Chi Sound Records was set up by Carl Davis in 1976, following the demise of Dakar Records amidst Brunswick’s legal battles. The Chi-Lites, The Dells, Walter Jackson, and Gene Chandler were all signed to the label, having been successful at Brunswick. The label also attracted a number of Disco Soul acts.
Initially the company’s output was pressed and distributed by United Artists Records, with a switch to 20th Century Fox Records in 1978. When that deal ended in 1981, Chi Sound turned to independent distribution companies for two years. In 1983, Davis closed the company, as the output was much reduced. There was a short-lived attempt to re-activate the company in 1989, and then Davis relaunched the company again in 2007. Carl Davis died in 2012.
One of the first acts to record for Chi Sound was The Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign, whose album “Watchin’ You, Watchin’ Me” was released in 1976. The group’s core members were four school friends from Indianapolis, Matthew Watson (drums), Tony Roberts (vocals), Boobie Townsend (guitar) and Ricky Jackson (keyboards), who played together after leaving school in 1970. The group soon expanded with the addition of Lester Johnson (bass), Pam Tanner (vocals), Henry Leon Miles (sax) and Ron Hendricks. They moved to the West coast and released their first album on the MCA label in 1973.
By 1975 the group was in Chicago recording “How’s Your Wife and My Child” with Tom Washington in the Chitown studios. Ron Hendricks was replaced by Carl Haefeli (trumpet) and Michael John Woods (trombone and keyboards). The group opened that year for several well-known Chicago acts, including Earth, Wind & Fire, Donny Hathaway and the Chi-Lites.
“Watchin’ You, Watchin’ Me” was recorded at Paragon Studio, Chicago, with a very strong session team. String arrangements came from Sonny Sanders and Tom Washington, horn arrangements were done by James Mack, who also played flute on the sessions along with John Avant. Donald Myrick played a variety of saxophones and created excellent alto and tenor sax solos, Cliff Davis played saxophone, Dwayne Garvin played drums and keyboards, Bob Lewis and Lionel Bordelon played trumpet, Lloyd Thomas Jones played guitar, George Dennie played keyboards and Master Henry Gibson played percussion, as only he could. The string section featured eight violinists, two viola players and two cellists, led by Sol Bobrov. The album was produced by Carl Davis and engineered by Steve Kusiciel. The majority of the songs were written by people who played or sung on the album, with compositions by Johnson, Jones, Garvin, Woods and Tanner. The songs are, as the group’s name suggests, funky, but the strings and horns add a smooth richness to the warm vocals. (The title track is not the song written by William Eaton and later recorded by Bill Withers. It is a Lloyd Thomas Jones composition).
The MCA album from 1973 was re-issued by Chi Sound in 1976. There were no further releases by the group on the label.
Walter Jackson
Image: JacobMoreno2008 (Wikimedia Commons)
Walter Jackson also released a Chi Sound album in 1976, entitled “Feeling Good”. The album is an interesting collection of songs, ranging from Stevie Wonder’s “Too Shy To Say” on track one to “Someone Saved My Life Tonight”, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, on track ten, which shows off Jackson’s powerful voice to good effect. Three further albums followed, all aimed at a mainstream audience. However, Jackson never made the breakthrough that he and Carl Davis were hoping for, despite a couple of entries on the R&B charts with a straightforward MOR cover of Morris Albert’s song “Feelings” in 1976 (number nine) and a cover of Peter Frampton’s “Baby, I Love Your Way” in 1977 (number nineteen).
In 1978, Davis switched distributors, moving from United Artists to 20th Century Fox. At the same time, he expanded the Chi Sound roster by signing first Gene Chandler and then The Chi-Lites.
Gene Chandler came to Chi-Sound in 1978, after spending a couple of years at Mercury (1970-71), a couple at Curtom (1972-73) and several years at Brunswick. He spent four years working with Carl Davis once more, releasing one album a year between 1978 and 1981 on Chi Sound Records/ 20th Century Fox Records.
Gene Chandler was the only artist signed to Chi Sound Records to have major success overseas, with a Disco hit single in the UK music market in 1979 at the height of Disco’s popularity. The single “Get Down” from the self-titled studio album “Get Down”, distributed by 20th Century Fox Records, received silver certification for 200,000 copies sold in the UK according to the BPI. This was the last international success for the Chicago label.
The Chi-Lites came to Chi Sound in 1980 and recorded two albums with Carl Davis. The group had gone through a series of personnel changes during the seventies and their output had dwindled, but the opportunity to work with Carl Davis had re-ignited their ambition. Thompson, Jones and Lester re-formed the group and joined Eugene Record at Chi Sound, where he had been appointed to an executive position by Davis.
The Chi-Lites 1973
Photo: Brunswick Records Promotional Material (Wikimedia Commons)
The Dells were the fourth major Chicago act to team up with Carl Davis in the eighties. Like the Chi-Lites, they made two albums at Chi-Sound, “I Touched A Dream” in 1980 and “Whatever Turns You On” in 1981. Both albums were recorded at Universal Recording Studio, with Bill Bradley in charge of engineering and Carl Davis and Eugene Record co-producers.
The Dells
Trade Promotional Material
The final act that made an impression at Chi-Sound was Manchild. The group was set up in 1974 in Indianapolis by Reggie Griffin and Anthony “A.J.” Johnson, signing to Chi-Sound Records in 1977 and following in the footsteps of The Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign. The group also included Daryl Simmons, Charles “Chuckie” Bush, Kevin Ferrell, Bobby Parson, and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds. They made two albums at the label before breaking up in 1980. Several members moved on to other significant projects in later years.
Carl Davis closed Chi Sound in 1983. Then, in 2007, he re-activated the company and started working with a number of new acts, including some hip-hop performers. It is not really a surprise. Davis’s contribution to Chicago R&B and Soul was always based on a strong sense of doing justice to Black music and bringing it to as wide an audience as possible. His story starts with Vee-Jay Records and spans OKeh, Brunswick and Chi-Sound. Artists have often been happy to move with him and to continue to benefit from his approach to making music. There is great loyalty from him to his artists and vice-versa, founded on trust and an awareness of his commitment to the music of Chicago. He is one of the greatest icons of the Chicago Soul sound.
