Macomba Lounge

The Macomba Lounge, at 3905 South Cottage Grove, Chicago, was an after-hours music club owned by Leonard Chess from 1946 to October 1950, when it burned down.

Leonard Chess had invested the money made from his two liquor stores into refurbishing an old eatery, its liquor licence being granted to his brother, Phil, in February 1946, shortly after being discharged from the army.^[1] In a seedy neighbourhood, and initially a bar patronised by prostitutes and drug dealers, the establishment soon developed a reputation among local musicians as an after-hours club,^[1] known for featuring jazz groups playing bebop^[2] jump blues.^[3]

The following year, in September 1947, Chess went into the recording business by buying into Aristocrat Records, a recently created local record label, after the tenor sax player Tom Archia, a member of the house trio, was hired by the label’s talent scout, Sammy Goldberg, to record a session led by Jump Jackson.^[4] Goldberg would sign on several of the club’s performers.

As Leonard Chess became increasingly involved in the running of the recording company, he left the Macomba to be run by his brother Phil.^[4]

Performers who appeared at the Macomba included King Fleming (January 1947),^[5] Andrew Tibbs, Eddie Chamblee,^[1] Ike Day,^[4] Gene Ammons (February 1949), Claude McLin (two weeks in March 1949^[4]), Forrest Sykes (jam session with Archia on April 11, 1950).

House bands

• June 1946 – Timothy Brown^[5]
• June 1946 - November 10, 1946 – Charles Hawkins^[5]
• Wendell Owens Trio November 1946 – May 1947 (with Wendell Owens, piano; Glen Brooks, drums and Tom Archia, tenor sax) ^[4]
• Bill Owens trio – October 1947
• Tom Archia trio – Spring 1949 – October 1950 (with LeRoy Jackson (bass); and Wes Landers (drums))

References