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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