Jazz Record Mart

CTL-E-0534 · Business · retail · 1959–2016

PROVISIONAL evidence grade of this record

Jazz Record Mart was founded by Bob Koester (also of Delmark Records) and operated for decades as Chicago's premier jazz and blues record store. The store served as a retail and archival node for Chicago blues and jazz, directly tied to Delmark's label operation and reissue program.

Notes

Merged into canonical KG 2026-10-03 from MUSIC-001, BMI-002; source entity IDs: CTL-DR-BMI-002:jazz-record-mart, CTL-DR-MUSIC-001:music-001-node-037; source research type(s): record_store, store. Description completed 2026-10-03 from the source research record (claims) during the KG completion pass.

Sources

Delmark Records institutional history (primary source)
JazzTimes
Chicago Tribune (via Jazz Promo Services reprint)
indirect repost of Iglauer quotation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_Record_Mart

Record CTL-E-0534 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: PROVISIONAL · 5 sources (1 primary) · CTL research: MUSIC-001, BMI-002.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Cite this record

Cite as: CultureTechLens, “Jazz Record Mart (CTL-E-0534),” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, October 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0534/

Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Jazz Record Mart (CTL-E-0534).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0534/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Jazz Record Mart (CTL-E-0534) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0534/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Jazz Record Mart (CTL-E-0534).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0534/

Citation guidance for teachers, journalists, and funders: How to Cite Us.

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

Black Chicago’s musical record, kept frame by frame. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.

Chuck Berry, publicity photo, 1957Photo: Universal Attractions (publicity photo), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In a booth at a South Side tavern, Chicago, 1941Photo: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

Musicians performing in a South Side tavern, Chicago, 1941Photo: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

Trust & evidence

Evidence before authority. CultureTechLens publishes its methods, its limits, and its corrections alongside its findings. Claims carry grades — VERIFIED, SUPPORTED, PROVISIONAL, DISPUTED, UNRESOLVED — and unknowns are never reported as zero.

Every claim graded. Every source named. Every correction public — none to date.