From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Sat May 18, 2002 1:15 am Subject: Born To Be With You : Big Joe Turner BIG JOE TURNER (By Phil Davies) Born Joseph Vernon Turner, May 18th 1911, Kansas City, Missouri. Died November 24th 1985, Oakdale, California. First sang in church and later on street corners with pals. When he was 12 he jumped from a second floor window to escape a fire and badly damaged his knees and legs. This accident would cause him major problems later in life. A large boy, he got work in nightclubs and bars as a bouncer, barman and waiter. The jazz/Prohibition years in Kansas gave birth to a plethora of music and drinking venues. One of the great local talents was pianist Kermit " Pete" Johnson (born in Kansas in 1904). Working at the Sunset café on 12th St. he met and befriended the young singing bartender and the resulting musical partnership was sensational, Joe's booming deep voice and Pete's phenomenal piano playing, one of the most important musical partnerships of the C20th. Joe said in a later interview, "I originated that style myself, everybody was singing slow blues and I thought I'd put a beat to it and sing it up-tempo. Pete and I got together and we worked at that for a long time, and we finally got pretty good at it. We used to do it in a night club and it went over so good we just kept it up." They were together for 13 glorious years. Joe's heroes were a diverse bunch, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Bing Crosby and especially Ethel Waters. By 1933 Joe & Pete were touring the Midwest. One day in early 1936 white jazz/blues impresario John Hammond was in Kansas looking for Count Basie when he saw the dynamic duo at the Sunset club. That summer Hammond found work for the boys in New York but they returned to Kansas eventually. Hammond got them onto the legendary Spirituals To Swing show at the prestigious Carnegie Hall (along with Broonzy, Basie and Sonny Terry). Joe and Pete performed Roll 'Em Pete (titled It's All Right Baby then) and Low Down Dog. Acetates were made of these songs but were not released until 1959. The liner notes accurately portrayed Joe as "a big, vigorous man with a big, shouting voice. A great shouter is first of all a great singer, and Joe is all of that". Hammond described Joe's performance thus, "Joe shoved the mike out of his way, as though flicking lint from his lapel, picked up the beat and started shouting blues in an open-throated tone that carried to the far reaches of the hall. Joe was among us and feeling well!" This show sparked a boogie woogie revival and Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons took the musical world by storm. Pete and Joe recorded Roll 'Em Pete for Vocalion. Their breakthrough in the Big Apple was well timed as a new local government reformed the notorious Kansas night spots, closing many down (as DA Jim Garrison would repeat in 60s New Orleans). The lads played the finest and hottest spots in NY and became darlings of the social set. Songs like Cherry Red, My Gal's A Jockey and Piney Brown Blues became staples of the act and were recorded. Classics like Careless love, Rebecca, Wee Baby Blues, Corrine Corrina and Rocks In My Bed kept bringing the crowds in and the nickels pumping into the Rockolas. In 1941 Joe went to California for 4 years with the Duke Ellington Jump for Joy revue. He recorded for National, one of the many new jazz/r&b labels catering for the demands for the hot "new" music, whilst Joe just kept belting them out as before a whole crop of his disciples sprang to national fame, Jimmy Witherspoon, Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris. With the later in 1947 Joe recorded the great Battle Of The Blues (part 1) for Aladdin. After 11 singles for National Joe left and recorded for many small labels all over the States (Down Beat/Swingtime, Imperial, Modern/Rpm, Rouge, Dootone etc). He had a small r&b hit in 1950 for Freedom (the Houston label) with Still In The Dark. The new kids on the block were out selling (but not out-singing) their boyhood hero. Some of Joe's biggest NY fans were looking for him, Ruth Brown and Sticks McGhee's hits meant that newcomers Atlantic Records were going to increase their roster and Joe was a must have for Abramson and Ertegun. They met Joe at the Apollo Theatre where he was subbing for Jimmy Rushing in Basie's band. Basie' s slick new arrangements did not help the under rehearsed Joe and he flopped. Ahmet tracked him down to a nearby bar and signed him up for Atlantic. We should all offer a small prayer for this fortuitous act here and now! The original deal signed Joe for 1 year with the possibility of a 3 year extension, he was with them for 11 glorious SAO years and racked up 18 chart hits. Chains Of Love written by Ahmet and legend Harry Van Walls did the trick for starters. Billboard noted, "Turner belts out a an affecting slow blues in great style, with piano and combo picking up the mood". An impressive 25 week chart run in mid to late 1951, reaching number 2 for a month, kept out of the top slot by group classics 60 Minute Man, Glory Of Love and Atlantic's own masters The Clovers, with Don't You Know I Love You. Further hits followed, 1952 gave us Sweet 16, 1953 the incredible Honey Hush, 1954 TV Mama (uncle Elmore James on slide no less) and a certain Shake Rattle and Roll, one of the greatest r&b tunes ever. Some white hillbilly singer also did quite well out of that one but bottled out of the raunchy and funny lyrics of the original. Funnily enough though, he was a "one eyed cat" but I`m not aware of his predeliction for "sea food stores!!" 1955 saw another gem in Flip, Flop and Fly and also Hide & Seek. 1956 The Chicken and the Hawk/Morning Noon and Night, a return to Corrine Corrina, Rock A While/Lipstick, Powder and Paint. All these were R & B top 20 tunes. Joe never had a top 40 pop hit though Corrina got to 41! Joe even made it to the movies in Shake Rattle & Rock, as unlikely a teen idol as ever there was, grabbing the audience by the nuts just as he did in the dives of Kansas City. He played the package shows and toured abroad. Alongside the bigger chart hits were many other gems like Oke-She-Moke-She-Pop, Ti-Ri-Lee, Midnight Cannonball, Teenage Letter and Jump For Joy (his last hit in May 58). How songs like Crawdad Hole, Love Roller Coaster and in particular the awesome Boogie Woogie Country Girl (with a special mention for Harry Van Walls stunning piano playing) never sold a zillion copies when dorks like Avalon`s banal pap sold by the payola truckload is one of the great musical injustices of the golden 50s. Joe also recorded classic blues/jazz albums for Atlantic before being dropped in the early 60s alongside such luminaries as Ruth and Lavern. The times they were sadly a-changing. Joe came over to the UK and luckily the BBC recorded a 30 minute tv show with Chris Barber backing him. He signed for Coral with no commercial success, the soul age, surf and British Invasion made sure of that. He recorded for many small labels, with his voice in fine fettle. He recorded in Mexico for Orfeon with old pal Bill Haley. Pete Johnson passed away in 1967, but an earlier stroke in 1958 and ended his playing days prematurely. Joe sang at a benefit gig and at Pete's funeral. Joe's health also deteriorated and his earlier leg problems (not helped by his sheer physical bulk and diet) meant he went eventually from relying on crutches to being in a wheelchair. He suffered from diabetes and had several strokes but his spirit and vocal skills were with him to the very end. His work on Pablo is worth checking out, as is his album with Roomful Of Blues and especially fine is the finest musical equivalent of Dylan Thomas' epic Do Not Go Gently, the awe inspiring informal 70th birthday show jam recorded at Joe's home aided and abetted by one of Pete Johnson's biggest fans and fellow boogie meister Axel Zwingenberger. The real Boss of the Blues left us on November 24th 1985 in Inglewood California. His funeral was attended by Ahmet Ertegun, Lowell Fulson, Jimmy McCracklin, Johnny Otis, Etta James, Lee Allen and many, many others coming to say goodbye to one of the greatest vocal talents of the c20th. Final words must go to his great friend and cohort, Doc Pomus, " Joe, I know heaven's a sweeter place now that you're going to be there. But the angels are going to have to sing a little louder to keep up with you, and the all-star backing band is going to have to keep on their toes. But they're all going to be really inspired now". Nearly all of our musical heroes, Jerry Lee, Elvis, Buddy, Johnny Burnette etc etc etc have covered a Joe Turner tune but whether they've matched the original performance is another matter. Recommended listening Everything! We need a Bear Family series of cd boxes really, in the meantime the best career compilation remains Big, Bad & Blue-Big Joe Turner Anthology 3cd compilation issued by Rhino in 1994. Plenty of Atlantic songs included. Fine booklet too by Peter Grendysa, liberally adapted above Atlantic Period Rhythm & Blues Years, Atlantic, 28 songs (also on 2lp with 4 extra tracks) V Best Of - Rhino, 16 Atlantic classics Gt Hits Of - Sequel, 21 Atlantic classics, now deleted NB Sequel also had his jazzier albums on catalogue Pre Atlantic Shoutin' The Blues -Specialty/Ace, VA inc 8 Freedom sides Jumpin' With Joe - EMI/Capitol inc Battle of the Blues Have No Fear Big Joe Is Here- Savoy Jazz Shoutin' The Blues - Catfish Roots Of R n R Vol 6 - President There are many other cds, just make sure you don`t pick one up by the current "Big" Joe Turner! Instead try and track down the elusive gem that is Boogie Woogie Jubilee - Vagabond, the 70th birthday party with Axel Zwingenberger starring on piano, special guests Roy Milton, Margie Evans and Eddie Vinson There are no Joe Turner biogs so recommended reading is limited to sections of the following A Left Hand Like God, Story of Boogie Woogie - Peter Silvester - Omnibus Lost Highway - Peter Guralnick - DRG (reissued by Little, Brown)