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GEORGE THOMAS

George Washington Thomas, Jr., was born in Little Rock, Arkansas around 1885. He was the first of thirteen children born to Baptist deacon George Washington Thomas, Sr., and his wife Fanny. George W., Jr. grew up in a musical household. Probably he had his earliest musical training in his father’s church. In 1900 the Thomas family settled in Houston. When George W., Jr., got a little older, he worked as pianist in local Houston theaters and soon became known as an accomplished musician. Later he taught his young brother Hersal to play piano. He developed to the pianist head of an important Texas blues clan which included his sister Beulah (Sippie Wallace), his brother Hersal Thomas and his daughter Hociel Thomas.

George W., Jr., who already lived in New Orleans about 1910, soon became a remarkable barrelhouse pianist, successful publisher and composer. He performed in the New Orleans Storyville district, a mecca of blues and jazz music that was also well-known for its red-light activities. The Storyville district attracted exceptionally talented young musicians, including George's friends, Louis Armstrong and Joe 'King' Oliver.

In 1914 he started a relationship with pianist Clarence Williams. About one year later he got Beulah and Hersal to New Orleans where his young siblings quickly adapted to the life of itinerant entertainers performing in nightclubs, tent shows and theatres throughout the South. He published his Hop Scop Blues (later renamed into New Orleans Hop Scop Blues) in 1916, which is claimed to be the first twelve-bar blues to be written with a boogie-woogie bass line.

After the Storyville district was shut down in 1917, George W., Jr., moved his business to Chicago. His connections enabled him to established himself in the city's music business little by little.

In 1922 George W., Jr., and his brother Hersal published their composition The Fives, an important tune for the development of modern boogie-woogie because some modern boogie-woogie bass lines can be found in this song.

In 1923 Sippie and Hersal joined their older brother George, Jr., in Chicago to work with him and his daughter Hociel. They began performing in cafes and cabarets around town. With George's connections his sister Sippie Wallace formed a trio with her brothers George and Hersal and signed a recording contract with Okeh Records in 1923. In October of that year George (credited as Clay Custer) made a solo recording of The Rocks. This title was also co-written by Hersal and himself and contains one of the earliest recordings of a walking bass. In the following year he cut three piano rolls.

George W. was a notable pianist, a successful and important songwriter (an estimated 100 songs, mostly blues for his sister Sippie and his daughter Hociel), a publisher and bandleader. It was George's and Hersal's merit that the new style of piano music later called boogie-woogie was transfered from the South to Chicago.

George W. Thomas, Jr., died tragically by run down by a Chicago streetcar in 1936.