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Not all his Chess stuff is reissued in one place, but the bulk of it is on a two CD anthology called "Chess Blues Piano" which is mostly him and Eddie Boyd, which came out maybe ten years ago. A lot of the later 45s are nice too, like all the Got To Have Some/Just Got Some/Some More/Got To Have Her "mini-series."

Yes, Willie is notable in part because among the major Chess folk, he has the least guitar on his records for the label. (The only Chess stuff with guitar I've heard was originally unissued.) He was more suave and on the jazz side, though he could play harp or boogie woogie on the piano.

The first time I saw him it was a mistake that worked out well. A friend and I went to Cadillac Bob's Toast Of The Town on South Stony Island in Chicago thinking Bobby Bland was going to be there. Instead, there was a sign in the window advertising "Willie Maybern." It was just him and a drummer, but he sounded great. That was in '68; I think he moved to Europe not long after that. He came back to Chicago for short stretches, but didn't really play any high profile gigs in the U.S. I remember musicians commenting that he was making a mistake in Europe letting Memphis Slim manage him because being a pianist himself, Slim was going to take the best piano gigs that came along.

It was well known that Willie got into the doghouse with the Chess family (as did Eddie Boyd). Personal animosity may well have been a reason neither got a Chess album compiled during the label's heyday.