Jesse Crump

Jesse “Tiny” Crump (b. Paris, Texas, January 15, 1897 – d. April 21, 1974) – Pianist and organist. Texas-born Jesse “Tiny” Crump left Dallas as a youngster to travel as a pianist in the Negro Vaudeville circuit. During a prolonged stay in Indianapolis in 1923, he performed at the Golden West Café on Indiana Avenue. In the same year, he recorded his first and only solo piano recordings at Richmond’s Gennett studios. Interestingly, one of his two solo sides was called “Golden West Blues.” During the same trip to Richmond, he accompanied singer Nina Reeves on “Indiana Avenue Blues.” Following his recording and performance activity in Indiana, he settled in Chicago, where he married classic blues star Ida Cox in 1927. Although living in the shadows of his wife’s career, Crump wrote many of Cox’s songs and was her regular accompanist on her eighty-six sides with Paramount from 1923 to 1929. Into the 1930s, he remained married to Cox, who continued to tour but took a Depression-forced break from recording. Crump, on the other hand, recorded a series of vocal duets with classic blues singer Billie McKenzie starting in 1929. Beginning in 1937, Crump played regularly for about fifteen years in various night spots in Muncie, Indiana – namely the 1100 Club, Main Café, Hollywood Bar, and Candlelight. During the 1950s, he worked in San Francisco and made jazz recordings on Verve. Little is known about the last several years of his life.