Hociel Thomas

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Hociel Thomas Tebo (born July 10, 1904 in Houston , † August 22, 1952 in Oakland ) was an American blues , boogie-woogie and jazz musician (piano, vocals) and songwriter .

Live and act

Thomas came from a musical family. She was the daughter of the blues and boogie-woogie pianist George W. Thomas and grew up from the age of twelve in the Storyville area of New Orleans with her aunt Sippie Wallace , with whom she performed together in the following years. In 1923 the two moved to Chicago together. The first recordings for Gennett in Richmond (Indiana) were made on April 6, 1925 with a band led by their teenage uncle Hersal Thomas . Together with her aunt, she wrote several songs such as Hard Boiled Mama (1925) or Adam and Eve Had the Blues .

This was followed by recordings for OKeh Records in 1925/26 (including the titles Worried Down with the Blues, Shorty George Blues and Tebo's Texas Boogie ). Louis Armstrong , with whom she also went on tour, accompanied her during a session as a singer on November 11, 1925; in February 1926 a trio session with Armstrong and Hersal Thomas ( Deep Water Blues , OKeh 8297) followed and in 1927 a duo session with Lillie Delk Christian ( Ain't She Sweet ). After Hersal's sudden death in July 1926, she was so shaken that she soon withdrew from the music business for two decades.

From 1942 Thomas lived in Oakland, where she made records for Rudi Bleshs Circle Records in 1946 as a singer, pianist, also in a duet with Mutt Carey , including Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out . For a few months she appeared on the Dixieland revival scene in San Francisco with Kid Ory's Creole Orchestra . An argument with her sister was fatal and resulted in her own blindness. She was charged with murder and detained during the trial; Two years after the acquittal, she died at the age of 48. It was on Greenlawn Memorial Park in Colma ( San Mateo County buried) and left four children who were brought up after her death by Sippie Wallace.

Discographic notes

  • Louis Armstrong / Victoria Spivey / Hociel Thomas / Lillie Delk Christian - Louis & The Blues Singers 1925-1929
  • Black Chicago: Louis Armstrong - 1926
  • Mutt Carey Plays Blues ( Riverside Records , 10 "LP)
  • Mutt Carey & Hociel Thomas / Lee Collins & Chippie Hill (American Music)
  • Chippie Hill & Hociel Thomas (Collectors Ed.)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ebony September 1980
  2. ↑ OKeh 8258, cf. Jon Michael Spencer: Blues and Evil , p. 2
  3. ↑ Entry on Texas online
  4. ^ Find a Grave
personal data
SURNAME Thomas, Hociel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues and jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Houston
DATE OF DEATH 22nd August 1952
Place of death Oakland