Discovering the music that moves your soul is now just a mouse click away. But a generation ago, things were different.
CBS 2's Vince Gerasole goes inside Chicago to meet a man who ventured into the city's smoky nightclubs to bring jazz and blues into our living rooms.
The blues may have found a sweet home in Chicago, but for more than a half century it's echoed the world over thanks to a small recording label called .
In its bare bones studios, Delmark recorded not just blues, but jazz, bringing artists like and to a wider audience.
"It's actually an extended hobby -- I record guys who I think ought to have records," said Bob Koester.
Seventy-four-year-old owner Bob Koester is Delmark, a man who turned his hobby into the oldest independent recording label in the United States.
"The magic is that we're still in business, that's magic these days," Koester said.
He had a knack for discovering gifted musicians, especially those overlooked by the larger, more commercial labels.
The mid 1960s was a golden age for music in Chicago.
"Every time you went out to a club you would find another good artist. I would say at least monthly an artist worth recording," Koester said.
classic "Hoodoo Man Blues" remains Delmark's top selling title, an example of how Koester allowed musicians to record their entire performances, not just whittled down two-minute tracks.
"It was the first time a working blues band went into the studio and made an LP -- it's hard to believe as late as 1965 nobody had done that," Koester said.
In spite of the big names that spent time in these studios, recording jazz and blues was never a big money making proposition for Delmark.
It was, however, a reflection of Koester's passion.
Delmark covers are among the biggest sellers at the in the Loop, dubbed one of the country's finest outlets for jazz and blues.
It is another of Koester's businesses -- the more successful child that admittedly pays the bills for Delmark to continue preserving the sounds Koester loves.
"It's important to keep the process going as long as the music is still alive," Koester said.
Among the artists who have recorded on Delmark are , and . ( MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc.
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"It's actually an extended hobby -- I record guys who I think ought to have records," said Bob Koester.
Bob Koester's life's work has been in recording and spreading the work of great jazz and blues musicians.
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