Dwight Brooks: In the early days of working at chess, I was like a sponge. I absorbed everything about music. Greetings and welcome to episode four of Tracking Earthwind and Fire, our deep dive into the music, the musicians, and legacy of the great band Earthwind and Fire. Thanks for tuning in. I'm your host, Doc Brooks, and I want to earn your subscription and support for my podcast. You know, before all the hit songs, the on-stage magic, the stadium tours and awards and accolades, there was this shy drummer from Memphis who moved to Chicago. And as we learned in episodes one, two, and three, things developed slowly in the Windy City. But as we track Maurice White, the architect of Earth, Wind and Fire, we'll find that success was at his doorstep. Or better put, his drum set. This episode explores Maurice White's work at Legendary Chess Records in Chicago. So I've titled it Playing Chess in Chicago. Before we begin, a few reminders, hit that subscribe or follow button and share this podcast with a fellow Earth Wind and Fire fan or music lover. Let's build this community together from the ground up. Send your comments and suggestions to T-R-A-C-K-I-N-G-E-W-F at gmail.com. And follow the podcast Spotify playlist. I've developed a playlist of great songs, not just by Earthwind and Fire, but by the other artists and songs that we reference in this podcast. So go to Spotify and give these songs a listen. And with that, let's get started. During the windy winter of 1963, Maurice White and his musical partner Lewis Satterfield heard that Chess Records was looking for a house band. The pair's success at VJ with Betty Effort's You're No Good gave them confidence to assemble a 13-piece band for the audition. The large group of musicians Were members of the Jazz Men and other musicians that Maurice White and Satterfield had met at Crane Junior College? You may recall our last episode, I told you a little bit about VJ Records and the important role that Record Row, that 12 block stretch on South Michigan Avenue, that was so crucial to the soul music industry around 1963. besides record companies or labels like VJ and chess, Record Row housed several record distributors and other related enterprises. Now, if you were to walk down the street in the the 60s you would not see prominent signs or eye-catching building displays. There was nothing fancy about these businesses because they really didn't cater to the public at large. Chess Records was located at what has become famous, 2120 South Michigan. The label was founded by Phil Leonard Chess, Jewish immigrants from Poland, who started in the liquor business and by the 40s owned a string of Southside bars and a large nightclub named the Macumba. The brothers partnered with a husband and wife team who started Aristocrat Records, a label that recorded jazz, blues. And RB music. And so in late 1949, the chess brothers brought out their partners and reorganized the company as chess records. Now the company added the Checker and Argo labels in 1952 and 1956, respectively. Checker focused on blues and Argo emphasized jazz. And throughout the 1950s, chess records flourished in rhythm and blues, better known as RB, with such artists as Muddy Waters, Howl and Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Chuck Berry. Chess Records vocal duo op groups included popular names like the Moon Glows and the Flamingos. So let's return now to Maurice White and Lewis Satterfield and the band. they put together to audition at chess records. after the band played a bluesy riff, which would be appropriate at the time, chess co-owner Leonard Chess said, great, but we only need a bass player, a guitarist, and a drummer. While the other musicians directed their anger at Satterfield and White, believing they at best had been led astray. At worst, they were being used. But Satterfield, the brass-bassed guitarist, shrugged it off and told them to move on. Satterfield, guitarist Gerald Sims, and drummer Maurice White became the rhythm section at Chess Records. Maurice White met AR man Billy Davis on his first day on the job. Last episode, I noted the important role of the AR person, artist, and repertoire at a record company. The AR person was the critical bridge between the record label and artist. Billy Davis was brought to chess from Motown in 1961 by Leonard Chess to develop soul music, just as he had helped Barry Gordy do for his up and coming label in Detroit. As AR director and staff producer, Davis brought in and supervised in-house songwriters, arrangers, and producers who were all trying to attract the soul and crossover pop markets. Davis's team included savvy young musicians like Pete Cosey, Phil Wright, and Reynard Minor, who we will learn a little bit more about in later episodes. But they all helped Maurice White learn about the industry. Davis wrote and Produced for many chess artists, including Eddie James, the Dells, Billy Stewart, Fontella Bass, Chuck Barry, and Jackie Wilson. The latter Davis brought from Motown to chess. So Billy Davis was a key person in Chess Records ascendance as a major independent label and powerful force in soul music. Maurice White describes Davis as the epitome of class, well groomed, polished, professional, and always unfazed and in control. And so White hung around Davis as much as he could as Davis shared his experiences from his time in Detroit and at Motown with the young drummer. White not only learned about the Detroit label's growing impact on the changing music industry, but he also learned about music's rising stars like The Beatles and James Brown. Billy Davis may have needed Maurice White as much as White needed Davis, and that might explain why Davis favored and mentored him. Chess would try to emulate Motown's sound. Which was all about the beat. Maurice White mastered this big back beat, plus, he had his own rock steady tempo. The aforementioned Reynard Minor, a blind pianist songwriter, told White that he had Pop in his snare. I love it, Minor added. The compliment was the result of White's serious approach to his drumming. White combined extensive practicing with his developing understanding of the business side of music. And as he soaked up the lessons from Billy Davis and others at chess, one of the many lessons he learned was not to become financially dependent on chess records. He wanted to be much more than a session drummer for chess and other labels on Record Row. Yet, White and the chess rhythm section were in demand in Chicago's vibrant music scene, which included not only other labels, but music clubs. White was performing at Chicago clubs like The Hungry Eye and Mother Blues. And to improve his music reading skills, he enrolled at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. he even formed a jazz band called Quartet Four. Named after the modern jazz quartet. And as White recalls in his memoir, being so busy brought him into contact with many musicians inside and outside of chess. One of those was Pete Cosy, a guitarist who would play with White's salty peppers in a couple of years, and later with Miles Davis's electric bands. Maurice White claims that when Gerald Sims left the chess rhythm section, he got Cozy to gig. However, my research indicates that Sims and Cozy played together on Fatella's Bass's 1965 hit, Rescue Me. Yet there's no question that one of the most celebrated musicians White met at that time was Curtis Mayfield. Mayfield was already known as a singer-songwriter after he teamed with Jerry Butler to form The Impressions. Their first tip was back in 1958, For Your Precious Love on VJ Records. That song soared to the top of both the RB and pop charts. VJ listed the group's name on the single as Jerry Butler and The Impressions. And one year later, Butler The Impressions most recognizable asset took his robust baritone from the Impressions to start his career as a solo artist. And according to Robert Pruder's book Chicago's Soul, Mayfield believed that losing Butler was probably a blessing in disguise because it allowed the group to revamp and gave him, Mayfield, the opportunity to develop his own talents as a writer and vocalist. After a slow start in 1959, VJ released the impressions from the label. VJ's AR man, you may remember this name, Calvin. Carter took the blame, saying he was not excited about Mayfield's falsetto. Nonetheless, with Curtis Mayfield as the lead singer, producer, and writer for The Impressions, the group signed with ABC Paramount and in 1961 had their first hit, Gypsy Woman. Mayfield would go on to expand 1960s black popular music's reliance on dance music and love songs. Due in large part to what was going on in the country, the emerging civil rights movement, inner city poverty, crime, and drug abuse, Mayfield addressed these issues the only way he knew how, through his music. This provocative step turned him into a musical force in the industry and a change agent in the black community. And so when Maurice White first encountered Mayfield in 65, the impressions had already had its biggest hit to date with the Mayfield Penn song. keep on pushing, which established him as one of the first RB singer-songwriters to bring social commentary to the pop charts. Mayfield's impressions followed this trend with people get ready and later, we're a winner. These hit recordings had lives that extended far beyond the music charts and into the streets, homes, and communities, and in some cases, black churches. Throughout his career, Maurice White repeatedly told Curtis Mayfield how much the music of the impressions meant to him. White appreciated the power of uplifting music and Mayfield's ability to raise consciousness through song. White learned how he too could produce music that uplifted all people instead of tearing them down, and that especially was important for black people. Several of Mayfield Penn's songs with the Impressions became the unofficial anthems for the Civil Rights Movement. And unknown to White at the time, in a few years he too would become part of the Civil Rights Movement through song. As a key player in the chess rhythm section, White also played drums for Bo Diddley and the young singer Diddley Discovered, named Billy Stewart. White played on Billy Stewart's hits I Do Love You, Sitting in the Park, And the biggest selling album of the large but nimble vocalist's career, which was a somewhat surprising move for chess records. Unbelievable, a 1966 album produced by Billy Davis and arranged by Phil Wright, another name we will hear again in an upcoming episode. The album, Unbelievable, included a collection of standards with a big band arrangement. Including the splendid cover of George Gershwin's classic Summertime. Unlike Stewart's previous hit songs on chess, Summertime was a top ten hit on both the pop and RB charts. The song also introduced national audiences to Stewart's unique vocal style and to assiduous listeners, Maurice White's elegant drumming. I think the recording also fused the rather artificial boundaries between jazz, RB, and popular music. And I can't help but share with you my recollections of seeing Billy Stewart perform at Philadelphia's Uptown Theater. He was a joy to watch perform because of his unique onstage presence. Stewart was nicknamed Motormouth for his stuttering, rapid fire, and lip twirling vocalizing that he Called doubling of words, and that came, from his early interests in Calypso. He was nimble on stage and he would twirl the microphone around, whether it was on the stand, he would bring it back and forth, twirl it on the they had chords back then, twirl the cable around and bring it to his mouth just in time to hit that next note. So without even knowing though, Maurice White's work on summertime and with Billy Stewart may have played a role in his association with a jazz artist who also successfully blended jazz and popular music. We'll learn more about that in our next episode. So, Maurice was quite proud of his ability as well as the chess rhythm sections' ability to play both jazz and soul music. In fact, White took special delight in his ability to merge his jazz chops with the popular hits of the day. His skill in playing jazz, soul, and pop, a rare combination at the time, led him to do commercials and make some pretty good money, or so he thought. Another point of pride was learning that younger brother Fred was developing a serious interest in drumming. White admits that his brother's interest in music brought him and Mama Deer a little closer together. Maurice used his expanding network in music to get Fred drum lessons. At the top of his personal gratification and putting him in even greater demand as a drummer was his work on another chess hit song, Fontella Bass's Rescue Me. The 1965 crossover hit arose from a chess studio session known as woodshedding. And it's actually a recording practice where you in practice repeatedly, intensively, with the hope that that will bring something special. in the studio. The most obvious sonic quality of Rescue Me is Fontella Bass's riveting soprano lead. But listeners also should notice how White's drums are in perfect sync with Lewis Satterfield's bubbly bass. Finally, the song's backing is led by a then unknown vocalist named Minnie Ripperton, who engaged in a brief but Electrifying call and response with Fontella Bass. In fact, according to Bass, the call and response moans heard in the song's fade were unintentional, probably another byproduct of woodshedding. Believe it or not, according to writer Robert Prutter, there's a vibrophonist on Rescue Me named Charles Stepney. Although Stepney's not credited on the song, he started at chess in 1964 and would have been around at the time of this 1965 recording. Charles Stepney's performance on the viberphone for Rescue Me is acknowledged by musical historians. While it was common for session musicians at Chess Records to go uncredited on the original vinyl releases, there's other documentation that confirms his involvement. So, in addition to Robert Pruder's book, modern historical music registries and digital platforms, including Apple Music and Shazam, do list Stepney alongside the star-studded session lineup. I already mentioned Fontella Bass, Mitty Ripperton, Lewis Satterfield, and Charles Stepney. Some of the other musicians who joined Maurice White on that hit recording were guitarists Pete Cosey and Gerald Sims. Cozy would record with White's Salty Peppers in a few years. Sims, as I mentioned, was part of the chess rhythm section who played with White at Crane Junior College and with the Jazz Men. Pianist Reynard Minor. He's the blind pianist at chess who actually complimented Maurice White on his drumming. You got that pop. In your snare. So I'm going to go with Pruder and the other researchers. Love this book, Chicago's Soul. It was published in 1991 and earned a certificate of excellence from the Illinois State Historical Society. The book also won an ARSC Award for Excellence in Historic Recorded Sound Research. Pruder's brief discussion of the woodshedding process at chess inspired my own research on Earth within Fire. Specifically, how Maurice White, Charles Stepney, and other band members probably woodshedded during their caribou ranch recording sessions for Open Our Eyes, and one year later, that's the way of the world. I promised you a deep dive. So, because Chicago was a hub of the advertising industry, Maurice White played drums on commercials for soft drinks, cigarettes, cars, and coffee, to name just a few. but no opportunity would prove as rewarding as the one that would come from legendary jazz pianist Ramsay Lewis. Who recorded on the chess cadet label? Lewis recalled the drummers' persistent questions about the music business. And after Lewis's huge 1965 recording, The In Crowd, each time he made a visit to the chess recording studio, he was met with more questions from White about band staging, concert performances. And so White had to be joyed when Lewis popped into his recording sessions, sitting in for only a few minutes saying nothing before departing. This pattern would continue into 1966, as Maurice would ask questions about how music publishing companies work, how booking agencies conducted their business, and what it was like to keep a band together. And I'm sure you're wondering how Ramsay Lewis answered that question. One day, Ramsay Lewis flipped the script and posed the question to Maurice White. Would the drummer join him in two weeks for a gig? Of course, White said yes and traveled to Indiana State University in Terre Haute to play for 10,000 people, the largest crowd he had ever played for. And once they returned to Chicago, Lewis had a request for the 25-year-old drummer. Before we get to Lewis's question, you should know that at the same time Ramsey Lewis won his first Grammy for the In-Crowd and his trio appeared on the cover of Cashbox magazine, Chess Records was preparing to expand to an eight-story 172,000 square foot building in Chicago. Maurice had to think that Chess's growth would be good for his own career, especially since much of his success was due in large part to Phil Leonard Chess and the many others he met and worked with at the label. Love to get your thoughts on that. Thank you for tuning in to Tracking Earth, Wind, and Fire. Join us for our next episode's deep dive into Ramsey Lewis's request, Maurice White's response, and what was on the horizon for the pair. Until then, you know what to do. Keep your head to the sky.