SHARPS & FLATS : CHESS NAME RUNS THROUGH ROCK 'N' ROLL AND THE BLUES.

Byline: Fred Shuster

Pick up any book about the Rolling Stones' '70s heyday and you'll find the name Marshall Chess.

Go back even further to investigate the early days of rock 'n' roll and blues and you'll also see the Chess name. Chicago's Chess Records, co-founded by Marshall's father Leonard and uncle Phil, was home to such greats as Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf.

The Chess catalog was acquired by MCA/Universal in 1985, while Marshall, who runs a music publishing company, recently launched his own label.

The first release from CZYZ - the original Chess family name when they immigrated to the U.S. from Poland - is ``2120'' by Murali Coryell, son of jazz-fusion guitarist Larry Coryell. The album is named after the historic address of Chess Studios at 2120 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.

``I see the label like a small movie company - give me an album and a sequel and let's come up with a concept and idea,'' Chess said. ``I'll work a record two years to make it happen.''

Chess was hired by the Stones organization in the early '70s to straighten out their contracts at a time when the band wanted to start its own Rolling Stones Records imprint.

``I was around for the albums and tours,'' Chess recalls. ``I left for survival reasons. I got out before the whole scene did me in.''

Chess came up with CZYZ two years ago when promoting Chess' 50th anniversary, which MCA/Universal commemorated with a string of re-releases and anthologies.

``People kept asking why I wasn't still making records,'' he said. ``Blues had become a huge worldwide market.''

CZYZ aims to capture the roots of urban blues, Chess says, adding that Coryell's disc was cut on two-track in order to focus on performance rather than perfection.

``Why was there so much magic in those early Chess records?'' he asks. ``It was the performance. Today's records are done on multitrack where you can make records in bits and pieces. But the original records had to go down on tape as one, locked together.''

An Allstars moment

The Long Beach Dub Allstars - the seven-piece band formed two years ago by surviving Sublime members Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson - cut their new album before offering it to labels.

``It took more than a year,'' explains RAS-1, the band's oddly named guitarist-singer. ``We did it ourselves with nobody telling us what to do. After that, we took it around and DreamWorks was best because they were the least corporate of the majors.''

Like Sublime's output, the Allstars' just-issued ``Right Back'' touches on reggae, hip-hop and rock. The band appears on Halloween at the Hollywood Palladium with G. Love & Special Sauce and rapper Kool Keith.