Although this two-disc set appears to be a collection of tracks by
Big Joe Turner and his longtime piano player
Pete Johnson, the two only appear together on a half-dozen cuts here, with most of the space given over to
Turner, whose trademark mix of jump blues and jazz-inflected R&B, all guided by his powerful vocals, is vintage stuff.
Johnson heads up things on 11 tracks, most of which appeared on his 1946 LP for National Records, and his style, while anchored in boogie woogie, is more straight jazz than anything else, even featuring tenor sax great
Ben Webster on the delightful "Ben Rides Out." Although one can't help but wish that
Turner and
Johnson had more cuts together on this collection, it still makes for an exciting and pleasant set.[This set was reissued a year later, with the only change being an assignment to the Savoy Jazz imprint] ~ Steve Leggett