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Blues Jam at Chess (1969)

Where the lyrics of Blues Jam at Chess take you, and where it was really made.

Made in one day at a Chicago studio that was about to close, this blues jam was released in December 1969 after the band had moved to Reprise Records.

Key places

Chess Records studio, Chicago (1969)

Recording site Chicago Recording Company — The band recorded this blues jam in one day at Chess Records in Chicago in early 1969. The point is placed at city-center level, not the exact building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Blues Jam in Chicago: studio recording by the British rock band Fleetwood Mac
• Originally released in two single-LP volumes by Blue Horizon in December 1969
• Result of a recording session in early 1969 at Chess Records in Chicago
• The band was then a young British blues band that drew inspiration from famous Chicago blues artists
• Also released under the titles Blues Jam at Chess Volumes One and Two, with slightly different track listings

Background

• January 1969: Fleetwood Mac were in Chicago opening for Muddy Waters at the Regal Theater
• Producer Mike Vernon heard that the Chess Record Studio was about to close
• Vernon contacted Marshall Chess, a co-founder of Chess Records, to schedule a session at the facility
• The album was recorded while the band was still under contract with Blue Horizon
• By the December release, the band was signed to Reprise Records instead
• After the Blue Horizon deal lapsed, the band bought most of its catalogue from the label
• Material with Willie Dixon from the Chess sessions stayed with Blue Horizon

Recording

• Band line-up: Peter Green (guitar, vocals), Jeremy Spencer (guitar, vocals), Danny Kirwan (guitar, vocals), Mick Fleetwood (drums), John McVie (bass)
• Chicago musicians: Otis Spann (piano, vocals), Willie Dixon (upright bass), Shakey Horton (harmonica, vocals), J.T. Brown (tenor saxophone, vocals), Buddy Guy (guitar), Honeyboy Edwards (guitar, vocals), S.P. Leary (drums)
• Dixon also organized the sessions
• Produced by Mike Vernon and Marshall Chess, engineering by Stu Black
• Photography by Jeff Lowenthal
• Session photographs by Lowenthal were published in a book in December 2022

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in London in July 1967 by Peter Green after leaving John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, with Mick Fleetwood on drums.
• The name combines Fleetwood's surname with bassist John McVie, who joined in 1967.
• Early line-up was primarily a British blues band; "Albatross" reached UK No. 1 in 1968.

Members

• Core members over time: Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham.
• Buckingham and Nicks joined at the end of 1974 and drove the band's global success.

Career

• Rumours (1977) is one of the best-selling albums of all time and won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1978.
• The band has sold more than 120 million records worldwide.
• Received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 1979 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
• Received the MusiCares Person of the Year award in 2018.
• Christine McVie died in 2022; Stevie Nicks later said she saw no reason to continue the band.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Peter Green said the album came out soon after the studio album Then Play On, which was still on the charts
• Green believed Blues Jam was inferior to both Then Play On and the earlier album Mr. Wonderful
• Green said most fans would not like it, since many blues fans had dropped the band after its television appearances and hits

Reappraisal

• AllMusic: the sessions were put together on short notice and recorded in one day, giving them a ramshackle feel
• AllMusic: the energy of the performances was said to overcome the shortcomings of the date
• Green later dismissed the Chess sessions as a non-event in a 1999 interview
• Green said the rest of the band was not into the session and did not play well
• The album is seen as a record of a young British band playing with Chicago blues veterans

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Mike Vernon learned during the band's Chicago stay that the Chess Record Studio was about to close, which led to the session.
• Melody Maker reported on the recording sessions in its 11 January 1969 edition, naming Buddy Guy, Shakey Horton, and Willie Dixon among the participants.
• Willie Dixon also organized the sessions, and the Chess material with him stayed with Blue Horizon after the band left that label.
• Green called the sessions a non-event in a 1999 interview, saying the band did not play well.
• The album was first issued on Blue Horizon, which had the band under contract at the time of recording.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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