Search - Joe Turner :: Everyday I Have the Blues

Not the best not the worst

Bill Carbone | Middletown, CT United States | 01/22/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Well, maybe i've got a defective copy but... My CD starts half way through a WORD Big Joe Turner is singing half way through the first verse of Stormy Weather. Quite Strange. In a way that sums it up for the rest of the albumWhile this album has it's strong points, most notably Sonny Stitt, there is quite a bit of floundering as well. The drummer is obviously thinking about slipping in slick stuff, and more often than not it gets in the way of the groove. Big Joe's voice is only on on about 1/2 the tracks - and on those he's killing - but on the rest it's a big hoarse. I wouldn't say "don't buy this" but I would suggest not getting it as an introductory album to a new blues/jazz listener."

The "Texas 2" is what I useta' called them...

D. Burleigh | Vancouver, BC (Canada) & West Los Angeles, CA. (US | 05/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Connie Curtis "Pee Wee" Crayton recorded over the years for Modern, Vee-Jay, Aladdin & Imperial Recordings and Blind Pig Records...of which contains plenty of dazzling, marvelously imaginative guitar work and distinct vocals, especially on stunning instrumental tracks such as "Texas Hop," "Pee Wee's Boogie," and "Poppa Stoppa..."



The "Texas 2," "Big Joe" Turner a pioneering mastre blues singer (even though he was born in Kansas City, MO. he sang like he was from the state of Texas...) and a close friend of my Uncle "Pee Wee" Crayton (sitting with his axe just right of "Big Joe" on the CD cover...



Both late Bluesmen left an forever impression on me as a young teen in the early 70's and '80's... I was extremely fortunate to experience the greatness of his "vibes" up close and personal many times over... I would soak-up like a sponge the music and weld to memory those rare images & meetings when the "Texas 3," is what I usta' call them: (1) Uncle "Pee Wee" (2) "T-Bone" Walker and (3) "Big Joe" Turner (a pioneering mastre blues singer, whom was born in Kansas City, MO., yet he sang like he was from the state of Texas sometimes...); moreover, they would all get together at uncle "Pee Wee's" house next door (located on the westside of Los Angeles, California) and rehearse all day on Saturday or Sunday afternoons, way-up til the late evenings (including some rare appearances from Marshal Crayton Jr. on Saxophone), just before going to there "gig" to perform at a local favorite nite-club called, The Perisan Room (now a defunct legendary popular "nite-spot" during the 1960's - mid '80's located on the southwest corner of La Brea Avenue & Washington Blvd. in Los Angeles, California-- of which now sits a U.S. Postal Station)... Those were exhilarating times to say the least! And, no his music is not public domain yet..."



--"Big Dave" Burleigh, 'AmeriCanadian' Record Producre."