December 3, 2008
by Roger Ebert
An argument could be made that modern rock 'n' roll was launched not at Sun Records in Memphis, but at Chess Records, 2120 S. Michigan, and its earlier South Side locations since the early 1950s. The Rolling Stones even recorded a song named after the address. The great Chess roster included Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James, Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry and Little Walter. They first made Chicago the home of the blues, and then rhythm and blues, which, as Muddy said, had a baby, and they named it rock 'n' roll.
"Cadillac Records" is an account of the Chess story that depends more on music than history, which is perhaps as it should be. The film is a fascinating record of the evolution of a black musical style, and the tangled motives of the white men who had an instinct for it. The Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, walked into neighborhoods that were dicey for white men after midnight, packed firearms, found or were found by the most gifted musicians of the emerging urban music, and recorded them in a studio so small it forced the sound out into the world.
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I went and saw Cadillac Records Friday night because of the influence of the blues on my own life. When I was in the Sam Lay Blues Band we played several concerts and clubs with Muddy Waters and I remember drinking champane with Muddy. I also spent a week in New York with Willie Dixon and a couple of blues guitar players that I cant remember their names. This is also the reason I posted the song "My Babe" by little Walter. Every harmonica player I knew played Little Walters songs. There is something about blues harmonica that gets to me. Most everyone carried a gun, I was offered guns but I always turned them down because I thought I'd probally shoot myself. Sam Lay always carried a 357 Magum, a 2 shot pearl handled derigener, an electric cattle prooder and 2 hand gernades, I can remember the band having to stop Sam from throwing a hand gernade into the Chess Mate at six mile and Livernois in Detroit because the owner had cheated us out of some money because our equipment was still inside. Thats some crazy stuff!
The Bluesman
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