Yo’s truly paid a visit to Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven headquarters at the old Chess Records Office and Studio at 2120 S Michigan Ave at the weekend. For those of you who haven’t made the trip, I thoroughly recommend it. For $10 I had a tour of the recording studio’s excellent little museum and watched a comprehensive film of the history of Chicago blues. Chess, of course, was home to blues legends such as Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. The studio, which is a Chicago landmark, is not far from Chess Lofts, 320 E 21st St, Warman Development’s conversion of the warehouse where the recording label produced its own albums. Looking around Chess I started to think what a pity it was that there are few or no signs of the other studios that once made up South Michigan Avenue’s Record Row (between about Roosevelt Road and 22nd Street), and were the spiritual homes of R&B and soul, such as Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records, Vee-Jay Records, Brunswick Records and others.
Memo to city officials: More could be done to promote Chess as a tourist attraction and educate people about the musical heritage of Record Row by at least placing plaques on the sidewalk outside the old buildings / vacant lots where history was made. The city could produce a great audio tour, complete with music, so Chicagoans and visitors could stroll South Michigan Avenue listening to and learning about the greats. I’m sure all the condo developers in those parts would welcome such an initiative. I’m less familiar with the original Record Row (Cottage Grove between about 47th and 50th streets) – anyone know if anything has been done there to preserve the street’s musical history?