Big Joe Turner - "Flip Flop And Fly" (1955)

Big Joe Turner (born Joseph Vernon Turner Jr., May 18, 1911 November 24, 1985 was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and Roll", Turner's career as a performer stretched from the 1920s into the 1980s.

Known variously as The Boss of the Blues, and Big Joe Turner (due to his 6'2", 300+ lbs stature), Turner was born in Kansas City and first discovered his love of music through involvement in the church. Turner's father was killed in a train accident when Joe was only four years old. He began singing on street corners for money, leaving school at age fourteen to begin working in Kansas City's nightclub scene, first as a cook, and later as a singing bartender. He eventually became known as The Singing Barman, and worked in such venues as The Kingfish Club and The Sunset, where he and his piano playing partner Pete Johnson became resident performers. The Sunset was managed by Piney Brown. It featured "separate but equal" facilities for white patrons. Turner wrote "Piney Brown Blues" in his honor and sang it throughout his entire career.

His partnership with boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson proved fruitful. Together they headed to New York City in 1936, where they appeared on a bill with Benny Goodman, but as Turner recounts, "After our show with Goodman, we auditioned at several places, but New York wasn't ready for us yet, so we headed back to K.C.". Eventually they were spotted by the talent scout, John H. Hammond in 1938, who invited them back to New York to appear in one of his "From Spirituals to Swing" concerts at Carnegie Hall, which was instrumental in introducing jazz and blues to a wider American audience.

The same year he signed on with National Records, and recorded under Herb Abramson's supervision. Turner remained with National up to 1947, with "My Gal's a Jockey" becoming his first national R&B hit. Nevertheless he recorded the risqué "Around the Clock" the same year, and Aladdin released his duet with Wynonie Harris, on the ribald two-parter, "Battle of the Blues." Apart from "Still in the Dark," (1950) none of Turner's records were big sellers.

Turner made lots of records, not only with Johnson but with the pianists Art Tatum and Sammy Price and with various small jazz ensembles.He recorded on several record labels, particularly National, and also appeared with the Count Basie Orchestra. In his career, Turner successively led the transition from big bands to jump blues to rhythm and blues, and finally to rock and roll. Turner was a master of traditional blues verses and at the legendary Kansas City jam sessions he could swap choruses with instrumental soloists for hours.

Turner hit it big in 1954 with "Shake, Rattle and Roll", which not only enhanced his career, turning him into a teenage favorite, but also helped to transform popular music. The song is fairly raw, as Turner yells at his woman to "get outa that bed, wash yo' face an' hands" and comments that she's "wearin' those dresses, the sun comes shinin' through!, I can't believe my eyes, all that mess belongs to you." He sang the number on film in the 1955 theatrical feature Rhythm and Blues Revue.

Suddenly, at the age of 43, Turner was a rock star. His follow-ups "Well All Right," "Flip Flop and Fly," "Hide and Seek," "Morning, Noon and Night," and "The Chicken and the Hawk" all continued the good-time feel of "Shake, Rattle and Roll". He appeared on the television program Showtime at the Apollo during the mid 1950s, and in the film, Shake Rattle & Rock! (1956).

"Corrine, Corrina" provided Turner with another massive seller in 1956.

It is a mark of his dominance as a singer that he won the Esquire magazine award for male vocalist in 1945, the Melody Maker award for best 'new' vocalist in 1956, and the British Jazz Journal award as top male singer in 1965. His career thus stretched from the bar rooms of Kansas City in the 1920s (at the age of twelve when he performed with a pencilled moustache and his father's hat), on to the European jazz music festivals of the 1980s.

In 1983, only two years before his death, Turner was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. The same year saw the release on Mute Records of Blues Train, an album which paired Turner with Roomful of Blues.

He died in Inglewood, California in November 1985, at the age of 74 of a heart attack, having suffered the earlier effects of arthritis, a stroke and diabetes. Big Joe Turner was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987

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[Davis752]

I've always thought that Chuck Berry is the king of rock'n'roll, but now I do have a doubt...

[lamontlewis]

For all who're interested: Rock & Roll cannot be attributed to a single entity except to the man who coined the term. That was Alan Freed. He would introduce his radio show by telling the audience "We are gonna rock and we are gonna roll". Eventually, it became just "We are gonna rock & roll". There was no difference in the music before or immediately after he coined the term. The music was mostly "boogie woogie", which was dance music carved from listening music, combined with "Jive" music.

[lanasroom1]

Joe Turner , Undisputed boss of the blues, long may he reign.

[elc1960]

The immortal Big Joe Turner, as important as anyone in the history of Rock 'n' Roll music, or for that matter, Blues, Swing, Big Band, etc.

[willpn100]

Big Joe Turner influenced the "Daddy of Rock and Roll" Bill Haley. They were close friends and used to go fishing.

[TheMelodyLea]

Big joe !!!

[bronson1921]

Happy 100th Birthday Big Joe!!

[blazehok]

Big Joe born 100 years ago today

[Teddyb1939]

I remember playing this on the juke boxes in the coffee bars, the black cat ,Scotties etc in west london. I loved Corrina Corrina by Joe Turner, Magic stuff. The early stuff of Bill Haley, such as Dim Dim the lights, greentree boogie & the like were as you will know good early R&B. Happy Baby is another to me anyway great track. Keep em coming .

[MrNoejr]

i saw him at the gm pleasure spot in la marque when i was 15 yrs old man what memories