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new life in Europe. At the age of 56, a prematurely aged man, his dignity,

   optimism and creative faculties remained undiminished.


                                                    Champion Jack Dupree had arranged some
                                                    European tour dates for him, mainly at jazz

                                                    clubs,  and  he  played  in  France,  Belgium,
                                                    Germany  and  Switzerland,  eventually

                                                    making France his home. In 1963 he came

                                                    to  the  UK,  touring  with  the  Chris  Barber
                                                    Band, and a session was arranged for him

                                                    on  27th  and  28th  November  to  cut  an
                                                    album for Decca, backed by a three piece

                                                    band that included Alexis Korner.  Present
                                                    at the sessions was producer Mike Vernon,

                                                    and he managed to persuade Jones to play

   his first instrument, the guitar on two tracks, which showed him to be an
   accomplished and delicate player.


                                                     The album was released as “Curtis Jones in
                                                     London”,  and  although  well  received  by

                                                     blues fans, it did not sell in large numbers.

                                                     Two of the tracks recorded at that session,
                                                     but  left  off  the  album,  were  those  I

                                                     mentioned at the beginning - ‘You Got Good

                                                     Business’  and  ‘Roll  Me  Over’,  which
                                                     appeared on “Raw Blues”. Quite why two

                                                     such fine tracks were not deemed suitable
                                                     for the album I find rather surprising, but

                                                     it could be purely down to the fact that it
                                                     was simply not possible to fit everything

   on to the vinyl album. Luckily, the CD reissue (on BGO Records) includes

   both, together with the 12 tracks on  original.

   The middle years of the 1960s saw Jones touring extensively, not just in

   Europe, including Spain and Greece, but also North Africa, and especially
   Morocco, which he seems to have liked in particular. By 1966 he was back

   in France, and had settled in Paris, although work was becoming increasingly

   hard to find, and his living circumstances were not good.


   However, once again things looked up for a while, when, in 1968, he got the
   chance to return to the UK, and renew his earlier working relationship with
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