Label Guide: Cadet Concept

Cadet Concept was an offshoot of Chess Records' Cadet division, created in 1967 by Marshall Chess, the son of the founder of Chess Records. The new label was set up to release more rock-oriented blues and soul music, often with a psychedelic edge.

Marshall Chess compiled a highly experimental psychedelic soul studio-band, The Rotary Connection, to lead the new label. Among its members was a Chess receptionist named Minnie Riperton, who would later be successful in her own solo career. Probably the most significant release on Cadet Concept was the groundbreaking Muddy Waters album Electric Mud in 1968.

With the end of the psychedelic era, and the sale of parent Chess Records to GRT Corporation, the decision was made to phase out Cadet Concept and its final release was in 1971.