Big Road Blues

Show Notes:

Jesse Thomas was the brother of Texas bluesman Willard “Ramblin’” Thomas and uncle of Lafayette Thomas. Jesse Thomas recorded sporadically from the late 1920’s through the early 1990’s and despite his longevity didn’t achieve much in the way of success or recognition. In 1929, at 18, Thomas cut four excellent sides for Victor most notably, ”Blues Goose Blues.” By the post-war era Thomas had developed a brilliant, highly individual style unlike anyone else. Document’s “Jesse Thomas 1948-1958” collects 28 tracks Thomas cut for nine different West Coast labels over the course of a decade (”Gold Mine Blues” cut in 1948 is not included for some reason). Jesse Thomas died in 1995 and continued cutting material intermittently on his own Red River imprint, Ace and Delmark. However, he never quite matched the sheer brilliance of these late 40’s and 50’s sides.

Lafayette Thomas

Lafayette Thomas was a brilliant and influential guitarist, and fine singer, whose primary reputation resides on the stinging fretwork he laid down as a session guitarist. In his 1977 obituary Tom Mazzolini wrote: “Unquestionably the finest guitarist to emerge from the San Francisco-Oakland blues scene, there is hardly a guitarist around here today who doesn’t owe a little something to Lafayette Thomas…”

He was nicknamed “The Thing” due to his acrobatic style of playing. The bulk of his recordings were with Jimmy McCracklin’s combo in the 50’s and 60’s. During his lifetime only a scant fifteen sides were issued under his own name (a number were left unissued). His own records were made for small labels such as Jumping, Hollywood and Trilyte, but more often he cut odd titles at McCracklin’s 50’s sessions for Modern, Peacock (unissued) and Chess and three songs for King which were never issued.

Thomas was born June 13, 1928 in Shreveport, Louisiana and encouraged musically by his uncle, Jesse “Babyface” Thomas. The family moved to San Francisco soon after his birth and there he learned to play both piano and guitar. He started working club dates with Jimmy McCracklin’s band in 1948, eventually replacing guitarist Robert Kelton. He would remain intermittently with McCracklin for the rest of his career. Thomas worked with producer Bob Geddins during this period playing on many Jimmy Wilson sessions including numbers like “Blues At Sundown”, “Frisco Bay” and the popular “Tin Pan Alley.” Thomas also played on the first sides by Juke Boy Bonner plus on records by Roy Hawkins, James Reed and Big Mama Thornton during this period. He moved briefly to New York in 1959 to work for pianist Sammy Price. He made “Please Come Back To Me/Lafayette’s A-Comin’” the same year for Savoy with pianist Price, before returning to the West Coast. While in New York he also did session work for the Prestige label appearing on records by Little Brother Montgomery and Memphis Slim.

Thomas worked outside music for most of the 60’s, sharing one album session with pianist Dave Alexander and L.C. “Good Rockin’” Robinson in September 1968 for World Pacific. He remained semi active in the early 70’s working with Sugar Pie Desanto and again with Candyman McGuirt’s band. The comeback was brief and he spent his last years working as a hose assembler. He died on May 20, 1977 in Brisbane, California of a heart attack