THE CHESS BOX is a comprehensive box set containing 71 digitally remastered tracks in chronological order of recording. The set also includes a 36 page booklet containing an interview and liner notes.
Personnel includes: Chuck Berry (vocals, guitar, piano); Jimmy Rogers, Bo Diddley, Matt Murphy, Jeff Blador, Owen McEntyre, Billy Peek, Wayne "Tex" Gabriel (guitar); Peter Hogan (harmonica); L.C. Davis (tenor saxophone); Stan Bronstein (saxophone); Johnnie Johnson, Otis Spann, Lafayette Leake, Paul Williams, Dave Kafinetti, Adam Ippolito (piano); Bob Baldo (electric piano); Willie Dixon, G. Smith, Chuck Bernard, Jack Groendal, Nick Potter, Greg Edick, Gary Van Scyoc (bass); Jasper Thomas, Eddie Hardy, Fred Below, Odie Payne, Bill Metros, Robbie McIntosh, Ron Reed, Rick Franks (drums); Jerome Green (maracas); Martha Berry, The Ecuadors (background vocals).
Recorded between 1954 & 1973.
Digitally remastered by Doug Schwartz (MCA Studios, Glendale, California).
A seminal figure in the evolution of rock 'n' roll, Chuck Berry's influence as songwriter and guitarist is incalculable. His cogent songs captured adolescent life, yet the artist was 30 years old when he commenced recording. In 1955, during a chance visit to Chicago, Berry met bluesman Muddy Waters, who advised the young singer to approach the Chess label. Berry's demo of 'Ida May', was sufficient to win a recording contract and the composition, retitled 'Maybellene', duly became his debut single. Berry enjoyed further hits with 'Thirty Days' and 'No Money Down', but it was his third recording session that proved even more productive, producing a stream of classics, 'Roll Over Beethoven', 'Too Much Monkey Business' and 'Brown-Eyed Handsome Man'. The artist's subsequent releases read like a lexicon of pop history - 'School Days', 'Rock And Roll Music' (all 1957), 'Sweet Little Sixteen', 'Reelin' And Rockin', 'Johnny B. Goode' (1958), 'Back In The USA', 'Let It Rock' (1960) and 'Bye Bye Johnny' (1960) are but a handful of the peerless songs written and recorded during this prolific period.
Berry was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1986. His stature as an essential figure in the evolution of popular music cannot be underestimated.
