Looking Back With Big Joe

BIG JOE TURNER

“The Big Joe Turner Anthology”

Rhino

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There’s something heartwarming about this finely crafted, three-disc retrospective set that extends beyond the music itself. It’s an encouraging sign that rock ‘n’ roll truly doesn’t forget.

For much of his life, Turner--variously known as a blues, jazz and R&B; singer--appeared destined to remain one of the overlooked greats of rock’s pioneer class.

The Kansas City, Mo., native, whose colorful career stretched from speak-easies to international jazz festivals, had been making records for more than a dozen years before 1954, when he recorded “Shake, Rattle & Roll,” an upbeat novelty about a marital dispute.

Turner’s record made the top of the R&B; charts but only reached No. 22 on the pop charts because mainstream radio in those days resisted hard-core R&B.; It took a watered-down version of the song by Bill Haley to crack the Top 10.

As teens began demanding original versions of the songs they heard on the radio, many of the hard-core R&B; artists, including Fats Domino and Little Richard, began registering their own Top 10 hits. But Turner was in his late 40s by then and the teen crowd wanted younger heroes.

When Turner was dropped in 1960 by Atlantic Records, he returned mostly to his blues and jazz roots, and it looked as if his contributions to rock might be lost except to R&B; collectors.

The reintroduction of Turner to the rock world began in 1987 when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and it continues with this box set, which includes such other lively, mid-’50s gems as “Flip Flop and Fly.”

But Turner’s superb vocal authority isn’t limited to rock-oriented tracks. That power is evident from “Roll ‘Em Pete,” a blistering 1938 pairing with pianist Pete Johnson, to the gritty “Crawdad Hole,” recorded with the contemporary group Roomful of Blues two years before Turner’s death in 1985.

Whether you think of Turner chiefly as a blues, jazz, R&B; or rock singer, he reflected the individuality and vision of a superior artist. The Hall of Fame induction reminded us of his talent. This box set shares it.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). A rating of five stars (a classic) is reserved for retrospective albums.