Count Basie & Joe Turner – The Bosses

Two histories in one programme

Count Basie at the piano and Big Joe Turner at the microphone bring long musical histories to The Bosses. Norman Granz produced the 1973 session for Pablo. Turner returns to several songs already established in his own repertoire, while Basie’s musical connections provide another part of the album’s identity.

The group extends well beyond the two names on the sleeve. Harry “Sweets” Edison plays trumpet, J. J. Johnson trombone, and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Zoot Sims tenor saxophone. Guitarist Irving Ashby, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Louis Bellson complete the supporting cast. Ten songs give this collection of distinctive players several ways to participate.

Returning to Roll ’Em Pete

“Roll ’Em Pete” leads back to December 1938, when Turner recorded it with pianist Pete Johnson. Thirty-five years separate that recording from this session. The partnership belongs to the background of Turner’s later rhythm-and-blues successes; here he revisits its material with different musicians around him.

“Honey Hush” and “Flip, Flop and Fly” recall his Atlantic recordings of the fifties. “Cherry Red” also comes from the Pete Johnson connection. Listening to the album as a return to part of Turner’s own catalogue gives the selection a shape beyond a list of familiar blues titles. Consider what the new ensemble allows each song to become within this particular session.

Basie’s contribution to the repertoire

“Good Mornin’ Blues” carries the names of Basie, Eddie Durham and Jimmy Rushing as its writers. Basie’s own musical past therefore has an explicit place alongside Turner’s. The encounter becomes more specific when viewed through that meeting of repertoires, with the same group performing material connected to both leaders.

Choose one song and follow the voice first, then the instrumental phrases between vocal lines. Horns can answer, the piano can introduce a brief figure, and bass and drums maintain the course of the performance. Edison, Johnson, Davis and Sims offer several potential partners for the singer. Their smaller contributions between extended solos are worth following as closely as the featured passages.

The Pablo reissue

Analogue Productions AAPJ 183 is a single 180-gram LP playing at 33⅓ RPM. Matthew Lutthans mastered it at The Mastering Lab, with the original analogue master tape identified as the source by the publisher. Quality Record Pressings manufactures the record. The ten selections document the 1973 session and Turner’s later work within Norman Granz’s Pablo catalogue.

Michael 45 holds the goods in Germany and ships from Hilden, allowing German and EU customers to avoid arranging a personal US import or waiting for customs clearance.

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Series: Pablo – all 30 records, musicians and the session book

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.