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Turner, Joseph Vernon "Big Joe"
vocalist
Big Joe's father died when he was 15 years old. One of his first jobs was as a singing bartender at the Hole in the Wall on Independence Ave.
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Big Joe Turner
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In an interview, John Williams, former saxophonist for Andy Kirk, recalled how Joe would be "chasin' and pourin', and he'd get high about 3 o'clock in the morning and start singing the blues." The Sunset had an outdoor PA system, but Big Joe didn't need any amplification when he stepped outside to call "his children home" in his half-shouted blues style.
In 1936, with the help of John Hammond, Big Joe and Pete Johnson moved to New York, where their reception was less than enthusiastic. They came back to Kansas City briefly before returning to New York to participate in the Spirituals to Swing concert produced by Hammond. They recorded two selections--"Goin' Away Blues" 
and "Roll 'Em Pete" -- for the Vocalion label on December 24, 1936.
Beginning in 1939, Joe and Pete played an extended engagement at Cafe Society [14k image] in New York. On November 11, 1940, Joe Turner and His Fly Cats (featuring Pete Johnson) recorded "Piney Brown Blues" [ 21k image ] in tribute to the manager of the Sunset Club. Produced by Dave E. Dexter, Jr., for the Decca label, "Piney Brown Blues" was included in the first album of Kansas City jazz. "Piney" was issued as a single and became a hit, selling 400,000 copies in 1941.
Big Joe added rock to the roll and became one of the fathers of rock'n'roll when he recorded "Shake Rattle and Roll" for the Atlantic label in 1955.
- Dexter, Dave E., Jr.
- Playback. New York: Billboard Publications, Inc., 1976.
- Russell, Ross.
- Jazz Style in Kansas City and the Southwest. Berkely: University of California Press, 1971.
- Wilmer, Valerie.
- "Boss of the Blues (interview with Joe Turner)." Down Beat. November 18, 1965, Vol. 32, No. 24, pages 16, 17, 42.
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