Bob Koester, giant of the Chicago jazz and blues scene – obituary

Bob Koester, who has died aged 88, ran his Chicago record shop and record label for more than half a century, dedicating his life to championing jazz and blues. Motivated by his huge passion for music rather than profit, Koester valued maverick talents and, in doing so, enriched American music.

Robert Koester was born on October 30 1932 in Wichita, Kansas, and became passionate about record collecting as a teen. He moved to St Louis after high school to study Cinematography at Saint Louis University; there he began selling rare jazz 78s by mail order before opening a jazz record shop, K & F Sales, with his college friend Ron Fister.

The two men soon parted and Koester dropped out of college to run his shop. He started Delmark Records, his first release being an album of the trad jazz group the Windy City Six in late 1953.

His timing was fortuitous as independent labels were beginning to enjoy a sales boom due to renewed enthusiasm for jazz, but as Koester refused to engage in payola – bribing radio presenters to play your records – Delmark was never going to compete with the bigger labels.

Instead, Koester concentrated on the then new format of LPs, reissuing long deleted jazz recordings then locating the blues pianist Speckled Red (Rufus Perryman) for Delmark’s next releases. Koester soon began his long professional acquaintance with the itinerant blues singer Big Joe Williams.

In 1958 he moved to Chicago and set up the Jazz Record Mart, a jazz and blues specialist selling new and used records. He also developed Delmark into one of Chicago’s foremost labels, recording modern jazz – including the then unknown Sun Ra and his Arkestra – and country blues, helping the likes of Sleepy John Estes benefit from a renewed international enthusiasm in the genre.

Koester helped introduce the “West Side” blues style to new audiences in the mid-1960s through the landmark albums West Side Soul by Magic Sam and Hoodoo Man Blues by Junior Wells.

Hoodoo Man Blues (1965) would be Delmark’s best ever seller; this stunning set of funky electric blues sold more than 500,000 copies and proved influential on the UK blues scene. It also bankrolled Delmark, as Koester and Wells had agreed on the musician receiving a one-off fee of $500 for his services.

Delmark went on to play a major role in helping launch the international careers of Otis Rush, Luther Allison, Jimmy Dawkins, J B Hutto, Carey Bell and Jimmy Johnson.

The blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite and a teenage, pre-fame Iggy Pop both benefited from Koester’s generosity towards young musicians.

Koester pressed his Jazz Mart employee, Bruce Iglauer, to set up his own label after Delmark declined to record Hound Dog Taylor, a raucous blues primitive. In 1971 Iglauer did so, launching Alligator Records, today the world’s foremost blues label.

Koester continued to acquire master recordings from defunct labels, bringing valuable exposure to early developments in postwar Chicago blues.

Koester would go out to hear live jazz and blues, often in rough Chicago neighbourhoods, well into his seventies. He continued working six days a week in the Jazz Mart up 2016, when he sold up, declaring: “I’m getting old.”

None the less, he opened a smaller shop in another Chicago neighbourhood and worked there six days a week there until his health began to fail.

His wife of more than 50 years, Sue, and his son (also Bob) both worked with him at Delmark until he sold the label in 2018. Today Delmark offers more than 300 jazz albums and is recognised as one of the US’s leading blues labels.

Gregarious and welcoming, he was always open to giving interviews or simply chatting with visitors.

Bob Koester is survived by his wife, and by a daughter and son.

Bob Koester, born October 30 1932; died May 12 2021