But he trusted Marshall enough to leave his regular band at home for 1968 sessions overseen by Marshall, saxophonist/arranger Gene Barge, Rotary Connection leader Charles Stepney and populated by players from the Connection’s axis, including jazz guitarists Phil Upchurch, Roland Faulkner, and Pete Cosey (who was also a part of Miles Davis’ 70s fusion period). Muddy was none too eager to get a paisley-powered makeover. hit, “Pictures of Matchstick Men”) and The Wildweeds.īut barely an eye blink later, Marshall was concocting a plan to swing some of that cool cred over to Chess Records’ blues barons. With this in mind, he created Chess’s Cadet Concept imprint, initially designed to capture the attention of the “kids” with heady psych/soul/jazz hybrid The Rotary Connection (including a young Minnie Riperton) and rockers on the rise like Status Quo (the label hosted their lone U.S. The label had taught the world to love Chicago blues, but by 1967, twentysomething Marshall reckoned his dad’s company had to catch up or get left behind. The train started rolling in the mind of Marshall Chess, son of Chess Records co-founder Leonard Chess. British Invasion covers of classics from the Chess and Sun catalogs rallied a new audience, leading to reissues and new releases from the bluesmen marketed to the younger crowd.īut by the late 60s, the countercultural explosion had pulled rock fans further from away the genre’s musical roots, so a few savvy souls decided to do something about it.

By mid-decade, the UK and US rock stars who’d learned their lessons from the old-schoolers’ 50s recordings did their heroes a good turn by bringing the spotlight back to them. Giving the greats their dueīaby boomer rockers and Chicago blues originators spent a good portion of the 60s doing a dizzying do-si-do together. And the impact was as unforeseen as it was long-lasting. The psychedelic blues period for Chicago titans like Muddy and Wolfand first-generation rock’n’rollers like Bo, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard wasn’t a long one but it blasted a hole in preconceptions on either side of the stylistic fence. It was the Age of Aquarius, and the blues was busy being psychedelicized. After psychedelia came to a boil in the late 60s, the blues and rock heroes of the 50s took a brief but thrilling walk on the wild side, with fuzz guitars, wah-wah effects, and epic jams to the fore.

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