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Cadillac Records and Barrelhouse Chuck
Cadillac Records and Barrelhouse Chuck
Date Posted: May 20 2009
Written By: Steven Dollins
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Cadillac Records, which opened this past December, is a motion picture about Chicago’s Chess Records and the all-star musicians who recorded for the label in the 1950s and ‘60s. The film is star-studded: Adrian Brody stars as Chess Records founder Leonard Chess, Beyonce Knowles portrays famed blues singer Etta James, and Jeff Wright is cast as blues great Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield). The movie also covers the careers of other Chess recording artists, such as Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf (Chester Burnett), and Little Walter (Walter Jacobs).
In a review of the movie in the February 2009 issue of Blues Revue, Don Wilcock interviewed Marshall Chess, Leonard’s son, who says, “The film works. If history gets a little skewed, just think of where the blues would be if we didn’t have the myth of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil.” The Hollywood version of the story is far from accurate, omitting Leonard Chess’ business partner and brother, Phil, failing to mention Chess blues and jazz recording artists like Bo Diddley (Ellas McDaniel), Jimmy Rogers (James Lane), Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), Gene Ammons, Ahmad Jamal, and others, inventing a romantic relationship between Leonard Chess and Etta James, making Leonard’s death overly maudlin, adding a murder by one of the artists, and filming the movie in the Northeast rather than Chicago.
If you want to learn more about the real Chess Records story, there are a number of books you can read: Spinning Blues Into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records, The Record Men: The Chess Brothers and the Birth of Rock & Roll, and Machers and Rockers: Chess Records and the Business of Rock & Roll. More importantly, you can listen to all of the classic Chess recordings. I am no movie critic, but despite the historical inaccuracies, the movie does work; it is good entertainment.
In the movie and in real life, Leonard Chess was protective of his recording artists. At the same time, there were also accusations that he took financial advantage of them. One of the ways these conflicting views played out was that Leonard would often pay royalties to his artists by purchasing brand new automobiles for them, hence the movie’s title, Cadillac Records. Pastor Donald Gay, who recorded for Chess Records with his sister Geraldine Gay, once reminisced about hearing Leonard tell Jackie Ross, who had a soul hit “Selfish One” on Chess in 1964, that he gave her a road car in response to her request for a cash payment. The movie sometimes captures the camaraderie and complex relationships between Leonard Chess and his artists.
The movie also boasts a soundtrack played by an all-star blues band composed of harpist Kim Wilson (Fabulous Thunderbirds), bassist Larry Taylor (Canned Heat), Steve Jordan on drums, guitarists Eddie Taylor, Jr., Billy Flynn, and Hubert Sumlin, and Barrelhouse Chuck on piano. This band plays on all of the Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, and Chuck Berry tracks; they do not play on the Etta James tracks, which are sung by Beyonce. Buddy Guy plays and sings on one Muddy Waters track on the compact disc of the soundtrack, which is not included in the movie. Sumlin and Guy are the only two musicians on the soundtrack with direct ties to Chess Records. Hubert Sumlin was Howlin’ Wolf’s lead guitar player and he recorded for Chess during the 1950s and 1960s, and is portrayed in the film. Buddy Guy made his best recordings for Chess in the 1960s.
What is less known are the ties that pianist Barrelhouse Chuck (Charles Goering) has to Chess Records. He lives in Libertyville, has been playing piano for over thirty years, and was mentored by Sunnyland Slim (Albert Luandrew), a delta blues pianist and a patriarch of Chicago blues. He was one of the main players who made the transition from pre-war Chicago blues (which was community-based––pianists played and raised money at house rent parties) to post-war electric Chicago blues (which was performed in lounges and clubs). Sunnyland Slim was a loud, gregarious man who embraced everyone he met. Whether it was having parties at his house or calling up musicians to sit-in at gigs, Sunnyland loved to be inclusive. It is believed that Sunnyland Slim introduced Muddy Waters to Chess Records, a fact not captured in the movie.
This “giving” behavior is unusual for musicians, who are very protective of their gigs. As a result, Sunnyland Slim’s stature as a blues patriarch rose and he deservedly has an annual set named after him at the Chicago Blues Festival, thanks to the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. Sunnyland Slim recorded under his own name for Chess Records in 1947 and also appears on some of Muddy Waters’ earliest Chess titles.
Barrelhouse Chuck moved from Florida to Chicago in the 1970s to meet Sunnyland Slim and to learn as much as possible from the piano master. They became close friends and Chuck absorbed all of the licks and idiosyncrasies of Slim’s playing. Listeners can now hear how Chuck’s piano playing sounds a lot like his mentor because of Sunnyland Slim’s sharing nature, Chuck’s ear, and Chuck’s persistence. Barrelhouse Chuck’s own style is embedded with gifts from Sunnyland Slim: double-fisted breaks, percussive boogie rhythms, and ethereal and greasy licks in the right hand. Also, Chuck’s singing, which he doesn’t have an opportunity to do for the soundtrack is reminiscent of Sunnlyland Slim’s voice; he’ll often shout and holler for effect.
While Chuck’s playing reminds us of Sunnlyland Slim, for the soundtrack, Chuck plays licks like Otis Spann, Johnny Jones, and Lafayette Leake, three other giants of Chicago blues piano who played on the original Chess recordings for Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Chuck Berry. No other pianist in the world can play in these styles and still have the authentic sound.
You’ll have to stay until the end of the movie and carefully read the credits to see Barrelhouse Chuck’s name mentioned. Of course Beyonce received much of the publicity for the music in the movie. Despite the lack of recognition for his work, Chuck has only fond memories of working on the soundtrack. He was able to meet Marshall Chess and Bruce Springsteen at the recording session, and according to Chuck, they both paid him high compliments which was very satisfying.
Also, Chuck relished the opportunity to record at Avatar Studios where famous musicians recorded like Herbie Hancock, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Winwood, who is one Chuck’s favorite keyboard artists. Of his recording experience for the movie, Barrelhouse Chuck had this to say, “Playing with the best musicians the blues world has to offer is an honor. It was also a lot of fun. And I think all of this will come through on the soundtrack.”
C
adillac Records is worth a look, but be forewarned that you will see a Hollywood romanticized version of the Chess story. What is ironic is that the real Chicago story probably had more sex, drugs, and violence than the Hollywood version.
I would have liked to see a movie that better handled Chess’ motivations for starting a label: was it entirely for financial opportunities or did they have passion for the music they were creating?
Written By:
Steven B. Dolins is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Bradley University and owner of The Sirens Records (thesirensrecords.com). The label is dedicated to preserving Chicago blues, jazz, and gospel piano. Dolins has recorded Geraldine and Donald Gay, Sunnyland Slim, and Willie Mabon (who have all previously recorded for Chess Records), as well as Earma Thompson, Erwin Helfer, Barrelhouse Chuck, Kim Wilson, and Eddie Taylor.
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