Champion Jack Dupree – Mean Ole 'frisco (1945) Blues San Francisco

Blues Piano Day 7 - Champion Jack Dupree

I was going to post a video of Bukka White playing some Boogie Woogie, because I think it is such a cool video.

Then I thought about posting this blues piano video (1), this one (2), this one(3), this one (4) and this one (5). And if you watch them all I am sure you will enjoy them.

But then I came across a video of a bluesman, whose music I truly love. It's funny to me that I did not think of Champion Jack Dupree when I thought of doing a week of post on the blues piano.

I guess it is true what they say about your memory being the second thing to go.

Champion Jack Dupree with King Curtis


Champion Jack Dupree



I like Mr. Dupree so much because he was a true man of Louisiana (and a man of the world too), his speech, his diction, his style, his rhythm and of course his musical skills all spring from his youth in Louisiana. And that may be why I did not think of of him at first. I have included too many bluesmen from Louisiana in my list of blues piano players I fear, but what can I say. It was not only Mr. Dupree's piano playing that attracted me to his music. I really like how he sings and talks. He had a way with words. Consider these quotations;

• "When you open up a piano, you see freedom. Nobody can play the white keys and don't play the black keys. You got to mix all these keys together to make harmony. And that's what the whole world needs: Harmony."


• "Nasty Boogie Woogie" by Jack Dupree
  Mama bought a chicken, she took him for a duck
  Laid him on the table with his legs stuck up
  Yonder come the children with a spoon and a glass
  Catch the gravy droppin' from his yes, yes, yes


• "Death of Martin Luther King", recorded just after his assassination
  I know you people, I know you glad you ain't one of me
  I know you people glad, I know you glad you white and free
  Oh yeah, white and free, oh, what will, what will become of me?
  Oh I am begging, yes, I'm begging to be free.

Champion Jack Dupree mp3 posted @ This Recording Blog
The Life I Lead - the mp3 file is down the page.

reference;

Champion Jack Dupree @ Wikipedia

Illustrated Champion Jack Dupree discography

Wikipedia's List of Piano blues musicians

Champion Jack Dupree search @ YouTube

Champion Jack Dupree mp3

You know a bluesman that I have wanted write about for a while now is Champion Jack Dupree. He is one of my favorite musicians from my home state of Louisiana. Now I know it might seem like I say things like that about so many different musicians, but you have to understand that when you are from Louisiana, there is always a great musician hanging around just waiting to be loved. Not to mention the great Louisiana musicians from the past.

Like Louis Armstrong he was a student at the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, where he learned how to play the piano. He was born in July of the early 1900s (different sources give different dates) and he died January 21, 1992. He lived such a colorful life that to my mind not only did he live the blues but he lived many other colors as well. He was a master boogie woogie barrelhouse house piano player, but he also served in the United States Navy as a cook. He was captured during WWII and even served some time as a Japanese Prisoner of War. He got his nickname Champion Jack because after meeting Joe Lewis he went on to become a Golden Gloves Boxing Champion.

You can read all about Champion Jack Dupree@ wikipedia.

He once said,

"When you open up a piano, you see freedom. Nobody can play the white keys and don't play the black keys. You got to mix all these keys together to make harmony. And that's what the whole world needs: Harmony."

Champion Jack Dupree - Hometown New Orleans.mp3

I love during this recording when he ask rhetorically, "People say, what is barrelhouse piano playing anyway?" and then he proceeds to show you. Good stuff indeed.

file under;
music, blues, mp3