Arriving in 1964 for a two-day recording session at Chess is a long-haired British band, whose name is derived from a Waters song, "Rollin' Stone." As Etta battles drug addiction, she is warned to "sing the blues," not "live them." It's not clear whether it's "strictly business" when Leonard exploits Etta's emotional vulnerability, although he does want to prevent another artist from self-destructing like Little Walter.Ī globally expanding musical revolution is assuming new forms. He is sent to prison for violating the Mann Act (which bans the transportation of females over state lines for "immoral purposes").Īnother "cross-over" star with troubles in the Chess stable is Etta James (executive producer and pop singing star Beyoncé Knowles) whose classical ballad-style takes shape in her 1961 mega-hit, "At Last." Chess begins recording Etta with violins and other string instruments. ("All it took to bring us together-one man duck-walking across the stage.") Says Muddy, "The blues had a baby, and they called it rock ‘n' roll." A blow is struck when Berry is arrested at the height of his career, with racism a key component, and convicted in 1960. ("I made my money on the Negro and I want to spend it on him.")Ĭhicago blues is a cultural phenomenon that doesn't yet attract, or "cross over" to white audiences until Chuck Berry (Mos Def) signs on to Chess with a hybrid pop sound. (In one scene, the film shows IOU notes found in an office safe after Chess' death, suggesting the musicians were paid based more on what they asked for than on what they were contractually owed.)Ĭhess' dealings with Muddy are particularly paternalistic, at times degenerating into a love-hate affair. He provides his stars with Cadillacs and basic living expenses by shuffling around unpaid royalties, taking from what he owes one artist to pay another. The small record label becomes the center of a new urban "race music" (the term used prior to the emergence of rhythm and blues to classify virtually all types of African-American music) and Leonard Chess aggressively markets his recordings. A rivalry develops between Muddy and Howlin', partly fueled by professional jealousy, but there is more to it than that: the latter contends that Waters is too dependent on Chess and too trusting. Then comes Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer), primarily a song-writer, and Howlin' Wolf (Eamonn Walker). Muddy and Little Walter are among the first. Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) begins recording a constellation of gifted musicians. He also collects a large number of girl-friends, all of whom apparently he supports to one extent or another. Muddy's fortunes skyrocket when he plugs his guitar into an amplifier and electrifies his sound. There, he hooks up with wife-to-be Geneva (Gabrielle Union) and Little Walter (Columbus Short), a brilliant but unstable teenage harmonica player.īanding together against poverty and racism, and the Chicago weather, the trio form a self-proclaimed family unit. ![]() With a new self-confidence, McKinley Morganfield becomes Muddy Waters and heads north to Chicago. ![]() "I'm meeting myself for the first time," says McKinley (Jeffrey Wright) when he hears the Lomax recording. Cadillac Records, the new movie by American director Darnell Martin, begins with this episode and moves on to chronicle the rise and fall of Chess Records in Chicago, whose roster at one time or another included such musical giants as Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry and Etta James.
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