The Boss of The Blues Sings Kansas City Jazz

Big Joe Turner | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 5, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Collectables
• ASIN: B00007BHB8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #291,919 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Cherry Red

2. Roll 'Em Pete

3. I Want a Little Girl

4. Low Down Dog

5. Wee Baby Blues

6. You're Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do?)

7. How Long Blues

8. Morning Glories

9. St. Louis Blues

10. Piney Brown Blues

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In early 1956, Big Joe Turner took a break from his duties as one of the stars of the emerging music called rock & roll to hook up with an eight-piece band--including his longtime cohort, boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson--to make an album of the Kansas City jazz he'd helped advance as a blues shouter in the '30s. Most of the material on The Boss of the Blues is from the Turner-Johnson songbook, with "Roll 'Em Pete," "Cherry Red," and "Piney Brown Blues" among the bedrock pieces of the form. Their treatment here is vigorous and swinging, but the best cut may be a long, blowzy version of "Wee Baby Blues" that sounds as much at home in today's late-night bars as Turner's work did in those of the era in which it was made. --Rickey Wright

Product Description

This 1956 Atlantic release features Big Joe Turner covering some of his early songs, including "Cherry Red" and "Wee Baby Blues." On this album, he's backed by Joe Newman on trumpet, Lawrence Brown on trombone, Pete Brown on alto sax, Frank Wess on tenor sax, Pete Johnson on piano, Freddie Greene on guitar, Walter Page on bass and Cliff Leeman on drums.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the real "Boss" of the blues!!!! Great Kansas City sounds !!!!, September 7, 2005

By 

JEAN-MARIE JUIF (BESANCON France) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Boss of The Blues Sings Kansas City Jazz (Audio CD)

Here is the real Kansas City stuff.The great Big Joe Turner (not to be confused with the great Harlem stride pianist Joe Turner),born in Kansas City in 1911,swings high here.The band is a real all stars one,with some Basie-ites like Joe Newman,trumpet,Frank Wess,tenor sax,Walter Page,bass and Freddie Green,guitar,a great member of Duke Ellington's band,Lawrence BRown on trombone,plus Pete Brown on alto sax,Cliff Leeman on drums and... Pete Johnson himself on piano.
The result is a great swing session,with one of the greatest blues shouters on the front line.And even if the immense Jimmy Rushing will always be my man (listen to his incredible Columbia albums,"Little Jimmy Rushing and the big brass","the jazz odissey of James Rushing Esq","Cat meet chick" and "sings the Smith girls"),Big Joe is the other great KC voice;maybe his voice doesn't have that smoky flavor Jimmy had,and maybe he isn't so much at ease on jazz tunes that Mr Five by Five (Rushing's nickname referring to his impressive stoutness),but KC's jumping blues are his thing,and he is in this music like a fish in the sea.The masterful support of Page and Greene make the rhythm section swing like mad (like in the good old times of the Count Basie band),and the drive of Pete Johnson's piano (which can sometimes be as down to earth as Montana Taylor's) brings the band back to the essence of Kansas City swing.Big Joe was starting a new career at the time this recording was made (1956),a new career that will be going on for thirty years.
As essential as his fourties sides (the 1940 duets with Willie "the Lion" Smith,the magnificent 1941 "nobody in mind" with Sammy Price or the 1944 "little bittie gal's blues" with Pete Johnson,his associate since the early thirties,as necessary as his 1971 "Texas style" album,with a great Milt Buckner on piano and the imperial Jo Jones,the greatest master of drums,this record is a great moment of music you've to treasure.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly the Boss!, April 29, 2000

By 

T. Maddison "Tim Maddison" (London) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Boss of the Blues (Audio CD)

A true classic.A great selection of songs, unified in approach but full of subtle variations as one would expect from such a stellar cast of musicians in the small/medium backing band, including Pete Johnson on piano and five significant Basie/Ellington alumni. Whether slow or rocking, every tune is the product of masters of the Kansas City blues at the peak of their form. Walter Page's bass sound is unmistakeable to lovers of the Basie band (Freddie Green is here too). A triumphant return to the roots at a time when Turner was enjoying success with his excellent R&B/Rock&Roll recordings.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the one, January 2, 2000

By 

Peter Jones (Ruston, LA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Boss of the Blues (Audio CD)

The classic Kansas City jazz recording of the fifties. After putting out an illustrious string of rhythm and blues hits by Joe Turner in the early fifties, like his "Shake, Rattle, and Roll", Atlantic teamed him with his old partner, pianist Pete Johnson, and a marvellous small band. Every track is a gem.