Joe Turner and Count Basie were the kings of blues and swing in the fertile Kansas City scene of the 1930s, and were still among the jazz royalty when they began their separate recording affiliations with the Pablo label nearly 40 years later. Their most celebrated latter-day collaboration, The Bosses (OJC-821), found them working in an all-star small group, whereas the present reunion finds Turner in front of the full Basie orchestra during a 1972 European tour. The program contains a survey of Turner’s signature themes, with nods to Basie’s own great blues shouters Jimmy Rushing (“Good Morning Blues”) and Joe Williams (“Everyday I Have the Blues”). Turner maintains a line of patter with Basie and his celebrated soloists that recalls the after-hours scenes of their shared youth.

with Count Basie, Al Grey, Mel Wanzo, Bill Hughes, Bob Hooks, Pete Minger, Sonny Cohn, Paul Cohen, Waymon Reed, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Curtis Peagler, Bobby Plater, Eric Dixon, John Williams, Jimmy Forrest, Freddie Greene, Norman Keenan, Sonny Payne