Jazz Articles about Chuck Berry

About Chuck Berry

Multiple Reviews

Ronnie Wood and Mike Zito: Tributes to Chuck Berry - Playin' Guitar Like Ringin' a Bell

by Doug Collette
December 25, 2019

Chuck Berry should be revered as one of American history's great storytellers. His depictions of people ("Johnny B. Goode"), places ("Memphis Tennessee) and things ("Rock and Roll Music") carried a vivid attention to detail further distinguished by the author's immediately recognizable electric guitar sound: marrying the blues with country music Berry set himself apart from forebears on the instrument including icons like Elmore James and T-Bone Walker. Little wonder this man has wielded such widespread influence over contemporary rock--where would ...

Opinion

Chuck Berry: 1926-2017

by C. Michael Bailey
March 21, 2017

In the same spirit of the evolutionary question, “What comes after Music," I ask how does one simply acknowledge, if not pay homage, to what is beyond Greatness? The Saturday, March 18th New York Times did not do bad with: “While Elvis Presley was rock's first pop star and teenage heartthrob, Mr. Berry was its master theorist and conceptual genius, the songwriter who understood what the kids wanted before they knew themselves. With songs like “Johnny B. Goode" ...

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Album Review

Chuck Berry: St. Louis To Liverpool / Berry Is On Top

Read "St. Louis To Liverpool / Berry Is On Top" reviewed by Mike Perciaccante

by Mike Perciaccante
August 22, 2008

John Lennon was quoted as saying, “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'!"--one hell of an endorsement. If taken solely on the merits of the individual tracks on this single disc collection, encompassing two of Berry's classic albums, Lennon was clearly making an understatement. Berry Is On Top (Chess Records, 1959) and St. Louis to Liverpool (Chess Records, 1964) are both jam-packed with hits. Each timeless track features the All-Star Rock ...