Phil Chess, younger brother of Leonard Chess, was a key figure at Chess Records throughout the label’s 19-year tenure under the brothers’ ownership. The Chess musical empire began at Chicago nightspots, primarily the Macomba where sax man Tom Archia starred in the late 1940s. After Archia began recording for Aristocrat Records, the Chess brothers got involved and eventually bought out Aristocrat and started anew as Chess Records in 1950. Phil played many roles that were integral to the company’s success with Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and the many other legendary Chess artists, but was not as vocal or visible a figure on the scene as Leonard, and his character was given little time in the fictionalized Hollywood movie about Chess, “Cadillac Records.” Phil was born in Motol’, Poland, on April 5, 1921, and changed his name from Fiszel Czyz to Phil Chess after the family immigrated to the U.S. After the sale of the record company and Leonard’s death, both in 1969, Phil moved to Arizona, where he remained active in radio (the brothers had also owned radio stations in Chicago and Milwaukee). In 1999, Phil’s son Kevin and Leonard’s son Marshall revived the original family name when they launched a new label: Czyz Records.
Jim O’Neal
www.bluesoterica.com