George Washington Thomas, Jr.

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.

Life and career Early life in Arkansas and Houston George W. Thomas Jr. was the second of thirteen children born to Fanny ( 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. and established Thomas as a music publisher and composer.

Some of his pieces were played in the Storyville area of New Orleans by his young brother Hersal Thomas, who had joined him in the city and performed with local musicians including King Oliver and his protégé Louis Armstrong. Thomas was respected as a composer, and was quoted in the Music Trade Review in 1924:The world wants dancing music, and, tunefulness apart, wants something not reminiscent of hundreds of dances that have gone before... It is a waste of energy for the composer or publisher to plagiarize a winner. The music buying public is too wise today. And people who love to dance, even if they do not play music, are quick to appreciate novelty in melody and theme in a new song. George Thomas continued to publish compositions after his brother Hersal's sudden death, aged 19 in June 1926, but his output diminished in the late 1920s. His last recordings were with singer Lillian Miller for Gennett in 1928.

Death Although in her later years Sippie Wallace claimed that George Thomas had died in about 1930 as a result of an accident involving a streetcar, official records including his death certificate state that he died in Chicago in 1937, from breaking his back falling down stairs, possibly after a fire had broken out. He was buried at Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.