This Major Dude Will Tell You

RIP

By John Bush

Dec. 19, 2007

If you haven't seen it already, Steely Dan's Donald Fagen has written a nice obituary of Ike Turner.

Fagen explains his importance to music and opines on what the native of the Clarksdale, Mississippi area (also home to Robert Johnson) may have asked the devil for down at the crossroads. Fagen's guess?: "Organization!"
"His employers included the Bihari brothers at Modern Records, the Chess brothers in Chicago, and a host of tough club owners. They didn't like to fool around with their money. Ike had to be at that session on time, he had to book those gigs, make sure the band's suits were pressed, and that they rolled in to the next town ready to play."