GREAT JOE TURNER BLUES 78 SWEET SIXTEEN ATLANTC 960 Vg+

Finally, Big Joe Turner, who acquired the latter nickname because of his impressive size, secured a job in a club bartending, acting as a bouncer and singing in the 1930's. Here, Turner, who was known for the powerful voice that matched his large physique, met pianist Pete Johnson and the two men went to New York in 1936.

In 1938, the pair made an appearance at the "Spirituals to Swing" concert at Carnegie Hall, which included Big Bill Broonzy, Count Basie and the Golden Gate Quartet. The show was quite a success with Turner and Johnson playing songs like "Low Down Dog" and "It's Alright Baby."

While in New York, Turner and Johnson signed with the Vocalion record company, recording "Roll 'Em Pete" which was an up tempo number that Turner would rerecord over his career many times. In 1939, the pair also recorded the blues number "Cherry Red" for Vocalion accompanied by the trumpeter Hot Lips Page and a full combo band.

    The big opportunity for Joe to revitalize his career came when Jimmy Rushing left the Count Basie Band and Joe became the substitute. Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, of the recently formed Atlantic Records, were interested in Joe, but did not know where to find him. However, when the Basie Band played the Apollo in New York, Ahmet heard that Joe was called in to substitute, so he went to the show. Ahmet hooked up with Joe and as a result, he was signed to a one-year contract with Atlantic. On April 19, 1951, he recorded four sides. These sides were not marketed to the usual jazz audiences as in the past. Atlantic Records took Joe to the young, new audience of Rhythm and Blues.

    "Chains Of Love" was the first single Atlantic released out of Joe's first recordings. He was backed by Van 'Piano Man' Walls and His Orchestra. The single did incredibly! It stayed on the R&B charts for 25 weeks and was #2 for four of those weeks. This created a demand for Joe and he started to travel. He hit the road on a short tour with Helen Humes and The Hal Singer Orchestra. After that, for almost two months, he was part of Atlantic's "Cavalcade of Blues" tour traveling throughout Louisiana and Texas.

    Although "Chain Of Love" was still on the charts, Atlantic released another side from Joe's first session as a follow-up. The lively "The Chill Is On" peaked at #3 on the R&B charts. In the meantime, material he had recorded earlier for other labels surfaced on the radio. Atlantic reacted by getting Joe back into the studio in January 1952, again with Van 'Piano Man' Walls. "Sweet Sixteen" was the first single released from these sessions and it stayed on the charts for some time. Joe continued to play live that year, but he did not record again until September. The single from the September session was one of the earliest songs written by Doc Pomus, entitled "Don't You Cry."

    In the Spring of 1953, while playing in New Orleans, Joe went into the studio and recorded a few songs. "Honey Hush" was recorded during these sessions and may well be one of the finest songs Joe ever sang. Joe wrote this song as well as most of his pre-Atlantic hits. The song went to #1 on the charts and stayed there for eight weeks. It was knocked off by a song recorded at the same studio by Guitar Slim and was entitled, "Things That I Used To Do." Joe's next session was in Chicago in October, with a band that included Elmore James on guitar.

    Rhythm and Blues music, at this time, was primarily heard by Blacks. There was a definite color barrier just as there had been with Blues music. Jazz managed to cross these barriers. Maybe this was because many bands and orchestras were multiracial. There were large White audiences at clubs, such as the Apollo, listening to Jazz. However, the exciting sounds of R&B were not going to be kept from the adventurous teenagers of the 1950s. People like Alan Freed, the disc jockey, soon gave them big doses of it, but other contemporary radio stations still kept the color barrier.

    Joe recorded in New York in December 1953. The producer of that session gave him a gem of a song that became one of the most popular songs ever — "Shake, Rattle, And Roll." Once again Joe had a #1 hit on the R&B charts. It stayed on the charts for over six months. Just like many hit songs on the R&B charts in the 1950s and into the 1960s, this song was covered by a White performer and promoted to the young White audiences. It was Bill Haley and The Comets who gave the world "Shake, Rattle, And Roll." Interestingly enough, Joe and Bill ended up on a tour together and Joe graciously let Haley do the song and he stayed with his other hits. The two became friends and went fishing together on several occasions.

    The hits continued over the next couple of years with "Well All Right," "Flip, Flop, And Fly," "Hide And Seek," and "Morning, Noon, And Night." All these featured the great guitar work of Elmore James. Then there was the remake of "Corrina, Corrina," "The Chicken And The Hawk," and "Lipstick, Powder, And Paint." Because of these hits, Alan Freed continued including Joe on the tour with his show. He also appeared in the movies "Harlem Rock And Roll" and "Shake, Rattle, And Roll."