Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

is a major center for music in the

midwestern United States The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

where distinctive forms of blues (greatly responsible for the future creation of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

), and

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

, a genre of

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

, were developed. The " Great Migration" of poor black workers from the South into the industrial cities brought traditional

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

blues music Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

to the city, resulting in

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but is performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of African Americans of the fi ...

and "Chicago-style"

Dixieland jazz Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

. Notable blues artists included

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr.; December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song " Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album '' Hoodoo Man Blues ...

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. He was at the forefront of transforming acoustic Delta blues into electric Chica ...

and both Sonny Boy Williamsons; jazz greats included

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

Gene Ammons Eugene "Jug" Ammons (April 14, 1925 – August 6, 1974), also known as "The Boss", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. The son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, Gene Ammons is remembered for his accessible music, steeped in soul and R ...

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

and

Bud Freeman Lawrence "Bud" Freeman (April 13, 1906 – March 15, 1991) was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing tenor saxophone, but also the clarinet. Biography In 1922, Freeman and some friends from high sc ...

. Chicago is also well known for its

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

. In the early 1930s,

Gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compo ...

began to gain popularity in Chicago due to

Thomas A. Dorsey Thomas Andrew Dorsey (July 1, 1899 – January 23, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and Christian evangelist influential in the development of early blues and 20th-century gospel music. He penned 3,000 songs, a third of them gospel, in ...

's contributions at

Pilgrim Baptist Church Pilgrim Baptist Church is a historic church located on the of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The landmarked building was originally constructed for a synagogue, Kehilath Anshe Ma'arav. The church is notable both as an architectural land ...

. In the 1980s and 1990s,

heavy rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard rock mu ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

also became popular in Chicago.

Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

s in Chicago include the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the ensemble has been based in the Symphony Center since 1904 and plays a summer season at the Ravinia F ...

, the

Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric Opera of Chicago is an American opera company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox (Chicago opera), Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, w ...

and the

Chicago Sinfonietta The Chicago Sinfonietta is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. The orchestra was founded in 1987 under the guidance of conductor and music director Paul Freeman (conductor), Paul Freeman (1936–2015) to address the disconnect be ...

Blues

Chicago's music scene has been well known for its blues music for many years. "Chicago Blues" uses a variety of instruments in a way which heavily influenced early

music, including instruments like electrically amplified guitar,

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

and sometimes the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

, which are generally used in

Delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...

, which originated in

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

. Chicago Blues has a more extended palette of notes than the standard six-note blues scale; often, notes from the

major scale The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at doubl ...

and dominant 9th chords are added, which gives the music more of a "jazz feel" while still being in the blues genre. Chicago blues is also known for its heavy rolling bass. The music developed mainly as a result of the " Great Migration" of poor black workers from the South into the industrial cities of the North, such as Chicago in particular, in the first half of the 20th century.William H. Frey, "The New Great Migration: Black Americans' Return to the South, 1965–2000", The Brookings Institution, May 2004, pp. 1–3
accessed 19 March 2008. Chicago is one of the places where the faster, juicier

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, but already developed in African-American communities since the 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually ex ...

emerged from the blues. The most renowned early recordings of boogies were made in Chicago with Clarence Pinetop Smith, who might have been influenced by the brothers Hersal Thomas and George W. Thomas from

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, who were together in Chicago in the 1920s. Chicago blues and boogie music continues to be popular today with the annual

Chicago Blues Festival The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June, that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the Chicago, Illinois, City of Chicago Department of Cu ...

, and with appreciation of many musicians such as

, and

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

; guitar players such as

Tampa Red Hudson Whittaker (born Hudson Woodbridge; January 8, 1903March 19, 1981), known as Tampa Red, was an American Chicago blues musician. His distinctive single-string slide guitar style, songwriting and bottleneck technique influenced other Chicago ...

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...

Bo Diddley Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist and singer who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, including Buddy ...

Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ...

and Lefty Dizz; and "harp" (blues slang for

) players such as

Big Walter Horton Walter Horton (April 6, 1921 – December 8, 1981), known as Big Walter (Horton) or Walter "Shakey" Horton, was an American blues harmonica player. A quiet, unassuming, shy man, he is remembered as one of the premier harmonica players in the hi ...

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

Sonny Boy Williamson I John Lee Curtis "Sonny Boy" Williamson (March 30, 1914 – June 1, 1948) was an American blues harmonica player and singer-songwriter. He is often regarded as the pioneer of the blues harp as a solo instrument. He played on hundreds of r ...

Syl Johnson Sylvester Johnson (born Sylvester Thompson; July 1, 1936 – February 6, 2022) was an American blues and soul singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. His most successful records included "Different Strokes" (1967), " Is It Because I' ...

Charlie Musselwhite Charles Douglas Musselwhite (born January 31, 1944) is an American blues harmonica player and bandleader who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal figure in helping to revive the Chicago ...

Paul Butterfield Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer, and bandleader. After early training as a Western concert flute, classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored ...

, and, most notably,

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

House

House music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

originated in a Chicago nightclub called

The Warehouse A warehouse is a storage facility. Warehouse or The Warehouse may also refer to: Buildings and places Canada * The Warehouse (Toronto), a defunct nightclub in Toronto, Ontario * The Warehouse Studio, a recording facility and photography studio i ...

. Chicago house is the earliest style of house music. While the origins of the name "house music" are unclear, the most popular belief is that it can be traced to the name of that club. DJ

Frankie Knuckles Francis Warren Nicholls Jr. (January 18, 1955 – March 31, 2014), known professionally as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer, and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music, a genre of mus ...

originally popularized house music while working at The Warehouse. House music was developed in the houses, garages and clubs of Chicago, and was initially for local club-goers in the "underground" club scenes, rather than for widespread commercial release. As a result, the recordings were much more conceptual, and longer than the music usually played on commercial radio. House musicians used analog synthesizers and sequencers to create and arrange the electronic elements and samples on their tracks, combining live traditional instruments and percussion and soulful vocals with preprogrammed electronic synthesizers and "beat-boxes". House, perhaps more than any other form of black music, has birthed many offshoots and spread its sound far and wide. The prevalence of four on the floor beats in dance music is largely derived from house. It has influenced, in some capacity,

Garage house Garage house (originally known as "garage"; local terms include "New York house" and New Jersey sound) is a dance music style that was developed alongside Chicago house music. The genre was popular in the 1980s in the United States and the 1990s ...

Jungle music Jungle is a genre of electronic music that developed in the 1990s out of the UK rave scene and Jamaican sound system culture. Emerging from breakbeat hardcore, the style is characterised by rapid breakbeats, heavily syncopated percussive loops, ...

Eurodance Eurodance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of Hip-hop, rap, techno and Eurodisco. This genre of music is heavily influenced by the use ...

Electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

Dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

, and even certain elements of

Alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

and

Hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

. Important musicians in the

Chicago house Chicago house refers to house music produced during the mid to late 1980s within Chicago. The term is generally used to refer to the original house music of DJs and producers from the area, such as Ron Hardy and Phuture History and origins D ...

scene include

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis (; ) was the mortal lover of the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone. He was considered to be the ideal of male beauty in classical antiquity. The myth goes that Adonis was gored by a wild boar during a hunting trip ...

Mark Farina Mark Farina is an American disc jockey and musician, known for his Chicago house, acid jazz and downtempo works. His notable releases include ''Mood'' (KMS Records, 1989) and the ''Mushroom Jazz'' series (Om Records, 1996–2011). He is primari ...

, Keith Farley,

Felix da Housecat Felix da Housecat (born Felix Stallings Jr., August 25, 1971) is an American DJ and record producer, mostly known for house music and electro. Felix is regarded as a member of the second wave of Chicago house. Musical career Early life Stalli ...

Fingers Inc. Fingers Inc. was an American music group hailing from Chicago, Illinois, comprising the producer Larry Heard and vocalists Robert Owens anRon Wilson Renowned for their pioneering deep house records, they emerged in the mid-1980s, notably with th ...

Ron Hardy Ron Hardy (May 8, 1958 – March 2, 1992) was an American, Chicago, Illinois-based DJ and record producer of early house music. He is well known for playing records at the Muzic Box, a Chicago house music club. Decades after his death, he is re ...

Larry Heard Larry Heard (born May 31, 1960) is an American DJ, record producer, and musician who has recorded under various names, most notably Mr. Fingers. He is widely known as a pioneering figure in 1980s house music, and was leader of the influential gr ...

Steve 'Silk' Hurley Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen. Notable people A–D * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Abel (born 1970), New Zealand politician * Steve Adams (disambiguation), ...

Marshall Jefferson Marshall Julius Jefferson (born September 19, 1959) is an American musician, working in the house music subgenres of Chicago house and deep house. Biography Sometimes known as the father of house music, Jefferson was originally a record produce ...

, Curtis Jones, Paul Johnson,

Lil' Louis Marvin Louis Burns (born May 13, 1962), known by his stage name Li'l Louis (sometimes expanded to Li'l Louis & the World and Li'l Louis & the Party), is a Chicago-born house-music producer and DJ .Larkin, Colin (1999) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia ...

Jesse Saunders Jesse Saunders (born on 10 March 1962) is an American house music musician, DJ, record producer, film producer, and entrepreneur. His 1984 single, ''" On & On"'', co-written with Vince Lawrence, is widely regarded as one of the first house musi ...

Joe Smooth Joseph Lorenzo Jr. Welbon (born May 9, 1963), known by the stage name Joe Smooth, is an American house music producer and DJ who gained international acclaim during the early 1980s. By the new millennium he held the reputation of working with a ...

, Julius the Mad Thinker and

Ten City Ten City (derived from ''intensity'') is an American, Chicago, Illinois-based R&B and house music act, that enjoyed a number of club hits and Urban radio hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was one of the first exponents of deep house. ...

The city is host to the Chicago House Music Festaval, the event is held at Millennium park in the late summer.

Jazz

The Chicago style

The "Chicago style" of

originated in southern musicians moving North after 1917, bringing with them the

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

" or sometimes called "

hot jazz Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

" styles. Dixieland largely evolved into Chicago style in the late 1910s and the new style was popularly called that name by the early 1920s. King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton became stars of the Chicago jazz scene. King Oliver in particular brought Louis Armstrong to Chicago in 1922 while he was performing at the Dreamland Café with his "Creole Jazz Band". More importantly, white musicians, or "alligators", attended Oliver's performances in order to learn how to play jazz. Louis Armstrong's recordings with his Chicago-based Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five and Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven, Hot Seven band came out in the years 1925 to 1928 and were popular with both black and white audiences. These recordings marked the transition of original New Orleans jazz to a more sophisticated type of American improvised music with more emphasis on solo choruses instead of just little solo breaks. This style of playing was adopted by white musicians who favored Time signature, meters of 2 instead of 4. Emphasis on solos, faster tempos, string bass and guitar (replacing the traditional tuba and banjo) and saxophones also distinguish Chicago-style playing from New Orleans style. When Chicago musicians started playing four-beat measures, they laid the foundation for the swing era. The Lindy Hop was originally danced to four-beat Chicago style jazz and went on to become one of the iconic features of the swing era. Important musicians in the Chicago style include Lovie Austin, Muggsy Spanier, Jimmy McPartland, Bix Beiderbecke, Eddie Condon,

, Gene Krupa, Frank Teschemacher, and Frank Trumbauer.* The gangsters of Chicago engaged profiled musicians like Earl Hines, whose benefit was to lead an orchestra in one of the city's top locations. Armstrong was also friendly with gangsters, such as Al Capone who frequently paid for private use of jazz clubs. Hines and Benny Goodman emancipated from Chicago style when they became two of the most famous band leaders of the swing era. Two decades later, original Chicago-style pianist Art Hodes presented the classic jazz style in a TV show series.

Modern Chicago jazz

From the mid 1960s to the present day the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians has nurtured "Great Black Music: Ancient to the Future". Chicago's jazz scene includes the annual Chicago Jazz Festival which has its origins in the 1970s. Festival performers have included Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, Benny Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Anthony Braxton, Betty Carter, Lionel Hampton, Chico O'Farrill's big band, Jimmy Dawkins, Von Freeman, Johnny Frigo, Slide Hampton, and Roy Haynes. Musicians from all surviving eras of jazz perform regularly in the city, release recordings, and tour nationally and internationally. Sinyan Shen, internationally known for his Shanghai classical repertoire and Shanghai jazz performances based on tonal interests and just intervals, is based in Chicago. Musicians still performing today who originally came to prominence in the bebop and hard bop eras include Von Freeman and Jimmy "Preacher" Ellis, Jimmy Ellis, both contemporaries of former Chicagoan Johnny Griffin. Members of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians working regularly in the city include Fred Anderson (musician), Fred Anderson, Ernest Dawkins, Aaron Getsug, and Isaiah Spencer. Since the 1960s, members of the organization have performed their version of "Great Black Music" throughout the world. Innovative jazz musicians who have come to public attention since the early 1990s include Marbin, David Boykin, Karl E. H. Seigfried, Jeff Parker (musician), Jeff Parker, Joshua Abrams (musician), Joshua Abrams and Jim Baker (musician), Jim Baker. Common to many of this new generation is an embrace of a wide variety of styles and techniques.

Soul

During the mid-1960s to the late 1970s a new style of soul music emerged from Chicago. Its sound, like southern soul with its rich influence of Traditional black gospel, black gospel music, also exhibited an unmistakable gospel sound, but was somewhat lighter and more delicate in its approach, and was sometimes called "soft soul". Popular R&B/soul artists from Chicago include The Impressions, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, Lou Rawls, The Five Stairsteps, The Staple Singers, Earth Wind & Fire, Rufus (band), Rufus, Chaka Khan, Dave Hollister, The Emotions, Chi-lites, The Chi-lites, R. Kelly, Carl Thomas (singer), Carl Thomas, and Jennifer Hudson. Chicago soul labels, including Vee-Jay, Chess Records, OKeh, ABC-Paramount, Brunswick Records, Brunswick, and Curtom, established a major presence in R&B/soul music.

Vee-Jay Records

Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in

and specializing in blues,

, rhythm and blues and

. The label was founded in Gary, Indiana in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James Bracken, James C. Bracken (shortly after moving to Chicago), a husband-and-wife team who used their initials for the label's name. Vee-Jay hold historical significance being one of the first African American and female owned record companies.

Chess Records

Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in

, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into

, gospel music, early

, and

and comedy recordings, released on the Chess and its subsidiary labels Checker Records, Checker and Argo Records, Argo/Cadet Records, Cadet. Chess was based at several locations on the south side of Chicago, initially at South Cottage Grove Ave. The most famous was 2120 S. Michigan Avenue (Chicago), Michigan Avenue, from May 1957 to 1965, immortalized by the Rolling Stones in "2120 South Michigan Avenue", an instrumental recorded there during the group's first U.S. tour in 1964. The building is now the home of

's Blues Heaven Foundation.

Rock

In 1965 Chicago's burgeoning pop rock horn sound moved into national exposure with the brass arrangements in early recordings by The Buckinghams, who recorded their first hits at the historic Chess Records, Chess Studios. Their horn sound was followed quickly and expanded upon substantially by the rock band Chicago (band), Chicago, originally named the Chicago Transit Authority. Other popular Chicago-based bands from the 1960s and 1970s include Shadows of Knight, Cryan' Shames, The Buckinghams, The Flock (band), The Flock, Ides of March (band), Ides of March, New Colony Six, Mason Proffit, Styx (band), Styx, Survivor (band), Survivor, REO Speedwagon (Champaign) and Cheap Trick (Rockford). As documented in Michael Azerrad's ''Our Band Could Be Your Life'', the 1980s independent music scene was alive and well in Chicago. Some of the more famous punk and "post-punk" products originating from the city were Naked Raygun, The Effigies, 88 Fingers Louie, Big Black, The Queers and Screeching Weasel, with punk legend Patti Smith also born in the city. Many of these bands would become major precursors to pop punk (Screeching Weasel and The Queers) and post-hardcore (Big Black and Naked Raygun). At this time Steve Albini (of Big Black) also began his prolific recording engineer work with acts both local and national. The Victims (American band), The Victims represented Chicago on the New Wave scene. The 1980s punk scene eventually gave way to the 1990s alternative rock boom with artists like Local H, Eleventh Dream Day, Ministry (band), Ministry, Veruca Salt (band), Veruca Salt (the band Seether is named after their song "Seether (song), Seether"), My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Material Issue, Liz Phair, Urge Overkill, LaTour, The Jesus Lizard, and The Smashing Pumpkins gaining fame. Many of these bands got their career started at noted alternative music venues Metro Chicago, Metro (originally Cabaret Metro) and Lounge Ax, and later on influential alternative music station Q101 (internet radio), Q101. Alternative icons Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Adam Jones (musician), Adam Jones (Tool (band), Tool), and Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine) also attended school in the area. In the late 1990s, along with Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI and Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Champaign-Urbana, IL, Chicago also supported a healthy midwestern emo/post-hardcore scene that included Cap'n Jazz, Braid (band), Braid and American Football (band), American Football. Since the late 1990s/early 2000s, Chicago has also become a major force in the American heavy metal scene including a handful of deathcore, death metal and industrial metal groups supported and promoted by indie labels like Wax Trax! Records among others. Bands such as, Disturbed (band), Disturbed, SOiL, From Zero (band), From Zero, No One (band), No One, Ministry (band), Ministry, Dance Club Massacre, Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya, Macabre (band), Macabre, Oceano (band), Oceano and Lovehammers hail from the Chicago area. Since the 2000s Chicago has remained a hotbed for independent music. Being home to a number of Chicago record labels, independent record labels such as Touch and Go Records, Thrill Jockey Records, Bloodshot Records, Drag City Records, Victory Records and HoZac Records, Hozac Records, Chicago continues to have one of the most active indie scenes in the United States. The area is home to the foundations of American hardcore punk, alt-country, noise rock, industrial music, and many other independent music scenes. Contemporary bands with ties to Chicago include Wilco, Tortoise (band), Tortoise, The Sea and Cake, Califone, The Greenskeepers, The Loneliest Monk, The Mekons, Smith Westerns, Andrew Bird, Umphrey's McGee, Neko Case, and Matthew Friedberger, Matthew & Eleanor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces. The 2000s have also seen many punk/pop/rock bands from the Chicago area attain national success, including Disturbed (band), Disturbed, SOiL, Alkaline Trio, Kill Hannah, The Academy Is, Rise Against, The Audition (band), The Audition, Spitalfield, Chevelle (band), Chevelle, the Plain White T's, and OK Go. Fall Out Boy, from Wilmette, Illinois, has been the most commercially successful band to come from the Chicago area in recent years, scoring 4 #1 albums on the Billboard Hot 200. Despite the scene's frequent distaste for local politics, city funding has allowed Chicago to become America's premier music festival city, hosting popular indie headliners such as Superchunk, Black Francis, Pavement (band), Pavement, The Flaming Lips, Spoon (band), Spoon, De La Soul, Mos Def, Isis (band), Isis, Olivia Tremor Control and Junior Boys. It has also hosted music festivals such as Pitchfork Music Festival, Lollapalooza (since 2005),

, Alehorn of Power, Riot Fest, and a free weekly Monday music series called "Downtown Sound", at Millennium Park's Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Chicago's music scene varies from neighborhood to neighborhood, but overall has a large focus on independent music due to its influences from local record stores and local radio stations WXRT-FM and Loyola University Chicago's WLUW. Chicago is home to media tastemakers Pitchfork Media, ''The Onion''s ''The A.V. Club'', ''Consequence of Sound'', the nationally syndicated ''Sound Opinions'' radio talk show, and Chicago Independent Radio Project, CHIRP, a community radio station providing the internet with independent music. The station also bids for support to convince the United States Congress and the Federal Trade Commission, FCC to remove existing barriers to low power FM radio licenses in urban areas.

Hip-hop/rap

The

of Chicago is sometimes called "Chi-town" in the music industry. It became commonplace for serious rappers to cite the Nation of Islam, a Black Muslim organization headquartered in Chicago, as a lyrical and ideological influence in the 1980s and 1990s, a rap theme often resulting in controversy. Kanye West's The College Dropout, first album was nominated for Grammy Award for Album of the Year and won Best Rap Album. Lupe Fiasco's 2006 album ''Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor'' was a #1 selling rap album. Lil Durk Icebox

Today, Chicago is well established within the hip hop industry. Drill music was also born in Chicago.

Gospel

Chicago artists and impresarios have been important in the development of the

genre. Its origin and rise in popularity is mainly due to the "godfather of Gospel music",

. Dorsey began his career as a blues pianist, but later began composing religious music to the rhythms of jazz and blues, later calling it "Gospel". His most popular song, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand", was a favorite of Martin Luther King Jr., and was sung by Mahalia Jackson by his request at his funeral. Many other artists have recorded their own renditions of "Precious Lord", including another Chicago Gospel artist, Albertina Walker. Dorsey influenced other Chicago Gospel artists such as The Caravans and Little Joey McClork. Tired of the treatment he received in other music publishing houses, Dorsey founded his own called Dorsey House of Music. Music historians often cite

in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood as the birthplace of Gospel music. Originators of the genre, including James Cleveland, The Staples Singers, and the Edwin Hawkins singers, have performed there. Other instrumental members in the Gospel music movement were Roberta Martin, Sallie Martin, Kenneth Morris (composer), Kenneth Morris, and Lucy Smith Collier, "Little Lucy" Smith. The influences of jazz and blues have been replaced with more contemporary influences such as hip hop music, rap, and rhythm and blues. Chicago is home to the annual GospelFest where traditional and contemporary Gospel choirs perform. Milton Brunson, Rev. Milton Brunson and The Thompson Community Singers originated in Chicago. Dr. Charles G. Hayes and Clay Evans (pastor), Rev. Dr. Clay Evans both had chart-topping choirs in Chicago. Urban contemporary gospel artists such as Ray and Percy Bady, Darius Brooks, Ricky Dillard & New Generation Chorale, Joshua's Troop, New Direction, Shekinah Glory Ministry, and VaShawn Mitchell all have had Gospel hits and hail from Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.

Music venues and institutions in Chicago

Venues

The Chicago area has many music venues, which include: * Arcada Theater Building, in St. Charles, Illinois, St. Charles * Aragon Ballroom (Chicago), Aragon Ballroom * Arie Crown Theatre * Auditorium Theatre * Bottom Lounge * Huntington Bank Pavilion * Chicago Shakespeare Theater * Chicago Theatre * City Winery (Chicago) * Civic Opera House (Chicago), Civic Opera House * Congress Theater * Constellation Jazz Club, Constellation * Copernicus Center (Chicago, Illinois) * The Cubby Bear * Drury Lane Theatre (Illinois), Drury Lane Theatres, in several locations * The Empty Bottle * FitzGerald's American Music Festival, FitzGerald's Night Club, in Berwyn, Illinois, Berwyn * Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre * Goodman Theatre * Green Mill Cocktail Lounge * Harris Theater (Chicago), Harris Theater * The Hideout Inn * Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre (Tinley Park, Illinois) * Horseshoe Hammond, Horseshoe Casino Hammond, in Hammond, Indiana * House of Blues (Chicago) * Mike Reed (musician), Hungry Brain * Irish American Heritage Center * Jay Pritzker Pavilion * The Jazz Showcase * Kingston Mines (blues club) * LaSalle Bank Theatre * Lincoln Hall Chicago, Lincoln Hall * University of Chicago#Arts, Logan Center of the Arts * Marriott Theatre, in Lincolnshire, Illinois, Lincolnshire * Metro Chicago, Metro * North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, in Skokie,_Illinois#Parks, recreation and attractions, Skokie * Old Town School of Folk Music * Park West (music venue), Park West * Petrillo Music Shell * Portage Theater * Ravinia Festival, Ravinia Park * Riviera Theatre * Rosemont Theater, in Rosemont, Illinois, Rosemont * Sears Centre, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, Hoffman Estates * Soldier Field * Evanston S.P.A.C.E., in Evanston, Illinois, Evanston * Symphony Center (home to the

and

) * Thalia Hall (Chicago), Thalia Hall * UIC Pavilion * United Center * The Vic Theater * Woodstock Opera House, in Woodstock, Illinois, Woodstock Former venues included: * Amazingrace Coffeehouse * Avalon Regal Theater * Central Music Hall (Chicago), Central Music Hall * Checkerboard Lounge * Double Door * Old Town, Chicago, Earl of Old Town *The Exit * The Fireside Bowl * Gate of Horn * Heartland Cafe * Lounge Ax * Regal Theater, Chicago * Theresa Needham, Theresa's Lounge *

* The Forum (Chicago) , The Forum

Institutions

* Merit School of Music * Music Institute of Chicago * Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music, in Evanston * Old Town School of Folk Music * SAE Institute of Media Technology-Chicago

References

External links

City of Chicago
*
Independent Music
The Black Musician and the White City: Race and Music in Chicago, 1900-1967 by Amy Absher {{Blues Music of Chicago, American music history Chicago blues, Music Of Chicago Jazz culture Music of the United States by city, Chicago