Blues Heaven Foundation

This guide to the Blues Heaven Foundation in Chicago traces how a liquor-store owner named Leonard Chess ended up running a recording studio on Michigan Avenue. It starts at his rowdy after-hours club, the Macomba Lounge on Cottage Grove, where jazz and jump-blues combos playing until sunrise drew musicians who would later be hired for recording sessions. Phil Chess, fresh out of the army, held the club's liquor license, a detail worth listening for.