Chess/Aristocrat/Checker/Argo/Cadet

Chess/Aristocrat/Checker/Argo/Cadet Leonard and Phil Chess , two Polish immigrants to America, were an unlikely duo to run a successful record company. In the right place at the right time—postwar Chicago—it nonetheless took the right stuff to turn Chess Records into a blues powerhouse: instinct, determination, and a common touch. Chess was the successor to Aristocrat Records, a small independent formed in 1947 by Evelyn and Charles Aron. Aristocrat’s first records featured a white band led by…