Jesse Thomas - Blues Is A Feeling (1992)

2019-10-16T15:59:26Z

Jesse Thomas - Blues Is A Feeling (1992)


1 	Blues Is A Feelin' 	5:16
2 	Married Woman Blues 	3:47
3 	Boogie Everywhere 	2:15
4 	Please Believe Me 	4:48
5 	She Throwed My Clothes Outdoor 	2:05
6 	Rain Sleet Or Snow	3:53
7 	Jesse, John & Jodie Jam 	4:01
8 	Stop Crying On My Shoulder 	4:25
9 	Sad Old World 	5:18
10 	Change Your Attitude 	2:40
11 	Santa Claus 	4:20
12 	When I Left My Baby 	4:36

Guitar – John Primer
Piano – Jodie Christian
Vocals, Guitar – Jesse Thomas

Although Jesse "Baby Face" Thomas never received as much attention as he deserved to, the country bluesman continued to perform and record during the final years of his life. Thomas was 81 when he recorded Blues Is a Feeling, a 1992 session that wasn't actually released until 2001. This CD was recorded three years before his death, and it was also recorded during a visit to Chicago in June 1992 (when he was in town to perform at the Chicago Blues Festival). At 81, Thomas didn't have the vocal power he once did -- his voice had grown frail, withered, and thin. But, despite those limitations, Thomas still had charisma, and he was still capable of providing a meaningful album. Blues Is a Feeling isn't in a class with his best work, although it is a decent effort that thrives on simplicity and rawness. Nothing elaborate is heard on this CD; the performances have a loose, informal quality, and the singer/acoustic guitarist's only accompaniment consists of fellow guitarist John Primer and acoustic pianist Jodie Christian. There are no drums or bass, which turns out to be a good thing, as Thomas is well served by minimalism. Those who are familiar with Christian's background will tell you that he is primarily a jazz improviser, not a blues artist. But he has no problem rising to the occasion on this CD. In fact, Christian fits right in because Thomas had a slightly jazz-influenced approach to country-blues -- that was one of the things he had in common with Lonnie Johnson. Blues Is a Feeling isn't among Thomas' essential releases, but it's a CD that his hardcore fans will enjoy. ---Alex Henderson, AllMusic Review

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Jesse Thomas 1948 – 1958 (1994)

2016-08-12T15:20:22Z

Jesse Thomas - 1948-1958 (1994)


01 - Same old stuff 
02 - Double due love you 
03 - Zetter blues 
04 - Mountain key blues 
05 - Melody in C 
06 - You are my dreams 
07 - I wonder why 
08 - Another friend like me 
09 - Guess I`ll walk alone 
10 - Let`s have some fun 
11 - Gonna write you a letter
12 - Meet me tonight along the avenue 
13 - Tomorrow I may be gone 
14 - Texas blues

Jesse Thomas - Guitar, Vocals
Lloyd Glenn - Piano
William K. "Billy" Hadnott - Bass
Conrad Johnson – Baritone Saxophone
Lonnie Lyons - Piano
Nunu Pitts - Bass
Allison Tucker - Drums

The brother of Texas bluesman Willard "Ramblin'" Thomas, Jesse "Babyface" Thomas never had the success of his more famous sibling. Born in the hamlet of Logansport, LA, near the Texas border in 1911, Jesse Thomas and his brother were personally close growing up, often working in the fields together, and he also aspired to a music career -- the two performed together. He moved to Dallas in 1929, at a time when Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lonnie Johnson were in their heyday; Thomas made his first recordings that year, at age 18, for Victor. He cut four sides, but found little success coming from those efforts. Whether by design or a simple process of selection, he decided not to emulate his more famous brother's slide guitar-based sound, instead playing in a fingerpicking style closer to that of Blind Blake, Lonnie Johnson, or Blind Lemon Jefferson himself.

In the early '40s, Jesse Thomas relocated to Los Angeles, losing contact in the process with both his sibling and the itinerant musician's life he'd led in the previous decade. He also got to hear and play with musicians who were more influenced by jazz, and the more sophisticated varieties of blues that had taken root in the big cities. These influences soon became clear when he resumed his recording career in the late '40s in Los Angeles; he also demonstrated his songwriting prowess. He tended to write and sing about more upbeat and romantic subjects than his brother, and favored a highly rhythmic and animated style on his instrument. "Double Do Love You" recalled T-Bone Walker at his best, and anticipated the work of Chuck Berry by six or seven years. Jesse Thomas also worked well in a band setting, playing his instrument off against piano accompaniment by Lonnie Lyons and Lloyd Glenn, amongst others, and also saxmen such as Sam Williams and Conrad Johnson. He recorded for Milltone, Freedom, Modern, Swing Time, Hollywood, Specialty, and Elko between 1948 and 1958, and briefly had his own label, Club Records, at the end of the '40s.

It may have been Thomas' sheer versatility that hurt him as a recording artist, at least in terms of commercial success. Unlike his brother, who never evolved too far out of his rural life or roots, Jesse Thomas was always adding strings to his bow, so that by the late '40s he was doing what amounted to R&B rather than pure blues, as both a singer and guitarist, and altering his sound with almost every release, working in different group contexts -- all effective, but all different. He was doing what would later be defined as rock & roll years before it got that name, and was cutting perfectly fine, Chess Records-style rock & roll music in the mid-'50s. He was back in Shreveport from 1957 on, cutting sides of Hollywood Records, He kept working at least into the '70s and '80s, even founding another label, Red River. He cut his last session in 1992, at age 81, working once more in a country-blues vein and a small group setting, and showed his playing skills still intact. Thomas died in 1995 at the age of 84, after a 60-year career in music. ---Bruce Eder, allmusic.com

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