Happy 100th Birthday to Big Joe Turner
Slightly belated congratulations to the greatest of the blues shouters, who was born in Kansas City on May 18, 1911. I’m sure Joe won’t mind me being a day late, as he’s been playing a steady gig in R&B heaven since 1985. He started singing on the streets & in church, and later became known as The Singing Barman. He and partner/pianist Pete Johnson ended up performing in the first of John Hammond’s “Spiritual to Swing” concerts at Carnegie Hall in 1938, and the pair made their first record the next year, “Roll ‘Em, Pete”. It seems a big jump … Continue reading