Big Joe Turner

Success during the 1950s

In 1951, while performing with the Count Basie Orchestra at Harlem's Apollo Theater as a replacement for Jimmy Rushing, he was spotted by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, who contracted him to their new recording company, Atlantic Records. and "Sweet Sixteen". He sang it on film for the 1955 theatrical feature Rhythm and Blues Revue.

Although the cover version of the song by Bill Haley & His Comets, with the risqué lyrics partly omitted, was a greater sales success, many listeners sought out Turner's version and were introduced thereby to rhythm and blues. Elvis Presley's version of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" combined Turner's lyrics with Haley's arrangement, but was not a successful single.

"The Chicken and the Hawk", "Flip, Flop and Fly", Turner also participated in a "Battle of the Blues" with Wynonie Harris and T-Bone Walker.

In 1965, he toured in England with the trumpeter Buck Clayton and the trombonist Vic Dickenson, accompanied by Humphrey Lyttelton and his band. Part of a studio concert was televised by the BBC and later issued on DVD. A sound recording of a club appearance made during this tour is not thought of sufficient sound quality to justify commercial issue. He also toured Europe with Count Basie and his orchestra. He won the British Jazz Journal award as top male singer of 1965.

In 1977, Turner recorded a cover version of Guitar Slim's song "The Things That I Used to Do", and "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter", for Spivey Records, with Lloyd Glenn on piano.

Turner received top billing with Count Basie in the Kansas City jazz reunion movie The Last of the Blue Devils (1979), featuring Jay McShann, Jimmy Forrest, and other players from the city.

In 1983, two years before his death, Turner was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. That same year, the album Blues Train was released by Muse Records; the album featured Turner with the band Roomful of Blues. to European jazz festivals of the 1980s.

Death and tributes Turner died of heart failure in November 1985, at the age of 74, in Inglewood, California, having suffered from effects of arthritis, a stroke and diabetes. His funeral included musical tributes from Etta James and Barbara Morrison. He was buried at Roosevelt Memorial Park in Gardena, California.

He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

According to the Blues Hall of Fame, Turner "was a king of the jump blues genre, a boogie woogie belter, progenitor of rhythm & blues and rock 'n' roll, and a respected performer in jazz circles.

Dave Alvin wrote a song about an evening he spent with Turner, entitled "Boss of the Blues", for his 2009 album, Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women. Alvin discussed the song in issue 59 of the Blasters Newsletter. Alvin later collaborated with his brother and former Blaster Phil Alvin on a second reunion album, Lost Time, released in 2015, containing four covers of songs by Turner, including "Cherry Red", "Wee Baby Blues" and "Hide and Seek". The brothers met Turner in Los Angeles, where he was playing in clubs on Central Avenue and living in the Adams district between tours in the 1960s. Phil Alvin opened for Turner a few times with his first band, Delta Pacific. Turner continued mentoring the Alvin brothers until his death in 1985. He is pictured on the back cover of Lost Time.

The biographical film The Buddy Holly Story refers to Turner and his contemporaries Little Richard and Fats Domino as major influences on Holly, who is portrayed collecting their vinyl recordings.

A biography and discography, Big Joe Turner Feel So Fine, written by Derek Coller was published by Hardinge Simpole in 2023 .

Most famous recordings "Roll 'Em Pete" (1938), available in many versions over the years; used in the million-dollar opening scene of Spike Lee's 1992 film Malcolm X "Chains of Love" * (1951), Turner's first million-seller, written by Ahmet Ertegun under the pseudonym "Nugetre" for the lyrics and Vann "Piano Man" Walls for the music, reaching the million sales mark by 1954 "Honey Hush" * (1953), Turner's second million-seller, written by Turner but credited to Lou Willie Turner written by "Charles Calhoun", Jesse Stone's songwriting name "Flip, Flop and Fly" * (1955), sold a million copies over the years; written by Charles Calhoun and Turner but credited to Lou Willie Turner Joe Turner: Rock & Roll (Atlantic, 1957) Rockin' the Blues (Atlantic, 1958) And The Blues'll Make You Happy Too (Savoy, 1958) Careless Love (Savoy, 1958) Big Joe is Here (Atlantic, 1959) Big Joe Rides Again (Atlantic, 1960) Jumpin' the Blues (Arhoolie, 1962) with Pete Johnson Joe Turner and Jimmy Nelson (Crown, 1963) Sings The Blues, Vol. 1 (Oriole, 1964) Sings The Blues, Vol. 2 (Oriole, 1965) Feel So Fine (Fontana, 1965) with Buck Clayton; reissued as Buck Clayton Meets Joe Turner (Black Lion, 1992) Presenting Big Joe Turner (Orfeon [mex], 1966) Singing the Blues (ABC/BluesWay, 1967) reissued as Roll 'Em (ABC/BluesWay, 1973) The Real Boss of the Blues (BluesTime/Flying Dutchman, 1969) Super Black Blues (BluesTime/Flying Dutchman, 1969) with T-Bone Walker and Otis Spann Super Black Blues, Volume II (BluesTime/Flying Dutchman, 1970) with Leon Thomas, T-Bone Walker, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson Turns On the Blues (Kent, 1970) Texas Style (Black and Blue, 1971)

1972 – Flip, Flop & Fly (Pablo, 1989) with Count Basie & His Orchestra 1973 – Boss Man of the Blues (LMI Records, 1973) 1973 – The Bosses (Pablo, 1974) with Count Basie 1974 – Life Ain't Easy (Pablo, 1983) 1974 – The Trumpet Kings Meet Joe Turner (Pablo, 1975) with Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Clark Terry 1975 – Everyday I Have the Blues (Pablo, 1978) with Pee Wee Crayton and Sonny Stitt 1975 – Nobody in Mind (Pablo, 1976) with Milt Jackson and Roy Eldridge 1976 – In the Evening (Pablo, 1976) 1976 – The Midnight Special (Pablo, 1980) 1977 – Things That I Used to Do (Pablo, 1977) 1977 – San Francisco 1977 (RockBeat, 2017) with Mike Bloomfield 1977 – I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter (Spivey, 1978) with the Bill Dacey-Robert Ross Band 1978 – Really the Blues (Big Town, 1978) 1978 – Have No Fear Joe Turner is Here (Pablo, 1981) 1974–1978 – Stormy Monday (Pablo, 1991) previously unissued Pablo recordings 1980 – Kansas City Shout (Pablo, 1980) with Count Basie and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson 1981 – Boogie Woogie Jubilee (Telefunken, 1981) with Axel Zwingenberger 1981 – Rock This Joint (Intermedia, 1982) 1981 – The Very Best Of Big Joe Turner Live (Intermedia, 1982) 1981 – Boss Blues Live! (Intermedia, 1982) 1981 – Roll Me Baby (Intermedia, 1982) 1983 – Live at the Music Machine 1983 (RockBeat, 2013) 1983 – Blues Train (Muse, 1983) with Roomful of Blues 1983 – Big Joe Turner with Knocky Parker and His House Rockers (Southland, 1985) 1984 – Kansas City Here I Come (Pablo, 1984) 1985 – Patcha, Patcha, All Night Long (Pablo, 1985) with Jimmy Witherspoon 1938–1954 – Shout, Rattle And Roll (1938–1954) (Proper, 2005) 4-CD set 1941–1946 – The Chronological Joe Turner 1941–1946 (Classics, 1997) 1946–1947 – The Chronological Joe Turner 1946–1947 (Classics, 1998) 1947–1948 – The Chronological Joe Turner 1947–1948 (Classics, 1999) 1949–1950 – The Chronological Joe Turner 1949–1950 (Classics, 2001)

Singles