Chess Box

Although kinda light in quantity of music (only 36 tracks) the tracks selected are easily some of Dixon's best songwriting. Not only do you get some of his solo material but you get the obvious co-credit work he did.... Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Etc... and some work that I wasn't personally aware of by Bo Diddley, Otis Rush, Koko Taylor, Etc... Being a casual fan of the blues I was first exposed to Dixon's work by Zeppelin and other 70's hard rock artists who definitely picked his body of work to death. It's great to hear some of these tunes in their original form by the original artists who first recorded them (Wang Dang Doodle by Koko Taylor is amazing). For hardcore or even casual fans of the blues I highly recommend this set. It's extremely well put together and the material gathered ranges from 1951-1965 by several artists so it's nice to just put on and let it play through because it keeps it interesting and fresh without sounding redundant or repetitive. *****

Like many blues musicians, Willie Dixon had an interesting background. He was born, and spent his childhood, here in Vicksburg. He never had formal music education, but a local carpenter taught him harmony singing. Dixon sang bass in a local gospel quartet. Along the way, he served a couple stretches on Mississippi prison farms. He started his career as a heavyweight boxer in Chicago, but switched to music and played bass, part of the time as a house musician.Dixon started out as a studio bass player with Chess Records when it was a fledgling company started by the Chess brothers. The present set includes 36 songs written by Dixon, and performed by a variety of artists in addition to Dixon including Muddy Waters (Hoochie Coochie Man, etc.), Howlin Wolf (I Ain't Superstitious, etc.), Bo Diddley (Pretty Thing, and You Can't Tell a Book by its Cover), Koko Taylor (Wang Dang Doodle) and many others.The boxed set is a must addition for your collection if you have a serious interest in blues. It also makes a good gift.I would note that the Vicksburg Blues Society and others served as co-sponsors of the Willie Dixon Wang Dang Doodle Blues Festival held in Vicksburg in 2006. The City of Vicksburg has added a Willie Dixon mural to the murals on the Mississippi River floodwall near Catfish Row (the southern end of The Delta). The mursl, featuring the legendary Blue Room in the background, was painted by the noted mural artist Robert Dafford under the sponsorship of local blues patrons Ray and Nancy Neilsen.As an added note, since originally writing this review I have been surprised by the number of people in Vicksburg (his hometown) who seem to be unaware of the set. I bought two this year (2011) to use as Christmas presents. They were much appreciated.

I have to admit that I didn't know what I was missing until I bought this collection. While I have had Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Albert King and others I was simply unaware of Willie Dixon and his contribution to the world of Blues. While other artists were the first to record some of these songs, Willie Dixon is the writer. His work was a big influence on Led Zeppelin even if they didn't want to admit it. Spoonful is a Blues classic done by many including some rock bands like Cream. You Can't Judge a Book happens to be on the Kenny Wayne Shepherd album released this month. Hoochie Coochie man is another song done by so many other artists including Jimi Hendrix. If you're serious about the Blues this is a must have! I can't believe I didn't buy it til this year. Willie Dixon - an all time Blues Great!!!!!

Willie Dixon does not get the spotlight or the notoriety of those such as Muddy Waters, nor the accolades of greats such as Howlin' Wolf, but one can certainly look at his body of work and see that without Willie Dixon, the Blues as we know it would not exist. What makes this set exceptional is the fact that Dixon's songs were covered by so many great bluesmen (and women) and because of this you have an excellent introduction to blues if you are not already well versed in the blues.Dixon himself only has about 6 songs on this box set, and that is probably appropriate, as he was best known as a songwriter for the greats already mentioned, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, along with scores of other great bluesmen. A little known fact: He would often have to play one artist off of the other, saying that he wrote a song for X when in fact he wrote it for Z, using reverse psychology to get that artist to actually sing the song he wrote for them. I will not even go through my favorite songs on this set, as I would probably wind up listing all 36 songs (except perhaps Violent Love), though I will say the version of "I Can't Quit you Babe" found here is much more intense than the Otis Rush version done with Cobra records.There is not a song on this box set which I skip over, and this is a testament to one of the all time greats in Blues. Few have heard of Willie Dixon; this is no way diminished his stature among the great names in Blues.Highly recommended for anyone interested in the Blues, especially anyone just starting out in the blues genre, as this two-CD box set gives a great overview of Post-War Blues.

Because Willie Dixon wrote, (or co-wrote), produced, and played on most of these tracks, it is one of Chess's strongest compilations. The Bo Diddley track, "Pretty Thing" is just an astonishing, simple, yet profound, piece of musical art. WDs ability to draw the genius out of the artists he worked with is everywhere evident on this CD. The more you play it, the more you will hear from Willie Dixon and these timeless artists.

This double CD collection was originally a double vinyl release, and it shows; the LP sized box set is way overpackaged. What you get for your money though is an excellent double CD which showcases Willie Dixon's skills as a writer, producer and performer. All songs cut for the Chess label, of course, and all rendered wonderfully - includes tracks by Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and many others - nothing to complain about whatsoever.

Wrong box,but anyway.....

He was "the" poet of the blues at Chess's height of recording Chicago blues during the fifties and into the sixties. He penned some of the greatest "standards" of the time - recorded by some of the greats - Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Lowell Fulson. In fact the Stones first major British hit - Little Red Rooster - was a Willie Dixon composition. For the enthusiast of that time period this is a superb compilation. Paul Mathieson.

Una aproximación obligada, y la mejor, a la obra de Willie Dixon. Distintos intérpretes. Merece la pena escucharla y volver a hacerlo.

Chess Records war wohl eines der bedeutendsten Blueslabel der 50er und 60er Jahre des 20. Jahrhunderts und ist eng verbunden mit den Namen von Bluesgrößen wie Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James, etc. Mitte der 80er Jahre gingen die Aufnahmen des inzwischen insolventen Chess Labels an MCA Records. MCA extrahierte in den Folgejahren eine Reihe von exquisiten Blues-Samplern aus dem "Chess Catalog" und viele dieser "Chess Boxes" wurden in Fachkreisen mit Lob und Auszeichnungen geradezu überschüttet.Zu diesen Samplern gehört auch die Willie Dixon Chess Box, die einen Überblick über Dixons Schaffen als Songwriter und Interpret gibt. Auf den beiden CDs befinden sich viele der wohl berühmtesten Stücke wie Hoochie Coochie Man, Spoonful, My Babe usw. Wer diese Songs nur von irgendwelchen drittklassigen Samplern vom Kaufhaus-Grabbeltisch kennt, wird sie in der hier vorliegenden (großartig digital remasterten) Form kaum wiedererkennen: Der Sound ist derart transparent und dennoch satt, dass man glauben möchte, die Aufnahmen seien erst vor kurzem in einem mit digitaler Technik vollgestopften Studio entstanden - dabei sind sie allesamt älter als 40 Jahre! Nur bei einigen wenigen Tracks ist das Remastering nicht ganz so gut gelungen, was sich aber durchaus noch verschmerzen läßt. Neben den rein akustischen Vorzügen besticht die Chess Box zudem durch ihre hochwertige Verpackung und das informative 20-seitige Booklet.Ich kann die Willie Dixon Chess Box jedem Blues-Liebhaber nur dringend empfehlen; sowohl dem Blues-Neuling (v.a. wegen des breiten Spektrums an unterschiedlichen Top-Interpreten) als auch dem "alten Hasen" (wegen der erstklassigen Soundqualität). Für mich stand die Wertung für diese CD bereits nach dem ersten Hören felsenfest - weniger als 5 Sterne wäre eine echte Schande!