Handy Award winner, and Daniel "Chicago Slim" Ivankovich, who has played with Bo Diddley, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy, are the band leaders, co-founders, and Blues Hall of Fame inductees.

[5][6] Chicago Blues All-Stars have recorded with and performed with Chuck Berry, Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, James Cotton, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Albert King, B.B.

King, Magic Sam, Gary Moore, Ohio Players, The Rolling Stones, Otis Rush, Koko Taylor, Big Mama Thornton, Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter.

[8][9] Ray Allison, a featured performer in Muddy Waters and The Rolling Stones Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1981, and Daniel Ivankovich, an orthopedic surgeon who once was musical director for Otis Rush, met at the ChicagoFest Blues stage on Navy Pier in the 1980s.

[12] Additionally, they wanted to reach a younger audience that was interested in a variety of music but to catch their attention with blues.