The Joe Turner Cherry Red Thread

[jazzbo]

I did a search and didn't see a "corner" or a "circle" for Big Joe. So. . . here's an attempt; this can go away if anyone can find another earlier one!

Picked up two Pablos I realized that I had never had, Joe Turner's "Patcah! Patcha! All Night Long!" and "Flip! Flop! & Fly!" Neither of these would be releases I'd recommend to someone discovering Joe, but they're both great performances, the first featuring Jimmy Witherspoon and the other with the Count Basie Orchestra.

Joe Turner was a well of history and futures and fun, fun, fun. I'm a fan.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Yes - Joe was great. I haven't got any of the Pablos, though I've always meant to get the ones with Wild Bill Moore, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson and Pee Wee Crayton.

I have a nice Proper box of his early material, up to "Shake rattle & roll", which I enjoy very much.

Highly recommended - to myself, because I've never replaced the copy I had in the sixties - "The boss of the blues" on Atlantic.

MG

[jazzbo]

I actually really like the Pablos, and they're far from expensive these days!

I have a number of the Chronogical Classics which are all uniformly GREAT.

Edited March 15, 2010 by jazzbo

[jostber]

There is a lot on Big Joe in the book on Doc Pomus by Alex Halberstadt. As his main inspiration Big Joe both kickstarted Doc into a music career and songwriting, so this man inspired a lot of great songs to written as well.

This of course is a classic:

[Dan Gould]

Picked up two Pablos I realized that I had never had, Joe Turner's "Patcah! Patcha! All Night Long!" and "Flip! Flop! & Fly!"

The former was the subject of this post, a very enjoyable late-period recording. Glad you're finally hearing it, Lon!

[Joe]

Some of my favorite Big Joe can be found on the late-40s National sides collected on this Savoy compilation:

Big Joe Turner / Pete Johnson, ATOMIC BOOGIE

[JSngry]

Kansas City Here I Come, a Pablo side featuring Lee Allen, is just SICK good. It's like one big nonstop.....thing that never changes because it's its own world, and you know how worlds are about that type thing.

Of course, you can say that about a lot of Turner's Pablo sides, but this one gets in there deeper than the others and then sets about staying thre for the duration to a degree that the others don't.

Just my opinion, of course. But Lee Allen, there's your worth-the-cost-of-admission-alone factor right there for this one.

[danasgoodstuff]

"My telephone number is Cherry I-8-1-2"

[Hot Ptah]

Some of my favorite Big Joe can be found on the late-40s National sides collected on this Savoy compilation:

Big Joe Turner / Pete Johnson, ATOMIC BOOGIE

Also, a Savoy collection, "Have No Fear, Big Joe Turner Is Here", is excellent.

I saw Big Joe Turner live in the late 1970s, in Boston. He sat on a chair throughout the set, but his voice was powerful.

Edited March 15, 2010 by Hot Ptah

[paul secor]

This of course is a classic:

Oh Yeah!!

[marcello]

This one is a lot of fun:

[Harold_Z]

I love Big Joe! I came in during the lp era and the above and duly lauded "Boss Of The Blues" was my first Big Joe. I quickly snagged the rest of the Atlantic lps and two Savoy lps and then an Arhoolie lp. When cds hit I just grabbed all I could! Gotta say I dig the late 30s, early 40s stuff too! It's all good!

[Man with the Golden Arm]

Kansas City Here I Come, a Pablo side featuring Lee Allen, is just SICK good.

Call the Plumbah!!

or just call Porky, cuz he's got the plunger!

[Chuck Nessa]

I remember seeing him at the Jazz Showcase in the '70s. A notorious lp collector came with a huge stack of records for Joe to autograph. Joe was going through the stack and found a couple by the pianist Joe Turner and gave the dude "the eye".

I saw the same guy greet Mingus with a stack of about 50 lps and around half way through, Mingus looked up and said "So, you can't say I'm not a nice guy"! Laughs all around.

[marcello]

I only saw him once, probably about the same time. Lloyd Glenn was playing piano. It was a great experience to sit in front of him in a small club ( he sat in a chair and walked with a cane) and get a real feeling of his sound.

[JSngry]

Showtime @ The Apollo!

Big Joe & Tony Coe! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj7ETgOVOMM

[Larry Kart]

I remember seeing him at the Jazz Showcase in the '70s. A notorious lp collector came with a huge stack of records for Joe to autograph. Joe was going through the stack and found a couple by the pianist Joe Turner and gave the dude "the eye".

I saw the same guy greet Mingus with a stack of about 50 lps and around half way through, Mingus looked up and said "So, you can't say I'm not a nice guy"! Laughs all around.

Think I was there both times, certainly for the Mingus encounter. The corresponding moment there to the presence of the wrong Joe Turner albums was that all of the LPs the collector wanted Mingus to sign were still shrink-wrapped.

[johnlitweiler]

Thanks, Jim.

I've loved Joe Turner's music, rocking and/or swinging, ever since "Shake Rattle & Roll" in the early 1950s. Finally got to hear him @ Segal's Showcase in the 70s, first with John Young, then with Lloyd Glenn. He seemed to be in poor health both times, but he still projected the sheer joy of singing like nobody else could.

I tried to interview him but he was pretty far out of it. Wound up interviewing Lloyd Glenn for an hour while Joe tossed and turned in the bed next to us and a drunken woman wandered in and out and cursed white people. Quite a strange afternoon. Down Beat didn't print the Glenn interview and now I can't find it, doggone it.

[Larry Kart]

Those Showcase Joe Turner engagements were something else. Must be a collective curse on us, though. I know I reviewed at least one of them, and that review should be in my book (writing about fine vocalists was always a challenge and usually great fun), but it's not there, and I can't find a copy of it.