Chess

For bootlegs/unofficial releases, see Chess (2). Also appears as "Chess Record Corp." on earliest releases and as "Chess Records" from 1967/68.

Based in Chicago, Illinois, Chess was one of the premier blues labels of the 1950s and 60s, also releasing R&B, soul, jazz, gospel and rock. They released records by every major blues artist in Chicago, including Little Walter and many others.
Brothers All Platinum Record Group in 1975. Leonard Chess died on October 16th, 1969.

Company: Chess Records
Associated to the publishing company Leonard Chess in 1953.
Label code: LC 0156

For company credits, see:
-Chess Recording Corp.
-Chess Producing Corp.
-GRT Corporation
-All Platinum Record Co., Inc.
-Sugar Hill Records Ltd.
-MCA Records, Inc.

45 RPM Catalog Number, Date and Label Identification:
1458-1670 (1951–1957): Blue and silver label, with three chess pieces at the top.
1671-1798 (1957–1961): Blue label with vertical Chess letters.
1799-1840 (1961–1963): Either blue label with vertical Chess letters or multi–color label.
1841-1950 (1963–1966): Black label, however there are many pressing plant variations. Some 1800 series issues exist on blue and silver, others on multi-color Chess labels.
1951 and higher (1966 forward): Light blue label.
A few red vinyl issues appeared in the 1530–1550 series. Inexplicable pressing plant variations exist, such as numbers as high as 1966 (mid-'66) with the blue label, with vertical Chess letters on left side.