Big Joe Turner: Feel So Fine, Derek Coller’s exhaustive bio/discography of the legendary alumnus of Kansas City’s colorful past has been recently published to critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.
Big Joe Turner: Feel So Fine is a massive study of the “original blues brother, a true legend and the man who first recorded ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll.’” A man of huge physical stature with a voice “that rolled like thunder,” “Big Joe” was born in the African American quarter of Kansas City on May 18, 1911. He cut his musical teeth in the city before stepping onto the national scene in the late 1930s, followed in post-war years by travels to Europe, Australia, and Mexico.
“Joe Turner was like a force of nature,” writes Derek Coller. “Small bands, big bands, trios, pianists, rock groups, choirs, all styles of accompaniment rocked to his rhythm, making everyone feel fine.”
Big Joe kept up this irrepressible lifestyle over five decades, from KC saloons to New York’s Carnegie Hall until his death at the age of 74 on November 24, 1985. Sadly, like so many other great figures of the music business, Big Joe died in poverty. Thankfully his legacy lives on through a wealth of recordings and now in the pages of Feel So Fine.
But what was the fascination for Joe Turner that prompted Derek to uncover every scrap of evidence he could find about Turner’s life
