In the early 1920s, Hersal Thomas rode into Chicago with a suitcase full of piano moves. He was a young prodigy, and he was plugged into through his older brother George Thomas, who was a successful composer and publisher. Having lived in Houston, New Orleans, and well-traveled through the deep south, Hersal had absorbed much of the emerging barrelhouse piano sounds and was making them his own.
In 1925, at just 19 years old, he recorded this solo piano masterpiece. In it, you can hear how piano blues was changing. Gone is the more ragtime-inflected sounds of the blues from the teens. The even feel and slow drag, replaced with a hard swing and new set (utterly pianistic) rhythmic variations.
This tune represents the beginnings of barrelhouse blues on recorded 78s. It's also an important moment for the emergence of what we know as Chicago boogie-woogie. An even younger Albert Ammons would learn this tune and make it a signature part of his repertoire, though with less of the barrelhouse language. Based on Ammons' version, the tune is now a standard for boogie-woogie pianists.
But don't forget about Hersal Thomas!

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