George "Little Hat" Jones

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Little Hat Jones

George "Little Hat" Jones was an American Texas blues musician. Wikipedia

Born: October 5, 1899, Bowie County, Texas, Texarkana, TX-Texarkana, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area, TX
Died: March 7, 1981, Naples, TX

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From:

Larry Hoffman
October 5

Happy Birthday to Texan George “Little Hat” Jones. A street busker in San Antonio, Jones found the opportunity to record ten songs under his name for Okeh Records in 1929-30 as well as playing guitar on nine tracks by Alger “Texas Alexander.” This is significant in that Alexander used some of the greatest musicians of his time as backing artists— an impressive roster that includes King Oliver, Eddie Lang, Lonnie Johnson, the Mississippi Sheiks, and others. His playing is often perfectly executed, neatly combed around the edges, setting off vocals that sport an endearing vibrato and engaging contour. An unusual trait is his sudden change in tempi, often used when a slow accompaniment tempo follows a fast-paced intro. On the sleeve notes of the double album, "The Story of the Blues -Vol Two"/1970, Paul Oliver comments - "Forty years after the last recording session Little Hat Jones is just a shadowy, faintly recalled memory whose recordings testify to a great talent that was probably little appreciated by the passing crowds in the streets of San Antonio, when he could be heard in his prime".

Some of these traits are demonstrated clearly in “Bye Bye Baby Blues, ” a tune that found its way to the soundtrack of the great flick, “Ghost World,” but not present in the movie itself.

[alanbalfour]

Somewhere on the internet is Morris G. Craig and Thomas M. Young's 1964 interview with Jones. See Stefan's discography

www.wirz.de/music/jonelhfrm.htm

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We did capture that, along with a lot of other discussion on the Talk-Music Board.

talk-music.proboards.com/post/18375/thread