Bman's Blues Report

A huge hunk of cornbread would not have been more welcome during the potato famine than it is as a nickname in the career of New Orleans jazz reed player and vocalist Joe "Cornbread" Thomas. Thanks to the appetizing moniker this superior player -- who kept busy with trad jazz up through his senior years -- has more than a tasty chance of being told apart from the Joe Thomas that played trumpet, the Kansas City jazz saxophonist who took over the Jimmie Lunceford band, or the funky flute player whose recording named Plato's Retreat was a hit. Prelude to the Revival, Vol. 1 The New Orleans Thomas is the elder statesman of all these name-alikes, having a bit less than a decade of a head's start over either the trumpeter or the Kansas City jazz Thomas, both of whom were born in 1909. Jelly Roll Morton was among the earliest of bandleaders to put the cornbread in the musical oven, so to speak; at any rate, the Morton discography represents a body of work involving Thomas th...

A huge hunk of cornbread would not have been more welcome during the potato famine than it is as a nickname in the career of New Orleans jazz reed player and vocalist Joe "Cornbread" Thomas. Thanks to the appetizing moniker this superior player -- who kept busy with trad jazz up through his senior years -- has more than a tasty chance of being told apart from the Joe Thomas that played trumpet, the Kansas City jazz saxophonist who took over the Jimmie Lunceford band, or the funky flute player whose recording named Plato's Retreat was a hit. The New Orleans Thomas is the elder statesman of all these name-alikes, having a bit less than a decade of a head's start over either the trumpeter or the Kansas City jazz Thomas, both of whom were born in 1909. Jelly Roll Morton was among the earliest of bandleaders to put the cornbread in the musical oven, so to speak; at any rate, the Morton discography represents a body of work involving Thomas that has managed to remain in ...