Betty Hall Jones

Betty Hall Jones (January 11, 1911 – April 20, 2009), was an American boogie-woogie pianist, singer, songwriter and arranger.

Biography She was born Cordell Elizabeth Bigbee in Topeka, Kansas. Archie Bigbee,

Around 1927, she married a banjoist, George Hall, and then had two children but divorced after a few years. In 1936, as Betty Hall, she got a job as a backup pianist for Buster Moten in Kansas City. She returned to Los Angeles to play with Roy Milton from 1937 through 1941, then joined Luke Jones' trio, with whom she recorded. Additionally, she was also the co-leader of the Satin Dolls, a group of musicians, Dixieland. Her family did not approve of the type of music that she was involved in.

She was the mother of two children, and married, then divorced, George Hal. She professed to admire Mary Lou Williams, Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Fats Waller, Pete Johnson, and Duke Ellington as influences and peers.

Tours In the 1960s and 1970s she did USO tours in East Asia and toured Australia and Mexico in addition to regular dates in nightclubs on Sunset Boulevard. She toured Sweden and England in the 1980s, and continued performing into the 1990s despite illness. In the 1950s she extended her itinerary from Canada to the Southwest.