George W. Thomas
| George Washington Thomas | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | George Washington Thomas Jr. |
| Also known as | Gut Bucket George Clay Custer (disputed) |
| Born |
March 9, 1883 Plum Bayou Township, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Died | March 6, 1937 (aged 53) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, blues, boogie-woogie |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, music publisher |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | c.1900–1930 |
| Associated acts |
Clarence Williams Hersal Thomas Sippie Wallace |
George Washington Thomas Jr. (March 9, 1883 – March 6, 1937) was an American blues and jazz pianist and songwriter. He wrote several influential early boogie-woogie piano pieces including "The New Orleans Hop Scop Blues", "The Fives", and "The Rocks", which some believe he may have recorded himself under the name Clay Custer.
George W. Thomas Jr. was the second of thirteen children born to Fanny (née Bradley) and George W. Thomas. He was born in Plum Bayou Township, just outside the Delta town of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. In the late 1890s the family moved to Houston, Texas, where George W. Thomas Sr. became a deacon at the Shiloh Baptist Church.
George Jr. played piano, cornet and saxophone from an early age, and worked as a pianist in local theaters. His daughter Hociel was born in 1904; his wife died a few years later, and Hociel was largely raised by her grandmother and her aunt Beulah, later known as Sippie Wallace, who was George Jr.'s sister. Singer Bernice Edwards was also raised as a member of the Thomas family. Around 1910, George W. Thomas Jr. formed a friendship with Clarence Williams, who was also working in the Houston theaters; they may have also met Jelly Roll Morton around this time.
By 1914, Williams and Thomas both began working in New Orleans, where they set up a publishing company to issue and promote compositions and arrangements by Williams and, later, Thomas. George Thomas played at parties, becoming known as "Gut Bucket George". In 1916, he published "The New Orleans Hop Scop Blues", a twelve-bar blues that included "an articulated left hand... notated using grace notes for the lower tone [which] created a pseudo boogie bass." This is credited as one of the earliest boogie woogie piano pieces, and established Thomas as a music publisher and composer.
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