Biography

Chess always loved music. He was born and raised in rural southeastern Va. He would listen to R&B during the day, Rock & Roll after dark, and play classical during school hours. Growing up in a Southern Baptist Church, he learned to appreciate Gospel and Country Music.
When you put all this together, along with his style of funk and syncopation, you come up with Chess Music. A music stew.
He has played with a Spoken Word Group, The Black Minds, jazz groups Unity & A.J.A.J.A., R&B group The MasterJade Band, and the rock group Jade (and many, many other groups in between, writing,arranging, co-producing, studio sessions, & more).
It wasn’t until high school that he began formal training in music. It was there that the instructor noticed that he had taught himself to read (follow the notes & timing). He took him under his wing and taught and mentored him. He later earned a music scholarship to college, majoring in percussion instruments.( and still today Chess feels that not finishing college was the biggest mistake he made)
It was in college that a friend trumpeter Joel Joyner introduced him to the MasterJade Band, where he became the conga player. The energy he brought gave the band a different feel. They later dropped the horn section & singers, and added Gregg (Termite) Rich, keyboards & vocals, Lorenzo (Rudy) Jones, sax & vocals, and Jade was born, opening shows for many greats like Luther Vandross, The Spinners, Buddy Rich, Nancy Wilson, and others.
They were on their way when tragedy struck. They lost their manager and mentor Joe Riley, to an aneurysm. The band was devastated. They tried to manage themselves, but the music business was overbearing. The band broke up.
He began driving Big Trucks (18 Wheelers) across this great nation, met a beautiful woman and married. He now enjoys a daughter, 4 sons, & a grandson.
But when some friends learned of his past, they gave him a keyboard and urged him to get back to his roots. And that he did. Music flowed through him like a conduit.
His music is educated funk with mature syncopation, played in a jazzy, bluesy, even a classical genre. His vocals are raspy, raunchy, and full of character. But it all starts on a spiritual base, and blends into a music stew.
Recording his own music was put in his mind in high school. He didn’t know what type, how, or when, just that he was to record his music. He recorded lots of music for other people, and with some success, but that was not his goal..
It was not until now that he feels he is where he should be . Sometimes, undeservingly, he compares himself to Abraham, in that he never lost faith, and that got him to this place and now.
Some say he’s living his life too far out of the box. Always too tall, or too short, too rich or too poor, too sexy or not sexy enough, doors always shutting just before he gets there. But that really doesn’t matter now, because today Chess is Looking into a Mirror at the World, and this is what cries out
OPEN THE SKY. Are You Ready?