Atlantic Records co-owner Ahmet Ertegun, a blues lover, co-produced most of Turner’s rocking blues and R&B hits for Atlantic in the 1950s, but his brother Nesuhi Ertegun leaned more towards jazz. In Big Joe Turner the brothers knew they had a great vocalist who could be marketed in more than one direction, and he had already recorded in the company of various jazz icons. So, while the label continued to target the rock ‘n’ roll generation with singles, Nesuhi Ertegun and Jerry Wexler also took Turner into the studio to belt the blues on this exemplary album, backed by his old Kansas City blues and boogie woogie partner Pete Johnson and an all-star cast of alumni of the Count Basie and Duke Ellington orchestras. With arrangements by Ernie Wilkins, the crew reprised tried and true staples of Turner’s older repertoire, including “Cherry Red,” “Roll ‘Em Pete,” “Wee Baby Blues,” and “Piney Brown Blues,” and in the words noted music critic Whitney Balliett used to conclude his liner notes, Turner’s performance was “everything the blues were meant to be.”
Recorded March 6-7, 1956, in New York City. Released on LP as Atlantic 1234 in 1956.