Benny Turner – BT
Ten tracks – 41 Minutes
85-year-old Benny Turner was born in Gilmer, Texas. His older brother is the famed guitarist known to the public as Freddie King. The family moved to Chicago in the 1950’s, where Freddie’s guitar work immediately caught everyone’s attention, and his fame quickly soared. Benny who could also play guitar was more content to play behind his brother on the bass, which also led to playing bass with other groups. Benny got his first major exposure when Freddie asked him to fill in on bass for a gig when Freddie’s regular bass player was unable to play. Benny continued to play bass with Freddie at many of the Chicago blues clubs.
Benny played guitar with the gospel group, The Kindly Shepherds, and is on some of their early recordings. Benny’s life changed when he got his first taste for being on the road when he met R&B singer Dee Clark, who had the hit single, “Raindrops” in 1961. His first trip took him to New York’s Apollo Theater and continued through many of the venerated theaters of that period. His bass playing also caught the attention of Leroy Crume and Richard Gibbs of the gospel group, The Soul Stirrers. Benny was invited to join the group on their tour and became one of the first bass players in gospel music.
Benny rejoined his brother’s band after that on tours that led to playing on bills with many other major artists of the day. In 1973, while playing with Freddy at the Montreux Jazz Festival, he was invited to sit in with Memphis Slim and was recorded for an album, Memphis Slim – Very Much Alive in Montreux. Then in 1976, the unthinkable happened when Freddie died suddenly. Benny withdrew and became a recluse until Mighty Joe Young approached Benny to join his band. That arrangement lasted for eight years. He then joined the “Blues Queen of New Orleans” Marva Wright’s band for twenty years.
In 2014, he decided it was time for him to make his own music and released the album, Journey. Several more albums followed, which led to the tribute album to his brother, My Brother’s Blues, which led to a Blues Music Award nomination for Best Bass Player and nominations and awards from many other sources. In 2017, Benny was inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame.
All of which leads to his current album, BT, which features three original songs and a selection of seven of his favorite blues songs that he quickly makes his own. The album started prior to the COVID onslaught and unrolled slowly as a result of that isolation. As a result, a vast array of performers appears on the various album cuts.
The album quickly gets things rocking with “Bump Little Susie”, written by Rudolph Toombs and attributed to Big Joe Turner. Nate Young’s piano and Charlie Burnett’s upright bass alongside Benny’s strong vocals delivers a rock and roll vibe. Benny says, “Going Down Slow” written by James Oden and first recorded by Howlin’ Wolf is one of his most requested songs in his concerts. It features the harmonica of Harrell Davenport, keyboards by Clayton Ivey, and the guitar of Will McFarlane. The slow blues number is given a gospel feel as the song progresses. Jimmy McCracklin’s song “The Walk” describes a dance move which gets a swaying rock step into the music with Sax Gordon’s sax leading the way.
A slow ballad, “When I Call on You” was a B-side recording of Dee Clark’s 1958 song “Nobody but You”. Clearly a tribute, Benny concludes the song with the brief statement, “Man, I wish Dee could hear this.” “Born In This Time” is an obscure Muddy Waters tune originally recorded solely as the opening song for the 1975 movie, Mandingo, about the life of a slave. This is another slow ballad with gospel overtones, Benny playing both bass and banjo, and responsive backing vocals from Tiffany Pollack. Benny calls it his slave song and a reminder of his cultural roots and his ancestors’ traumatic past. Benny sings the lead and all of the harmonies on Hank Ballard’s “Finger Popping Time” with Billy Davis on guitar. Billy is the last living member of Ballard’s Midnighters and was the guitarist for the original recording. The song is actually a medley which includes Ballard’s “The Hoochi Coochi Coo”. The covers conclude with a tribute to his friend, Mardi Gras’s Big Chief Bo Dollis, with the song “Smoke My Peace Pipe (Smoke It Right)”. Marva Wright joins Benny on vocals on the song with June Yamagishi on lead guitar, Keiko Komaki on keys and B3, and Nate Young on Clavinet.
Benny’s three original songs complete the album. The first up is “Drunk”, a tribute to his old friend, the late Jimmy Reed. He invokes humor into the song as he opens by proclaiming, “If You see me on the ground, don’t try to pick me up – unless you’ve got a bottle, and a sixteen-ounce cup. I want to get drunk.” Harrell Davenport returns on harmonica on the track with Bobby Gentilo on piano, Clayton Ivey on Wurlitzer and Will McFarlane and Steve Grills on guitars. Benny pulls out his guitar for the back porch instrumental blues “Sleepy Time in the Barnyard”. “Who sang It First” was actually the first song recorded for the album. The song is a tribute to the artists and their history who have played the blues over the years. He cites “In the churches and in the corn fields a seed was planted”. “You might sing it better / You might sing it worse / But just remember who sang it first.” His gospel background again comes into play on the song, and he runs through names of many of the forebearers of the blues as the song fades out.
Benny spent many years in the background of other artists. But his rise to his own solo career shows that he was learning from those with whom he performed to deliver strong performances of his own. At age 85, his voice shows no decline in the power of his recordings. He delivers songs with a deep soul and a touch of gospel power.
