1980 · Album
Kansas City Shout
Recorded 1980 · Pablo Records · Produced by Norman Granz
Three Old Hands, One Last Shout
Three Kansas City veterans get together and remind you exactly why that scene mattered.
By 1980, Count Basie had been leading orchestras for roughly five decades, so Kansas City Shout (1980) is not the sound of anyone trying to prove something. It is a reunion of sorts — Basie's big band backing two singers who came up in the same African American musical tradition that shaped Kansas City blues and swing. Big Joe Turner is the main draw here, a shouter in the most literal sense, a man whose voice could fill a room without a microphone and who sounds, even in his late sixties, like he has plenty left to say. Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson splits duties between alto saxophone and vocals, and his appearances give the album a welcome change of texture — his playing is leaner and more cutting than Turner's big-room bluster.
The repertoire leans heavily on blues shuffles and jump numbers, which suits everyone involved. Turner's tracks are the stronger ones. Hear him on something like a slow blues and you understand why producers kept calling him back across four decades. The Basie band, for its part, does exactly what it always did — it swings, it comps cleanly, and it stays out of the way when the singer needs space. That is a skill that is easy to underestimate until you hear a lesser band crowd a vocalist.
This is not a record that will surprise you. It is not trying to. What it offers is two genuinely great blues singers at a stage in their careers when they had stopped worrying about anything except doing the job well. If you already love Turner or Vinson, this is an easy recommendation. If you are new to either, it is a decent place to start, though Turner's earlier work hits harder.
Who's playing
Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinsonalto saxophone
