“Ike Turner is the best band leader I have ever seen.” – B.B. King

Ike Turner was also a fine boogie woogie piano player as well as an innovator on electric guitar. He was a talent scout, a songwriter, a producer and an arranger. He had even been a radio D.J....and yes, Turner was a band leader at the helm of The Kings of Rhythm, one of the most durable ensembles in the post war rhythm and blues scene. He had already established this resumé prior to becoming a mainstream, crossover success in the 1960’s and 70’s with his band which he renamed, The Ike and Tina Turner Revue.

Before that success Turner and his great band cut one single after another for various labels in the 1950’s. These have been gathered up on various CD re-issue compilations, but in my view one stands heads and tails above the rest. It is called Trailblazer which was re-issued on the Charly label out of the U.K. in 1991. It gathers up sides he cut for the King/Federal label in 1956 and 57’.  

Of course Turner’s much publicized fall from the heights of the music business became the subject of mainstream media exploitation and the subject of tabloid fodder. This was the man that for years had been the butt of late night television talk show jokes. He was portrayed as a mindless thug, bereft of talent, clinging to the coattails of a very charismatic wife who went on to become a pop music icon. However, like most things in life, Ike Turner is much more complicated. This perception held by the uniformed amongst us represents an overall picture of Turner that does not comport with the truth.  

The truth is that amongst his peers in the blues and rhythm & blues field, very few individuals, if any, were as universally revered and admired for their contributions to the musical landscape as Ike Turner. It was as if his entire life was dedicated to making the best records he possibly could, regardless whose name was on the front of the record jacket. Turner also applied the same zeal in creating a fully realized stage show that put him in the background and others in the spotlight. None of this was by accident. In the parlance of our times, he would be known as a “control freak.” In his day it was just, Ike Turner being Ike Turner.

Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931, Turner started playing both the piano and guitar as a child. By the time he was a teenager he was leading his own band, The Kings of Rhythm. He was also backing blues giants such as Robert Nighthawk, Sonny Boy Williamson 2, Muddy Waters, Elmore James and Little Walter in juke joints across his home state.

B.B. King who had been a big fan of Turner’s brought the versatile musician to the attention of Sam Phillips and his fledgling Sun Recording Studio in Memphis. It was there that he backed up scores of musicians both on piano and guitar. Perhaps most notably among these were Bobby Bland, Rosco Gordon and Little Milton. He cut the first two hits by Howlin’ Wolf, Moanin’ at Midnight and How Many More Years and is heard playing piano on both tracks. That record was shopped around by Philips and eventually was released on the Chess label out of Chicago. Ike Turner even played piano on the very first hit single by B.B. King, Three O’clock Blues which was put out on the Modern Label in Los Angeles.

In the mid 50’s Ike Turner and The Kings of Rhythm moved up the Mississippi River to Saint Louis, Missouri, and became that music rich city’s most consistent and popular performing ensemble. In Saint Louis, as it was in Memphis, when local liquor laws dictated that nightclubs close down at two in the morning, the band and their fans would just go over the bridge to the other side of the river and perform until after dawn in all-hours joints in neighboring Arkansas and Illinois.

In 1956 Turner was signed by the King label out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Over the next several months and into 1957 he cut several sides that include some of the best material of his career. These twenty two tracks, the bulk of which are Turner originals, feature two terrific vocalists, Jackie Brentson and perhaps most notably, Billy Gayles. The latter is one of the most soulful singers ever to perform with Turner. Honking saxophones and absolutely ground breaking electric guitar sounds from Turner highlight this collection. Like everything else recorded at the King label, the sound quality and fidelity is superb. 

While there are lots of re-issues of Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm floating around, most notably the Sun Sessions and another slice of his King recordings entitled 1958 -1959 nothing beats the great material and playing on Trailblazer. 

As you listen to these great tunes on Trailblazer, it isn’t hard to picture yourself being transported back in time to a juke joint on the other side of the river. From there you can look out the window and see the faint glow of the sun just before it makes its ascent over the eastern horizon. Inside, the air is thick with the smell of menthol cigarettes, whiskey, perfume and humanity in the humidity. Despite the hour, dancers are still under the spell of Ike Turner and The Kings of Rhythm. From this vantage point it is hard to imagine music being any more exhilarating. The twenty two songs on Trailblazer are as close as any of us are going to get to that vantage point.  

- David Mac  



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