Dixon Willie-The Chess Box

Dixon Willie-The Chess Box

Box set is graded VG+.
Records are graded VG+.

Box set includes:
Thirty six songs
Three record set
12 page booklet

The Chess Box — Willie Dixon (Various Artists) (MCA Chess, 1989)

This boxed set bears Willie Dixon’s name and photo on the front, but it is actually a collection of performances by 13 different Chess/Checker artists recorded between 1951 and 1969. The unifying theme is that all 36 songs were written by Dixon, who was also the producer and bass player on most tracks. The song list in itself is enough to crown Dixon king of the blues composers, and the set includes hit singles, definitive performances by Wolf, Muddy, Koko Taylor, Otis Rush and others, and a few ditties that show more of the novelty side of Dixon’s pen. The six tracks featuring Dixon as vocalist are probably the least familiar to collectors. “Crazy For My Baby” and his Big Three Trio’s previously unreleased take of “Violent Love,” both from 1951, are the earliest recordings here. Dixon biographer Don Snowden’s informative 12-page booklet adds to the value and also includes a complete session discography for every track; note, however, that the 1965 date given for “The Same Thing” from the Fathers and Sons album (one of the few tracks here where Dixon was not present as bassist or A&R director) should be 1969.

Released as Chess MCA CH3-16500, a boxed set of 3 LPs (also as 2 cassettes or 2 CDs), in 1988