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Various Chess Artists
 
 

Chess Blues Classics It's not that the Chess artists don't deserve individual recognition (and Muddy Waters does get his own disc on the list), but there was a time when record labels contributed their own unique qualities to their artists sounds. Singular recording spaces, label owner sensibilities, in-house producers and bands all factored into recordings to make a one-of-a-kind label sound that's much harder to find in the ProTools age. Chess was one of the best, virtually defining the Chicago blues sound, but there are plenty of others - Stax, Motown, Hi, Minit, to name a few.