 South Karlov, in the Columbia and Decca (now MCA) - had the end o fseparate black and white South Side, where Leonard, the older all the established orchestras, singers societies. In the late Forties, Jackie son, worked with his brother Phil in and vocal groups under contract, so it Robinson started playingfo r the theirfather’s junkyard. The Chess was up to the independent labels to ■ Brooklyn Dodgers, and Jerry familyfound a sympathetic I develop and nurture the new talent I W exler, at Billboard, helped change I neighborhood in the black ghetto. I and to discover andpromote the new I the name o fthe black-music chart trends. Most o fthe men responsibleforfounding from Race Records to Rhythm and Blues. I Orthodox prayers, sung in elaborate and sustaining the independent record labels of As a boy, Wexler had worked with hisfather Hebrew cantillation, found echoes in the blues theJ 1940s have since retired, sold out or died. In ias a window washer. A fter college (where he 2scales and gospel harmonies o fthe Chesses’ fact, only one ofthose pioneers is still active studiedjournalism) and the army, he started adopted neighborhood. As the years passed, the with his label: Ahmet Ertegun, chairman o f reportingfo r Billboard. But soon he caught the family made modest investments in liquor stores Atlantic Records. boogie disease. He left Billboard in 1951 to and eventually began running a saloon called Ertegun, the son o fa career diplomat, was workfor a music-publishing company and in the Macamba Lounge, whichfeaturedjazz and born in Istanbul, Turkey. When he was twelve, 1953joined Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun at blues performers. hisfather was appointed Turkey’s ambassador Atlantic Records. Before he knew it, he was The Chess brothers started Aristocrat to the United States. Ahmet attended St. John’s drinking champagne at all-night recording Records in 1947, issuing small-group and blues College, in Annapolis, Maryland, and sessions with Mabel Mercer, singing releases, thenformed Chess Records two years Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C. background with Ahmet Ertegun on Ray Charles later. Thefirst Chess release was saxophonist He had always been a record collector, with a songs, driving down a dimly lit Alabama Gene Ammons’s version o f ‘ ‘My Foolish strong interest in jazz and the blues. highway with two gallons o fbootleg booze on Heart, ’ ’ which was a sizable radio, retail and In 1947, Ertegun and Herb Abramson the way to a Rolling Stones session, having a jukebox hit. The record number was 1425—a founded Atlantic. The label scored itsfirst major fin e time. reminder o f the brothers’ origins on South hit in 1949 with Stick McGhee’s “Drinkin’ Wine Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters, LaVern Karlov. The very next record was M uddy Spo-Dee-O-Dee. ’ ’ Within afew short years Baker, Ruth Brown, Joe Turner, Ray Charles, W aters’s legendary I ‘Rollin’ Stone. ’ ’ Atlantic became the premier rhythm and blues Professor Longhair, Ivory Joe Hunter, Chuck The powerful backbeat and literally label. The artist roster o fthe time reads like an Willis, the Coasters, Aretha Franklin, Joe Tex, electrifying impact o fMuddy’s amplified guitar honor roll o fstars: Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, Solomon Burke, the Clovers, Wilson Pickett, would become key elements o frock and roll. Ray Charles, LaVern Baker, Clyde McPhatter, Duane Allman, Dr. John, Dusty Springfield, Later, in 1955, Chuck Berry brought his the Drifters, BenE. King, the Coasters, the Delaney and Bonnie, Willie Nelson, Allen distinctive rhythm-guitar patterns to Chess. The Clovers, Ivory Joe Hunter, Chuck Willis and Toussaint, Tony Joe White, Kim Carnes, Mavis backbeat, electric lead guitar and rhythm guitar many, many more. During this period Ertegun Staples and Bob Dylan are just some o fthe remain the defining characteristics o frock and was producer or coproducer on the vast artists Wexler has produced. His work, as roll to this day. majority ofrecords made on his label. He was classic as thefilms o fHoward Hawks or the Over the years, the Chess roster expanded to also active as a songwriterfor many o fthe early stories o fJohn O’Hara, is characterized by include world-class blues artists like Howlin’ Atlantic artists, often using the pseudonym A. conciseness, humor and style. Such Wexler Wolf, Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Nugetre (Ertegun spelled backwards). productions as Ray Charles’s ‘ ‘What’d I Say’ ’ Miller), Little Walter, Willie Mabon, Jimmy Though Ertegun was less directly involved as (coproduced with Ahmet Ertegun) and Aretha Rogers, Otis Sparm and Etta James. Chess not a producer in the Sixties and Seventies, he was Franklin’s ‘ ‘Chain o fFools’ ’ are like surprise only became the true repository o fAmerican on hand at Atlantic to direct the phenomenal parties, serendipitous celebrations. roots blues but also presented black musicfor growth o fthe label into the area o fsoul (Otis The lightness o fmuch early rock and roll can the edification and delectation o fwhite Redding, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, be misleading. Men like Wexler, the Erteguns, audiences throughout the world. Percy Sledge, Booker T. and the MGs, Sam and Sam Phillips and the Chess brothers succeeded Phil Chess specialized in jazz recording, Dave, Solomon Burke, King Curtis) and rock because they were strong in their dedication to working with such great artists as Sonny Stitt, (the Rascals, Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge, something they believed in. Thefuture success of Ramsey Lewis and Ahmad Jamal. Leonard, who Cream, Led Zeppelin, Yes, the Bee Gees, Blind rock and roll will depend on such dedication. died in 1969, specialized in the blues, aform of Faith, Crosby, Stills and Nash, King Crimson, tragic poetry infolk music, an eloquent Genesis, Roxy Music, Emerson, Lake and combination o fjoy and lament. And Marshall Palmer, the Rolling Stones). Chess, Leonard’s son, carried on the tradition Atlantic continues to produce hit acts, and Ahmet Ertegun (left) and in his work with the Rolling Stones. No other Ertegun continues to influence and inspire new Jerry Wexler (center) family has given the world a greater generations ofartists. with Big Joe Turner contribution o fhonest, epic-making music.
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LEONARD CHESS B om March 12th, 1917 AHMET ERTEGUN JERRY WEXLER Poland Bam July 31st, 1923 Bom January 10th, 1917 D ied October 16th, 1969 Istanbul, Turkey New York, New York Chicago, Illinois BY MARTY OSTROW
SEYMOUR STEIN CALLED me one morning last month. six or seven new titles, tell them that they were getting an “ Marty,” he said, “ you were at C ash B o x when the whole rock exclusive and beg for regular play. Then I would drive over to the and roll era began to develop. At the time, C ash B o x captured the record shop in town, tell them this was getting heavy play and sell essence of what was happening in our industry. Coyld you do a them a box right out of the car. feature for our Hall of Fame program on the role C ash B o x played ‘ ‘The rest of the country was blanketed by sending a box or two in the early development of rock and roll?” of the new singles to my indie distribs and then getting on the Seymour was right. C ash B o x did play an important role in the phone and threatening the distrib that he’s gonna lose the line if he growth of rock and roll. To understand how, let’s step back a third doesn’t break all seven singles in his area. ” of a century to the early Fifties and see what the record business Because the hits in each area were sO v a r i e d B o x was like then, in the period when R&B, country and indie-label developed a series Of regional R&B charts known as the Hot pop were all beginning to rub shoulders with one another. Charts, reporting weekly on the Top Ten R&B singles in the At the time, pop stations aimed their programming at a white twelve cities that had the heaviest R&B sales, audience, playing such artists as Perry Como, Dinah Shore, It was this feature that eventually made C ash B o x important. In Rosemary Clooney and Doris Day. But each city with a significant the early years, songs like “ Shake a Hand,” by Faye Adams, and black population had at least one station that featured another type “ Sixty Minute Man” ’ by.Billy Ward and the Dominoes, would of pop music, playing Jimmy Reed, Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, rise to the top of these charts - in every city - and never be heard by Fats Domino, Muddy Waters, James Brown and Chuck Berry. any white people other than those music junkies who tuned into B illb o a rd was the leading music trade paper. And since the R&B stations. This material was never even considered for a pop major labels were making most of the big noise in the industry, cover at that time. Then, over a short span of a year or two, Bill they were getting most of B illb o a rd ’s editorial space. Haley covered Joe Turner’s “ Shake, Rattle and Roll,” Perry C ash B o x was known at the time as the jukebox operator’s Como covered Gene and Eunice’s “ Ko Ko Mo,” Pat Boone publication. We had a big section dealing with trade news about covered Fats Domino’s ‘*Ain’t That a Shame,” the McGuire jukeboxes and coin machines. We got involved in music when our Sisters covered the Moonglows’ “ Sincerely,” the Crew Cuts subscribers began requesting a chart of the records that were covered the Chords’ “ Sh*-Boom,” and the Fontane Sisters cov getting heavy play on the nation’s jukeboxes. ered Otis Williams and the Chârms’ ‘ ‘Hearts of Stone. ’ ’ C ash B o x started a weekly Top Ten jukebox chart, based on And since nothing awakens interest among record-industry weekly phone calls to leading jukebox operators . While Compiling people like a new, steady source of hit material, the major labels, this, we were often told that the most profitable locations were the music publishers, radio stations and songwriters all developed a taverns in black neighborhoods. keen interest in the C ash B o x Hot Charts. Occasionally, we asked the white operators how they chose At this point, radio was still totally divided, with pop covers records for the jukeboxes in the black areas. They often said being played onlf On white radio and the original R&B versions something like this: “ One of the Negro kids in my stockrooin and being played only on black radio. Then along camé Alan Freed, one of my drivers tell me what to get. They listen to this R&B stuff who, more than any other single individual, changed the face of day and night. I don’t know good from bad when it comfs to R&B. radio. He Would play a pop version of â hit, followed immediately You guys at C ash B o x oughta compile a list of the best R&B by the original R&B version of the same song. The R&B sound records on the jukeboxes like you do for the pop records.” became more acceptable to the white ear. Soon the white market In our desire to cover some aspect of music in greater depth than began to prefer the original versions. It wasp’t long before little B illb o a rd - r and in the hope that it would result in increased independent record manufacturers were coming up with one big advertising revenue - we decided to cover the R&B area more pop or rock and roll hit after another. thoroughly and develop a Top Ten R&B chart. During this series of events, the C ash B o x staff was called into a We went to the independent distributors who handled the R&B meeting to resolve a dilemma. A record called “ Gee,” by the labels and got a list of key retail shops in black areas. These Crows, oh George Goldner’s Rama label, had been riding high on distribs also gave us a rundown of one-stops (subdistributors who the R&B charts. Then it began to get heavy reports out of the white sold records to jukebox operators, candy stores, shoeshine parlors record shops. Although the word was not yet in the record-industry and so forth). lexicon, we were experiencing the first “ crossover” record. When we started surveying these outlets, we found that the hits We resolved the problem by keeping the record on the R&B varied greatly from city to city. What was Top Teh in New Orleans chart and by placing the same record on the pop chart. Needless to often never made it onto the Top Ten in L.A. This was because say, this opened a Pandora’s box of discussions and arguments on these small R&B labels were seldom in control of their own the proper way to compile the total volume from both charts. destinies. They may have had just one national promotion man (if Similar problems of categorization developed out of the country- they had one at all). They shipped their records to some thirty music area when Elvis Presley and,, later, the Everly Brothers - different independent distributors and had to hope that these indie both originally regarded as country acts - got heavier acceptance distribs would get excited! about a new release. ,, in the pop area than they did in country. Promotion in the early days of R&B was very crude. The late I remember a series of meetings during the late Fifties at which Leonard Ghess related his modus operandi in the early years Of we discussed whether a record should be reviewed in pop, R&B or Chess Records: country, or in all three, or in two of the threei We even discussed “ When I had six or seven new records, I would press up as doing away with the R&B section altogether, because we didn’t many 78s as I could fit in the trunk, front seat and back seat of my want to limit a record to only one audience when we couldn’t tell car and would head out from Chicago to my distributor in from the sound who it would appeal to. Shreveport, Stan Lewis. I would head through the back roads and Of course, our confusion at C ash B o x reflected the changes that drive through every black area, looking for transmitting towers. I were taking place in music and in society. It was a privilege to be would walk into these little R&B stations (most of which never able to cover from its inception - and to contribute to - one of the saw record-company people), give them a free copy of each of the most creative music periods in our history. COUNTRY WIHHERS '* * 8 m , « M OF “THE CASH BOX ! « w i n n e r s o f
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The Cash Box Volume XVII— Number SO S^tambwSeptember 1, 1, 1»M 1956 j POUNDED BY I U C S X » N iw ro*
"•¡SS*6,■vn*»*c iì» F Dm M Bex Publishing Co., I AtU*«*"’” % Wot 47th Stmt, New Yerk 36, N.Y. (All I M JUtbse 4-H44) • THE QUESTION C«We AMrras CA9IIB0X, N. T.- aaiiH o o m o I'khM m' 32 Wot Randolph St., OdesgD I, IQ. IAB ThBRWt DIhWi* P “ ft' SENSATIONAL DEMANDS IN W P - W B - c f r W - HOLLYWOOD OFFICE -• »423- 6272 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, Chi, 5 5 5 — — (n«Mt BOQruood Mt») OF JACK DBVAMIY
1765 ConraraJma^A^Bmou 35. Mm. CHICAGO: (PhoM! Alrwwuio 44444) I ^ ^ S Í H u o t e r otrr urwosTOtt LONDON OPPICI 17 HffltgJUudra. N.W^Ewgjaad XSOy$^'*mi •«T# 'j¡S¡U;; ELVIS PRESLEY!
5ÏC0R0TH6 NORMAN ORLECK, AsssdMe Edits» l « * « e r i Prahehly ihr hoilr.1 Hhutoni have programed . MARTY OmtOW. Asssdsts Editor rnlprtnlnmml basine*» today marginal bu»in«-ws (bey CISSIB Omit’ Worn*«'* Editor © HI ley. HeV certainly causing the ptuim «■ I enterprise* fat | T. TORTOSA, C h J 3 T $ b a « k8 dtemcat, get linn H* widest prat coverage, , , roi*siF, tainutm Atr And aa far a* influente p n , ■ RUNO DUTKOWSKY, An Direnar drawing Use largest audience», and dcftnilely ittonh todayy create stars faster than almost selling Into of record«, ’ ------other-*— -atcdii— ADVERTISING RATS Ad vt trimotor*'U tuhjm » •f puWiihm. Yet, lt> Iwbibp almostI n niiwwimnational pastimepa ,te.lbera«nll„dl»le,------J indnslry shouldrt1.rfJ,Mw take J S n t o û W f to kneefc Presley. Even people wbo’ve .— ^ijing him — on general pride in the great stars it has created, stars Ht.pir yta/Mud principle*. H *e Bnt what’» worst of nil » pono ou le liecume lop box offici. rarairabcm*M taTJXim XimluftirCbu! «urne to aihrr Hohl.. Jo., ot-lnaal. he» Ä f t 1 M g £ £ £ S people in Ike reenrtl burl* ; HOU.YWOC ness who are knocking him me . few. What Imjirah, eouMn’t be prowl, abonld be boasting about him. (er In.tnnco, nf bavin, u M S e Pera, ' ramht I— null 1 3 r a t m wra e m Ora», who', come lo mprrraut rvra»Me« ! S f X Æ Ï Â t S ^ T Î r a ' .^ S S a '  I6V J S ^ ns big a* any artist .b».V «ootl and air. Í» mUllaa. „( p„p|„ | .PM » Ik —* can be at dm moment- ■ ind be wni created«rented •erae tbeIhr country?manir,? Or ea DerbDoris Dny,IM,, wltowho beebas ! TUB TM CASKCUB tOXBOX ram.m*s„ .*<1. minaut« estaafe ñama*»lira so-la by dm record business. Instead of being *"*i© on tola be theIhe toplap female attractionallronlon lain jÌ Ï 2  prend of tbe fact that the record Industry motion pletora industry? Or an Andy **w£ câSH* *maKm*m ro*eltì"m M * wwt bas dm ability and power to cerate dm hot- GrilQtb, who, as the resali of one record, | iosa' Also Available 6 Consecutive dit* rareired tbe recognition which enabled him .,Wew  » t,TÏASÏ ■ one people In ear heMerae «a «ale, elae« to exploit his actingI ahlHtyability first on BroadwayBroadi ¡J « * CA* " “““•' ' abb Ibe «maral koacbja« Imal bwaaer II ™ *“ ’™V « ■ muMOO piotare? The rcc> appears to be dm fasblonsble thing to do. ■d industry has alsoi produced P ----&Wk’ Í ,v«^Sf • UK PROBLEH ...... X» ««mW la tlm mm THANKS.../ • stenedoo to ns. |R «Agit lobueml «raM, on,I a Jahanie lb ,, «lu *l»l»r«l has been world-wide, and am hs."Tb ’ fact, what the record Indus* m vooM «. an IMb«. try needs is a change------P la.Ia-J- rolnr|df. I E ? Ä £ COREO MOtrtO tu MIDNIGHTERS with he change In sta I palai k. In’. Map bela« unblr H I longer a minor facet . W « Mop knarlifng the pnalara. j ¡¡ fa-ra-lam FOR SELECT»« DS AS THE No. 1 RID HOT pkttra. Our bulmra, bra p m up oed wr r a m An felvhKivi, Presley,Prrara,, whetherM ir a yon | N¡.rairara« d inn to c now ma bke U, ptrar nprall, raaaap .U Ih. Dkr kb ra,lr ar doa-l, b a «raal Ibla« far I tamirakl'" HEARTS 07 STONE I M U 6 » '* fTHM AND BLUES GROUP OF THE YEAR other enwrtahunent field*. Records ara be- tbe record tndostry. Lc«*b devote »be energy I **” Ejt,il \J Choran * «, HBH»«1“ "•"* -Oetu*e 6062 lag enjoyed In millions of hontes every day we would spend in bating the guy to trying : AwaSvSS, and Urn prospects are certain for even greater le develop several more who will sell era- i dmTJin'^wS MMMM“ Í w r m c u V h w m » growth In tbe immediate future. Recotd orda at the pace that be dees. ! Convmit YOU UFSET Ml, »ATT B. 8 Kina i sy ä sisn** (RPM 416S
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