The Chicago music industry exploded with the growth of soul music in this period, producing thousands of records and dozens and dozens of new labels.

The two biggest black music labels Vee-Jay and Chess led in the creation of the Chicago soul brand with names familiar and not so familiar: the former with Etta James and Tony Adams and the latter with Gene Chandler and Moss Tolbert.

And yet it's the smaller labels that make up the bulk of the Chicago story: Conlo with Jamo Thomas, Blue Rock with Otis Leaville, Ja-Wes with Sandra Stephens and it's here that we explore some of the finest sounds of the era in this collection.