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Champion Jack Dupree

Born William Thomas Dupree, 4 July 1910, New Orleans, (Dupree's birth date is the matter of some conjecture and is sometimes listed as 23 July 1909). Orphaned in infancy, Dupree was raised in the Colored Waifs Home for Boys until the age of 14. After leaving, he led a marginal existence, singing for tips, and learning piano from musicians such as Willie "Drive-'em-down" Hall. Dupree also became a professional boxer, and blended fighting with hoboing throughout the 30s, before retiring from the ring in 1940, and heading for New York. Initially, he traveled only as far as Indianapolis, where he joined with musicians who had been associates of Leroy Carr. Dupree rapidly became a star of the local black entertainment scene, as a comedian and dancer as well as a musician. He acquired a residency at the local Cotton Club, and partnered comedienne Ophelia Hoy. In 1940, Dupree made his recording debut, with music that blended the forceful, barrelhouse playing and rich, Creole- accented singing of New Orleans with the more suave style of Leroy Carr. Not surprisingly, a number of titles were piano/guitar duets, although on some, Jesse Ellery's use of amplification pointed the way forward. A few songs covered unusual topics, such as the distribution of grapefruit juice by relief agencies, or the effects of drugs. Dupree's musical career was interrupted when he was drafted into the US Navy as a cook; even so he managed to become one of the first blues singers to record for the folk revival market while on leave in New York in 1943. Dupree's first wife died while he was in the navy, and he took his discharge in New York, where he worked as a club pianist, and formed a close musical association with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. His own post-war recording career commenced with a splendid series of solo recordings for Joe Davis, on some of which the influence of Peetie Wheatstraw is very evident. More typical were the many tracks with small groups recorded thereafter for a number of labels from 1946-53, and for King Records between April 1953 and late 1955. As ever, these recordings blend the serious with the comic, the latter somewhat tastelessly on songs such as "Tongue Tied Blues" and "Harelip Blues". "Walking The Blues", a comic dialogue with Teddy "Mr Bear" McRae, was a hit on King, and the format was repeated on a number of titles recorded for RCA Records' Vik and Groove.

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Album Review

Champion Jack Dupree: Junker Blues

Read "Junker Blues" reviewed by Derek Taylor


Jack Dupree was one of the barrelhouse champions. Weaned on the coarser piano styles of the brothels and speakeasies of his New Orleans youth his utilitarian approach on the instrument always favored volume and vigor over skill and polish. But the attribute that set him most apart from the legion of juke joint ivory ticklers was his world-weary voice. He lived and breathed the life recounted in his colorful lyrics. Traveling across America, and in later years Europe, all the ...

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Recording

Champion Jack Dupree - Blues from the Gutter (Atlantic, 1958)

Champion Jack Dupree - Blues from the Gutter (Atlantic, 1958)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland

Blues singer and pianist lived a fascinating life (someone really should cobble together a biography) and this may be his best known LP. Cut with a wonderful band under perfect conditions for Atlantic, the music is a rare combination of fascinating and wry lyrics (about some pretty heavy topics) and just spot-on playing. He does cover the traditional blues themes of troubles with money and women on “Evil Woman" and “Bad Blood" but things go “way down in the alley" ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Junker Blues

Catfish Records (UK)
2000

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Freedom

Callagan Productions
1980

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Mickey Baker & Hal...

Callagan Productions
1973

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Meets Mickey Baker &...

Callagan Productions
1972

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Blues from the Gutter

Atlantic Records
1958

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