Can we like Ike?
On the long drive home from Lewiston last week, my mother and I ruminated on Ike Turner and his probable legacy. The discussion reminded me of the piece I wrote on Turner a couple years ago for the newspaper.
The big question is: Is it OK to like Ike?
TWANG!
The Lost Legacy of Ike Turner
By David Rey
I listened to Otis Rush’s “All Your Love (I Miss Loving)” about 12 times on Friday – mesmerized by the metal-shard sound coming out of a Stratocaster guitar wielded by the world’s most famous wife-beater, Ike Turner.
The solo part in that song is one of the many seminal musical moments in the 20th Century that Ike Turner has his fingerprints on. The sheer number of times that Ike turns up at critical junctures of popular music history in the past 60 years cannot be attributed to coincidence.
Though he’ll never completely live down the damage his abusive marriage to Tina Turner did to his reputation, Ike Turner is a true musical genius.
A musical prodigy, Turner began playing piano for Mississippi bluesmen Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Nighthawk at the tender age of 11. Never much of a singer, Turner preferred to play the role of the sideman – consequently, his impact on Rock and Roll history is somewhat obscure.
The wife-beating reputation pretty much guarantees it will remain that way.
It’s a shame that Turner isn’t a more savory character, because his contribution to music is enormous.
He’s responsible for what most music scholars consider the first Rock and Roll record, “Rocket 88,” recorded in 1951 at Sun Studios in Memphis. Jackie Brenston’s name went on the record, but he really was just the singer in Turner’s band.
Aside from his actual contributions with instrument in hand, Turner also played a pivotal role in talent discovery and development. As a talent scout for Modern Records in 1954, he “discovered” both B.B. King and Howlin’ Wolf, bringing them to the Bihari brothers, who launched their recording careers.
He’s much better known for unveiling to the world the volcanic singing talents of Tina Turner. Though Tina’s comeback from her personal travails with Ike is one of the great stories in Rock and Roll history, her music is just a pale shade of what it was while she was performing in the Ike and Tina Revue.
There’s no question that Ike Turner is one of the greatest arrangers of music in Rock history, he’s up there with Phil Spector and George Martin – depending on the music you like, he may be the best.
His band, The Kings of Rhythm, played on so many great records that it’s almost absurd.
The Kings turned Howlin’ Wolf into a stomp machine on “How Many More Years,” taking him a bit away from the slow shuffling sound of his first recordings.
The time Turner and the Kings spent with Otis Rush in the Cobra Records recording studio in the 1950s completely changed the electric blues – making the West Chicago one of the predominate blues styles. The sounds out of those sessions spawned Buddy Guy.
A true innovator with the Stratocaster guitar, his six-string work is easily identifiable by the prolific use of the “whammy bar” during his solo leads.
Going back a few years before, Turner helped Junior Parker work out “Mystery Train,” a tune that Elvis turned into a Rock and Roll landmark.
Recently, Turner’s work provided the beat to the female rap group Salt-n-Pepa’s hit single, “The Shoop Song,” netting turner a much-needed $750,000 royalty check. He had been living hand to mouth before that since his release from prison on cocaine possession charges a few years earlier.
So, what you have is an artist who has created, played upon and coaxed from others, huge hits and influential songs for a 50-year period from the late 1940s to the 1990s. His 2002 solo effort, “Here and Now,” earned him a Grammy nomination in the traditional blues category and earned him a W.C. Handy Blues Award for Comeback of the Year.
Though he’s not a saint, there is lot more to Ike Turner than what you’ve seen at the movies.
The big question is: Is it OK to like Ike?
TWANG!
The Lost Legacy of Ike Turner
By David Rey
I listened to Otis Rush’s “All Your Love (I Miss Loving)” about 12 times on Friday – mesmerized by the metal-shard sound coming out of a Stratocaster guitar wielded by the world’s most famous wife-beater, Ike Turner.
The solo part in that song is one of the many seminal musical moments in the 20th Century that Ike Turner has his fingerprints on. The sheer number of times that Ike turns up at critical junctures of popular music history in the past 60 years cannot be attributed to coincidence.
Though he’ll never completely live down the damage his abusive marriage to Tina Turner did to his reputation, Ike Turner is a true musical genius.
A musical prodigy, Turner began playing piano for Mississippi bluesmen Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Nighthawk at the tender age of 11. Never much of a singer, Turner preferred to play the role of the sideman – consequently, his impact on Rock and Roll history is somewhat obscure.
The wife-beating reputation pretty much guarantees it will remain that way.
It’s a shame that Turner isn’t a more savory character, because his contribution to music is enormous.
He’s responsible for what most music scholars consider the first Rock and Roll record, “Rocket 88,” recorded in 1951 at Sun Studios in Memphis. Jackie Brenston’s name went on the record, but he really was just the singer in Turner’s band.
Aside from his actual contributions with instrument in hand, Turner also played a pivotal role in talent discovery and development. As a talent scout for Modern Records in 1954, he “discovered” both B.B. King and Howlin’ Wolf, bringing them to the Bihari brothers, who launched their recording careers.
He’s much better known for unveiling to the world the volcanic singing talents of Tina Turner. Though Tina’s comeback from her personal travails with Ike is one of the great stories in Rock and Roll history, her music is just a pale shade of what it was while she was performing in the Ike and Tina Revue.
There’s no question that Ike Turner is one of the greatest arrangers of music in Rock history, he’s up there with Phil Spector and George Martin – depending on the music you like, he may be the best.
His band, The Kings of Rhythm, played on so many great records that it’s almost absurd.
The Kings turned Howlin’ Wolf into a stomp machine on “How Many More Years,” taking him a bit away from the slow shuffling sound of his first recordings.
The time Turner and the Kings spent with Otis Rush in the Cobra Records recording studio in the 1950s completely changed the electric blues – making the West Chicago one of the predominate blues styles. The sounds out of those sessions spawned Buddy Guy.
A true innovator with the Stratocaster guitar, his six-string work is easily identifiable by the prolific use of the “whammy bar” during his solo leads.
Going back a few years before, Turner helped Junior Parker work out “Mystery Train,” a tune that Elvis turned into a Rock and Roll landmark.
Recently, Turner’s work provided the beat to the female rap group Salt-n-Pepa’s hit single, “The Shoop Song,” netting turner a much-needed $750,000 royalty check. He had been living hand to mouth before that since his release from prison on cocaine possession charges a few years earlier.
So, what you have is an artist who has created, played upon and coaxed from others, huge hits and influential songs for a 50-year period from the late 1940s to the 1990s. His 2002 solo effort, “Here and Now,” earned him a Grammy nomination in the traditional blues category and earned him a W.C. Handy Blues Award for Comeback of the Year.
Though he’s not a saint, there is lot more to Ike Turner than what you’ve seen at the movies.
posted by D.Rey at 7:34 AM
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