Curtis Jones - The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions

Blues collector’s item from 1968 now available to all

An American bluesman captured by producer Mike Vernon while over in Britain as part of the American Folk Blues Festival in 1968, pianist, guitarist and singer Jones was born in Texas in 1906 and, on this evidence, was an accomplished all-rounder.

The album he made then appeared on vinyl as Now Resident In Europe (Jones having made France his base earlier in the decade, at the suggestion of Champion Jack Dupree) and has an unpretentious, Jools Holland-type vibe that’s slightly at odds with the £50-£100 price-tag it attracted. Eleven previously unissued takes added for CD yield only one new title, Blues On The Scene, but include a couple of short interviews that offer a fascinating taste of the back-story. Jones, who appears in precious few blues books, sings I Want To Be Your Slave in the ironic knowledge that his grandparents were born into slavery.

This release failed to get the promotion Jones felt it deserved and he decamped to Germany for three years before dying unexpectedly from a heart attack in Munich in 1971. Having profited little from his musical career, he was buried in a pauper’s grave, but his musical legacy can now be enjoyed at a sensible price.

Sony | tbc

Reviewed by Michael Heatley
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