Marshall Chess is the son of the legendary Leonard Chess who co-founded Chess Records with his brother Phil in Chicago back in the late 1940’s. He has had an illustrious career of his own including serving as President of the Rolling Stones record label. Now at the age of 82, he has brought to fruition a project over two decades in the making with the release of New Moves: The Chess Project. His vision as executive producer (along with his son Jamar) was to rework some Chess classic songs from their catalog using a world class group of musicians and make the recording relevant in the 21st Century. The musical gambit has succeeded!

Longtime Rolling Stones backup vocalist Bernard Fowler is elevated to a starring role on the new recording and what a voice he has!! The Chess project band also includes Eric Gales, one of my favorite contemporary bluesmen, playing guitar along with Skip “Little Axe” McDonald. Percussions are provide by Keith Leblanc (who also produced the album). Bass duties are handled by Paul Nowinski, Mohini Dey and MonoNeon. Reggie Griffin plays the keyboards, Alan Glen and Ralph Rosen are on harmonica and Mark Kaplan is on tenor sax. They are an absolutely superb and tight group of contemporary blues artists!

My favorite song on the recording is a cool funky version of the Sonny Boy Williamson tune, Help Me. The beat is irresistible and Bernard’s voice is just spot on righteous!! I also loved High Temperature which is a modern reworking of the Mississippi Hill Country sound…oh yeah!! Moanin’ at Midnight makes ya want to get up and just groove!! I also enjoyed Tell Me, Nine Below Zero, and , particularly, the harpin’ on Smokestack Lightning!

It is certainly a financial gambit in the 2020s to assemble a large group of talented musicians and focus on reworking songs that are primarily from the 1950’s. And the blues market will determine whether it was worth the investment. However, from the perspective of creativity and artistry, there is no denying that New Moves: The Chess Project is a work of the first order and one of the great recordings of 2024. Chess Knight to Blues 4….checkmate!!

New Moves – The Chess Project (CZYZ Records)

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Ben Vee started out spinning songs on terrestrial radio and at nightclubs back in the 1970’s in his home state of Louisiana. After a career in the construction business, he returned to DJing in 2011. He now hosts two shows each week on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com and writes about the blues on BMFR and at http://www.benveeblues.com from his home in Connecticut. He also has a personal 24 hour stream devoted to the Roadhouse Blues… WRHB as well as a Youtube channel.