Course Outline
| Date | Topic |
| February 1 | Introduction, the great migrations, and early recordings |
| February 8 | Blues, pop, gospel, jazz, and rock of the 1950s and 60s. The business of music |
| February 15 | Chuck Berry |
| February 22 | The music of Willie Dixon |
| March 1 | The legacy of Chess Records |
Discography
Here are the music and video playlists for this course.
Please check back on or after the day of the class; these listings are subject to change. In addition, these playlists reflect our best intentions. If we get to talking, we may not get to all of the tunes.
Presentations
- 2120 South Michigan Avenue – Class 1
- 2120 South Michigan Avenue – Class 2
- 2120 South Michigan Avenue – Class 3
- 2120 South Michigan Avenue – Class 4
Playlists
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- Chess – Class 1 Playlist
- Chess – Class 2 Playlist
- Chess – Class 2 Videos
- Chess – Class 3 Playlist
- Chess – Class 4 Playlist
- Chess – Class 5 Playlist Videos
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- Acapella Soul – This Magic Moment
- Elvis Presley – Viva Las Vegas
- Chess Records – 22. 1968: Things Fall Apart, 1969: Leonard Chess Passes Away
- Aretha Franklin – Think
- Muddy Waters w/Rolling Stones – Long Distance Call
- Chuck Berry & Julian Lennon – Johnny B Goode (See also Chuck Berry and John Lennon on the Mike Douglas Show)
- Bruce Springsteen – You Never Can Tell (Leipzig 7/7/13)
- Chicago’s Best Record Studio: Blues Heaven Foundation
- Estimate Puts Number of Master Recordings Lost in 2008 Universal Fire at 500,000 Link
The most helpful resource for discography is https://www.discogs.com/.
See also the Chuck Berry Database and Second Hand Songs.
Bibliography
Carson, Phil. Roy Buchanan: American Axe. Hal Leonard Corporation, 2001.
Cohodas, Nadine. Spinning blues into gold: The Chess brothers and the legendary Chess Records. United States: Iconoclassic Books, 2012.
Cohen, Rich. Machers and rockers: Chess Records and the business of rock & roll. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2004.
Dixon, Willie. I am the blues. New York. Da Capo Press, 1989. via Internet Archive.
Guralnick, Peter.
- Feel like going home: portraits in blues & rock’n’ roll. New York: Perennial Library, 1989.
- Martin Scorsese presents the blues: a musical journey, with Scorsese, Martin.. New York: Amistad, 2003.
- Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll. New York, NY: Back Bay Books, 2016.
Turner, Ike, and Nigel Cawthorne. Takin’ Back My Name: The Confessions of Ike Turner. Virgin Pub, 1999.