Thursday, February 12, 2009

Happy Feet Friday

Big Joe Turner was one of the giants of blues and R&B, and had an exceptionally long career, spanning nearly 60 years, from the 1920's, when he shouted out the blues from behind a bar in Kansas City, to the 1980's. He first achieved a level of national fame when he teamed up with boogie-woogie pianist Pete John Johnson - first for the 1938 "Spirituals to Swing" concert at Carnegie Hall, and subsequently at New York's Cafe Society.

This video is from the mid-50's and features Turner with a swingin' small group performing "Shake, Rattle and Roll".

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