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Big Joe Turner
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri, born on 18 May 1911. His father was killed in a train accident when Joe was four. He sang in church and on street corners, left school at fourteen and worked in the nightclubs of Kansas City, first as a cook and later as a singing bartender. That earned him the nickname The Singing Barman. Together with his friend, the pianist Pete Johnson, he performed in clubs such as the Sunset. In 1938 the talent scout John Hammond saw them and invited them to play at Carnegie Hall in the concert series From Spirituals to Swing.
Music and breakthrough
Hits followed, such as Roll 'Em Pete, a collection of traditional blues lyrics that Turner often recorded again. From 1939 Turner and Johnson played with the boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis at Café Society in New York, appearing alongside Billie Holiday, among others. Cherry Red and Wee Baby Blues date from that period too. In 1941 he appeared in Duke Ellington's revue Jump for Joy, and in 1945 he signed with National Records.
Influence
He achieved his greatest fame in the 1950s with rock 'n' roll recordings, above all Shake, Rattle and Roll. Even so, his career ran from the 1920s to the 1980s. In 1987 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which called him a voice with power. The songwriter Doc Pomus said that rock 'n' roll would never have come into being without him. Turner joined the blues and boogie-woogie of Kansas City to the young rock 'n' roll.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1956The Boss of the Blues Sings Kansas City Jazz
- 1957Rock & Roll
- 1958Rockin’ the Blues
- 1959Big Joe Is Here
- 1960Big Joe Rides Again
- 1967Singing the Blues
- 1977Things That I Used To Do
- 1978Everyday I Have the Blues
- 1978Let's Boogie Woogie All Night Long
- 1986Blues Train
- 1989Flip, Flop & Fly
- 1994Life Ain't Easy
- 1995In the Evening
- 2000Rocks in My Bed
- 2001Super Black Blues
- 2002Blues Café presents Big Joe Turner
- 2002The Midnight Special
- 2006Boss Man's Blues
- 2024Kansas City Style
- ?Honey Hush
- ?Tell Me Pretty Baby
- ?Turns On the Blues
Mentioned in other articles
- Kansas City jazz Genre
Andy Kirk with Mary Lou Williams, Jay McShann with the young Charlie Parker, and the singer Big Joe Turner with the pianist Pete Johnson also came out of this scene.