Rocks

by Big Joe Turner

Overview

There is no question that Big Joe Turner rocked. He rocked harder than any jump blues bandleader, his band hitting the downbeat with a vengeance matched only by Turner's full-throated roar. This was big-band blues in sound but not in style; it was rock & roll before there was a name for it. Bear Family's 2011 set Rocks concentrates on his hardest-swinging R&B, leaning hard on Turner's classic sides for Atlantic: "Roll 'Em Pete"; "Honey Hush"; "Flip, Flop and Fly"; and "Shake, Rattle and Roll," which Bill Haley sweetened up for the first crossover rock & roll single. There's no saccharine sweetness here, just thundering R&B, with the tracks dipping into his latter career just enough to prove that Turner was no few-years dynamo -- he was a force of nature who could still deliver after his time passed. There are other collections that perhaps serve up the expected hits in a cleaner fashion, but this has the big, bold infectious swing of the man at his best. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	03/28/2011
Label:	Bear Family Records
UPC:	4000127172150

Tracks

1. Jump for Joy
2. Well, All Right
3. Flip, Flop and Fly
4. Love Roller Coaster
5. Honey Hush
6. I Need a Girl
7. Lipstick, Powder and Pain
8. TV Mama
9. Hide and Seek
10. Adam Bit the Apple
11. My Gal's a Jockey
12. Feelin' Happy
13. Jumpin' Tonight
14. Shake, Rattle and Roll
15. Boogie Woogie Country Girl
16. Teen Age Letter
17. Corrine, Corrina
18. Midnight Cannonball
19. Bump Miss Susie
20. Crawdad Hole
21. Morning, Noon and Night
22. Rock a While
23. Oke-She-Moke-She-Pop
24. The Chicken and the Hawk
25. Roll 'Em Pete
26. Rebecca
27. Around the Clock Blues, Pt. 1
28. Around the Clock Blues, Pt. 2

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Big Joe Turner   Primary Artist,Vocals
Pluma Davis Orchestra   Primary Artist
Joe Turner & His All-Stars   Primary Artist
Pete Johnson Trio   Primary Artist
Joe Turner & His Blues Kings   Primary Artist,Choir/Chorus
Jesse Stone Orchestra   Primary Artist
Van "Piano Man" Walls and His Orchestra   Primary Artist
Howard Biggs Orchestra   Primary Artist
Choker Campbell's Orchestra   Primary Artist
Dave Bartholomew & His Orchestra   Primary Artist
Bill Moore Lucky Seven Band   Primary Artist
Panama Francis   Drums
Teddy Bunn   Guitar
The Cookies   Choir/Chorus
Ahmet Ertegun   Choir/Chorus
Lonnie Lyons   Piano
Harry Van Walls   Piano
Phil Guilbeau   Trumpet
Dallas Bartley   Bass
Alvin "Red" Tyler   Sax (Baritone)
Mundell Lowe   Guitar
Alonzo Stewart   Drums
Big Vernon   Vocals
McKinley Easton   Sax (Baritone)
Wothia "Showboy" Thomas   Trombone
Joe Harris   Sax (Alto)
Grady Jackson   Sax (Tenor)
Billy Mure   Guitar
King Curtis   Sax (Tenor)
Connie Kay   Drums
Clarence Hall   Sax (Tenor)
Joe Houston   Sax (Tenor)
Fats Domino   Piano
Lee Allen   Sax (Tenor)
Edward Frank   Piano
Earle Warren   Sax (Alto)
George Barnes   Guitar
Elmore James   Guitar
Edgar Blanchard   Guitar
Johnny Jones   Piano
Ernie Hayes   Piano
Wilbur De Paris   Trombone
Lloyd Lambert   Bass
Jimmy Nottingham   Trumpet
Howard Biggs   Piano
Jerome Richardson   Sax (Alto)
Sam "The Man" Taylor   Sax (Tenor)
Pete Johnson   Piano
Frank Fields   Bass
Jerry Wexler   Choir/Chorus
Jesse Stone   Piano,Choir/Chorus
Pluma Davis   Trombone
Dick Vance   Trumpet
Goree Carter   Guitar
Mickey Baker   Guitar
Mike Stoller   Piano
Oscar Moore   Drums
Herb Hardesty   Sax (Tenor)
Ernest McLean   Guitar
Dave Bartholomew   Trumpet
Big Al Sears   Sax (Tenor)
Choker Campbell   Sax (Tenor)
Earl Palmer   Drums
Frank Mitchell   Trumpet
John "Shifty" Henry   Bass
Sonny Cohn   Trumpet
Wild Bill Moore   Sax (Tenor)
August "Dimes" Dupont   Sax (Alto)
Lloyd Trotman   Bass
Al Williams   Piano
Hilton Jefferson   Sax (Alto)
James Toliver   Piano
Lloyd Harrison   Sax (Tenor)
John Girard   Trumpet
Mel Juanzo   Trombone
Waldron "Frog" Joseph   Trombone
Theodore "Red" Saunders   Drums
Thomas Sheldon   Trumpet
Nunu Pitts   Bass
Joe Tillman   Sax (Tenor)
Joe Bridgewater   Trumpet
Warren Hebrard   Sax (Tenor)
Chick Booth   Drums
Kathy Thomas   Piano
Michael Chimes   Harmonica
Jimmy Richardson   Bass
Warren Brocken   Trumpet
Gus Fontenette   Sax (Alto)
Thomas Moore   Drums
Vernon Bates   Sax (Tenor)
John Avant   Trombone
John Fernandez   Bass
Alray Kidd   Drums
Ernest Ashley   Guitar
Chuck Badie   Bass
Allen Hanlon   Guitar
Conrad Johnson   Sax (Alto)
Heywood Henry   Sax (Baritone)
Harlan Floyd   Trombone
Alison Tucker   Drums

Technical Credits

Paul Winley   Composer
Big Joe Turner   Composer,Producer
Mort Shuman   Composer
Ahmet Ertegun   Composer,Producer
Leslie Fancourt   Discography
Solomon Kahal   Producer
Bo Chatman   Composer
Charles Calhoun   Composer
Bill Dahl   Discography,Biographical Notes
Billy Nightingale   Composer
J. Mayo Williams   Composer
Doc Pomus   Composer
Rudy Toombs   Composer
Pete Johnson   Composer
Jerry Leiber   Composer
Jerry Wexler   Composer,Producer
Jesse Stone   Composer
Reginald Ashby   Composer
Renald Richard   Composer
Mike Stoller   Composer
Herb Abramson   Producer
Mitchell Parish   Composer
Dave Bartholomew   Producer
Lou Willie Turner   Composer
Juergen Crasser   Mastering
Trevor Cajiao   Photography,Illustrations,Reissue Producer
Howard Cockburn   Photography,Illustrations
Bob McGraw   Discography
Andreas Merck   Photo Scanning
Sven T. Uhrmann   Photography,Illustrations
Ethel Byrd   Composer
Tony Biggs   Discography