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The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds

Ep534: Celebrating Chess Records with Steve Jordan

The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds

Nate Goyer

Music, Music History, Music Interviews

4.7 • 579 Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2026

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Legendary drummer & producer Steve Jordan (The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Batiste, SNL & more), discusses the history and deep personal reverence for the music of Chess Records and the 75th vinyl reissue series. 

Topics Include:

  • Steve Jordan discusses touring with John Batiste at Davos Economic Summit
  • He's producing Robert Cray's new album at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals
  • JayVee Records finishing Willie Mitchell documentary, The Verbs album, and Tony Joe White posthumous record
  • Chess Records called arguably the cornerstone of modern music
  • New vinyl reissue campaign marks first proper Chess reissues in decades
  • Steve's compilation "Let's Play Chess" features personally meaningful recordings
  • The Dells were his first Chess records—Chicago's hardcore R&B answer to Motown
  • Tommy Tucker's "High Heel Sneakers" on Checker was childhood obsession
  • British Invasion reintroduced American blues that establishment had suppressed racially
  • Etta James "At Last" originals fetch four to five hundred dollars
  • Universal fire destroyed masters; some duplicates recovered from Europe thankfully
  • Early stereo versions often poorly done with hard-panned instruments and fake echo
  • Chess building preserved physically but control room was completely stripped of gear
  • Steve brought API console and ribbon mics for 2010 session there
  • Correctly guessed drum placement; Hubert Sumlin confirmed the next day
  • Otis Spann's piano still vibrates sympathetically when musicians play the room
  • Jack Wiener designed Chess gear and later mastered recordings in basement
  • Mastering represents twenty-five percent of the mix, often overlooked historically
  • Jamie Krentz alerted Universal to Chess catalog's 75th anniversary reissue potential
  • Rarities campaign revealed extraordinary alternate takes including deep Lowell Fulsom version
  • Willie Mitchell spent years perfecting Royal Recording's signature snare drum sound
  • Keith Richards session led to lifelong friendship with Willie Mitchell
  • Willie gave Steve one of Al Jackson's tom-toms from Al Green recordings
  • Recording, overdubbing, and mixing in same room captures authentic studio sound
  • John Lennon was his white whale—missed meeting him by five minutes
  • Finally played with Paul McCartney on Rolling Stones' Hackney Diamonds album
  • Blues Brothers debuted on SNL's third season finale with Saturday Night Live band
  • Matt Guitar Murphy was a Chess session player—Steve's first Chess connection unknowingly
  • John Belushi educated Steve nightly on deep Chess catalog from his Chicago roots
  • Devo's SNL performance was a life-changing moment Steve witnessed firsthand

High resolution version of this podcast is available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds.

0:10.0

Here's your host, the biggest record nerd of them all, Nate Goyer.

0:14.0

Hey, everyone, it's Nate.

0:16.0

Welcome to episode 534 of the Vinal Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds.

0:23.0

And today, dear people, oh, you're going to love this one.

0:26.1

We are absolutely blessed to have with us, Mr. Steve Jordan, legendary drummer and producer.

0:33.2

A huge career.

0:34.5

I mean, he was part of the Saturday Night Live band. He was the drummer for the Blues

0:39.1

Brothers. He currently plays in a little band called The Rolling Stones. Steve's got decades of

0:45.9

sessions with artists from Bruce Springsteen to John Battiste to John Mayer. And today, we are

0:52.8

going to be discussing the history of his personal and very

0:56.8

deep reverence for the music of chess records, as well as the 75th vinyl reissue series from

1:04.0

the label. Now, chess records are finally getting the deluxe treatment with a partnership

1:08.3

with acoustic sounds. So you start to see titles like Eta James at last, Helen Wolf Monen in the Moonlight, Muddy Waters Folk Singer.

1:18.1

I mean, the time is now to be able to enjoy these classics with the detail and the precision they deserve in these audiophile versions.

1:26.8

And if you're a record nerd like me, you know original pressings of these records will

1:31.8

set you back.

1:32.9

Oh, geez, $500 or more.

1:34.8

But these audiophile pressings are like $40.

1:37.2

And they're made with the respect for the original, but also with the quality and the

1:42.6

materials of the modern day audiophile ears in mind.

1:46.5

So bug your local record shop to get yours in, or you could head over to chessrecords.com

...

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