Champion Jack Dupree Sings The Blues

Side One:
01. Me And My Mule
02. The Blues Got Me Rockin'
03. That's My Pa
04. Tongue Tied Blues
05. Sharp Harp
06. Blues For Everybody
07. Camille
08. Walkin' Upside Your Head


Side Two:
01. Harelip Blues
02. Big Leg Emma's
03. Two Below Zero
04. Silent Partner
05. Mail Order Woman
06. Stumbling Block
07. Failing Health Blues
08. She Cooks Me Cabbage

Champion Jack Dupree Sings The Blues (Mega)

Champion Jack Dupree Sings The Blues (Zippy)

Thanks to contributor Marv for sending in this reconstructed 1961 King compilation of Champion Jack Dupree sides. The tracks were recorded for King during 1953 - 1955. By the time this LP was issued Jack had quit the USA for residence in Europe where he enjoyed a long recording and concert career up until his death in 1992.

Jack was born in New Orleans in 1910, raised in an orphanage, and taught blues piano by Drive 'Em Down, thus connecting him to the early days of New Orleans blues. He was also a boxer hence the "Champion" nickname. At the beginning of the 1940s he was working his way north as a professional musician. He recorded a series of sides for Okeh in Chicago in 1940-41, in a trio setting accompanied by guitar and bass. War service in the US Navy interrupted his music career but on his return he moved to New York City where he recorded for a variety of labels between 1945 and 1958.

As his label hopping was pretty constant and probably without any regard to niceties such as contracts, he recorded under a variety of pseudonyms as well as his own moniker. He was "Willie Jordan And His Swinging Five" for Alert in 1948, "Blind Boy Johnson & His Rhythms" on Lenox reissues of some 1948 sides he recorded for Continental, "Meat Head Johnson And His Blues Hounds" on Apex and Gotham in 1950, "Brother Blues And The Back Room Boys" on Abbey also in 1950, "Duke Bayou And His Mystic Six" on Apollo at the end of 1950, and "Big Tom Collins" for King in 1951.

He did in fact also record as Champion Jack Dupree for Joe Davis in 1945, Solo in 1946, on some of the Apollo sessions in 1949 and 1951, and also for Red Robin in 1952. His music was raucous, unbridled blues frequently accompanied by Brownie McGhee on guitar, a variety of bassists, occasionally a drummer, and sometimes even a tenor sax man such as Jesse Powell, Al King or Big Chief Ellis.

This Krazy Kat CD from 1992 has a 22 track selection of Jack's wild and wooly post was output from 1945-1953:

It contains some outstanding rough house rockers such as "Shim Sham Shimmy" and "Shake Baby Shake."

Jack's first session for King was in April 1953. One of the tracks he recorded was "Tongue-Tied Blues" which derives its "humour" from a portrayal of a speech defect. There were follow ups along the same lines - "Harelip Blues," "That's My Pa," "Walkin' Upside Your Head," and "Mail Order Woman" all featured vocals making fun of  people with speech defects which in the present day can make for some uncomfortable listening. A shame because some of these tracks have terrific playing by great backing musicians such as guitarist Mickey Baker.

Setting the tasteless tracks aside, there's still good blues here. Watch out for harmonica players Papa Lightfoot and George Smith on "Camille" and "Sharp Harp" respectively. Full recording and release details are below:

Recording details

01. Me And My Mule - Cincinnati, November 8th, 1955

02. The Blues Got Me Rockin' - New York, April 7th, 1953

03. That's My Pa - New York, June 27th, 1955

04. Tongue Tied Blues - New York, April 7th, 1953

05. Sharp Harp - Cincinnati, November 8th, 1955

06. Blues For Everybody - New York, February 15th, 1955

07. Camille - Cincinnati, November 30th, 1953

08. Walkin' Upside Your Head - Cincinnati, November 30th, 1953

09. Harelip Blues - New York, February 15th, 1955

10. Big Leg Emma's - New York, September 15th, 1955

11. Two Below Zero - New York, February 15th, 1955

12. Silent Partner - New York, September 15th, 1955

13. Mail Order Woman - New York, June 29th, 1955

14. Stumbling Block - New York, June 29th, 1955

15. Failing Health Blues - New York, June 29th, 1955

16. She Cooks Me Cabbage - New York, June 27th, 1955

The Blues Got Me Rockin'; Tongue-Tied Blues - recorded in New York, April 7th, 1953. Personnel:Champion Jack Dupree (vocal, piano) with Sidney Grant (tenor sax); Mickey Baker (guitar); Cedric Wallace (bass); John Taylor (drums).

The Blues Got Me Rockin' / Tongue-Tied Blues released on King 4633 in June 1953.

Walkin' Upside Your Head; Camille - recorded in Cincinnati, November 30th, 1953. Personnel: Champion Jack Dupree (vocal, piano) with: Papa Lightfoot (harmonica); Milton Batiste (trumpet); Nat Perrilliat (tenor sax); Edwin Moire (guitar); Charles Connor (drums).

Walkin' Upside Your Head released on King 4695 b/w Hard Feeling, February 1954.

Camille released on King 4706 b/w Rub A Little Boogie, March / April 1954.

Blues For Everybody; Harelip Blues; Two Below Zero - recorded in New York, February 15th, 1955. Personnel: Champion Jack Dupree (vocal, piano) with Sidney Grant (tenor sax); Jerome Darr (guitar); Cedric Wallace (bass); Cornelius Thomas (drums).

Two Below Zero / Blues For Everybody released on King 4779 in March 1955.

Harelip Blues released on King 4797 b/w Let The Doorbell Ring in May 1955.

That's My Pa; She Cooks Me Cabbage - recorded in New York, June 27th, 1955. Personnel: Champion Jack Dupree (vocal, piano) with Willis Jackson (tenor sax); Mickey Baker (guitar); Ivan Rolle (bass); Calvin Shields (drums).

Failing Health Blues; Stumbling Block; Mail Order Woman - recorded in New York, June 29th, 1955. Personnel as June 27th session.

Silent Partner; Big Leg Emma's - recorded in New York, September 15th, 1955. Personnel: Champion Jack Dupree (vocal, piano) with Mickey Baker (guitar); Lloyd Trotman (bass); Cliff Leeman (drums).

Me And My Mule; Sharp Harp - recorded in Cincinnati, November 8th, 1955. Personnel: Champion Jack Dupree (vocal, piano) with George Smith (harmonica); Barney Richmond (bass); Alfred Dreares (drums).

That's My Pa / Stumbling Block released on King 4827 in September 1955.
Silent Partner / She Cooks Me Cabbage released on King 4859 in December 1955.
Failing Health Blues / Me And My Mule released on King 4876 in February 1956.

Big Leg Emma's / Mail Order Woman released on King 4938 in July 1956.
Two Below Zero / Sharp Harp released on Federal 12408 in February 1961.

Above: Charly CD "Blues For Everybody" (1990 and 1997) has 20 of Jack's King sides, including the only one which brushed the charts - "Walkin' The Blues" which also has Mr. Bear aboard.

Harlem Heavies

I picked this one up second hand a few months back. It’s a Dutch LP from sometime in the 1980s and is in fact volume 2 of a series of perhaps five collections of New York rhythm ‘n’ blues. Some of these LPs were posted on the original Twilightzone blog which was taken down by the Gestapo sometime ago. There were titles like “Leapin’ On Lennox” and “New York Notables” but I don’t think they have appeared yet on the reincarnated Twilightzone.

In the meantime while we await the second coming of the poster of these gems, Gyro1966, who simply must repost the whole shebang, let us make do with my rips of this superb collection of rhythmatic stompers. Of course there are some old Be Bop Wino favourites here – Mr Bear and Washboard Bill. They, along with many other artists on this LP, were also featured on the Detour comp of Groove sides I posted recently – Groove Jumping! The sound quality on this LP (which was probably a bootleg) doesn’t quite match that of Groove Jumping, but it’s still a rousing heap of clangin’ and bangin’ blues that’s guaranteed to get even the squarest of listeners shakin’ their booty. Or something like that – you know what I mean.

The back of the record sleeve has session details. The usual NYC suspects are on these tracks – Sam “The Man” Taylor, King Curtis, Heywood Henry, Wild Jimmy Spruill, Panama Francis and Leroy Kirkland. We are in safe hands. As you can see from the tracklist I’ve done some digging around to add details of the record labels on which these tracks were originally released. That’s enough jabbering from me. Download and groove, baby, groove!

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/343444390/Harlem_Heavies.rar

Or here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=480AO32P

1. Let The Doorbell Ring - Larry Dale (Glover 208, 1960)
2. Let Your Love Run To Me - Larry Dale (Glover 208, 1960)
3. Big Muddy - Larry Dale (Glover 203, 1960)
4. Please Tell Me - Larry Dale (Groove 4G-0029, 1954)
5. Shake Baby Shake - Jack Dupree (Vik – X 0304, 1957)
6. Mind On Loving - Little Danny (Sharp 112, 1960)
7. Up The River - Cousin Leroy (Ember E-1023, 1957)
8. Help Me Baby - Stick McGhee (Savoy 1148, 1955)
9. Hold Out Baby - Mr Bear (AMP 3129, 1958)
10. Shake Me Up Baby - Little Terry (Savoy 1520, 1956)
11. Off To Work Again - Wilbert Harrison (Neptune 123, 1961)
12. Sad Sad Affair - Dossie Terry (Victor 20/47-4864, 1951)
13. Hi-Fi Baby - Mr Bear (AMP 3129, 1958)
14. This Little Letter - James Wayne (Angletone 540, 1960)
15. In The Morning Part 2 - Washboard Bill (King 4983, 1956)
16. Anna Mae - Brownie McGhee (Savoy 1177, 1955)
17. Don't Drop It - Wilbert Harrison Savoy 1138, 1954)
18. Do What You Do - Mickey Baker (King LP839, 1962)

Groove Jumping!

Back in the early days of Be Bop Wino a post would occasionally appear with the introductory words “here’s one I posted on Rock Hall.” Unfortunately coinciding with the demise of the Rock Hall forum, here is an LP which I originally posted there way back in 2007 and subsequently never got round to posting on Be Bop Wino.

In the 1980s a series of LPs was issued by the Detour label in the UK. They were collections of sides originally issued on the Groove subsidiary of RCA Victor from 1954 to 1956. The sound quality on these Detour albums was top notch but they always seemed to be a little harder to find than the Ace, Charly and Mr R&B LPs which occupied the rockin’ record racks back then. This LP has always been a favourite of mine with its fourteen tracks of blastin’ New York rhythm ‘n’ blues. The Groove label may have been short lived and with one significant exception it failed to achieve chart success, but some mighty fine music was released by the diskery.

By the early 1950s the major record companies were losing ground in the R&B field to the independent labels which had been springing up since the mid 1940s. In 1952 the top five R&B labels were Atlantic, King, RPM, Specialty and Mercury with only the last being a major label. The rest of the top ten places were also occupied by independents with the exception of Okeh, a subsidiary label reactivated by Columbia in an attempt to combat the growing sales power of the independents. Decca came eighteenth in the R&B labels list and RCA Victor an even more catastrophic twenty-first.

In 1953 RCA Victor improved its R&B standing to twelfth best selling label thanks to a couple of biggies from dynamic vocal group The Du Droppers (“I Wanna Know” and “I Found Out.”) The stranglehold of the independents had tightened even further with Atlantic, Chess, King, Duke, Apollo, Aladdin, Herald, RPM, Jubilee, Specialty and Imperial occupying the top eleven places.

Probably somewhere around late 1953 RCA decided that they would make a stab at breaking into the R&B market in a bigger way by launching a new subsidiary label with the hep sounding name “Groove.” The launch was trailed in “Billboard” in early January 1954 and on the 8th February Groove issued its first sides – The Du Droppers with “Dead Broke” / “Speed King” and Big John Greer with “You’ll Never Be Mine” / “Bottle It Up And Go.” All of these sides had been recorded in December 1953.

In total 38 singles were issued before A&R man Danny Kessler resigned and Groove was put on temporary hiatus between late 1954 and March 1955 when the label was relaunched with Bob Rolontz as A&R man. A further 179 singles were issued before the label was finally wound up in December 1956. Ironically the end came just as “Love Is Strange” by Mickey and Sylvia was about to provide Groove with its only major hit.

It’s hard to put a finger on the reason for Groove’s lack of success. Backing was provided by the best of New York session musicians including Mickey “Guitar” Baker (who as Mickey of Mickey and Sylvia also provided the label’s only substantial hit), Sam “The Man” Taylor, King Curtis and Heywood Henry. A potentially fruitful session by established vocal group The Five Keys was wasted when they quickly moved to Capitol and their Groove sides remained in the can. The “lost” Five Keys session is featured on the Detour LP “The Best of Doo-wop Classics Volume 2.” Not all Groove releases were up to the standard of the sides on “Groove Jumping!” but there was plenty of good rockin’ R&B from the likes of Milt Trenier, Buddy Lucas, Larry Dale, The Du Droppers, Chris Powell, Big Al Sears and the king of low life philosophers, Mr Bear.

I seem to remember back in the old Rock Hall days that I tried to get a “Mr Bear for President” campaign going. He’d have told those bankers where to get off. Fans of R&B esoterica should note the presence of another Be Bop Wino hero on Mickey and Sylvia’s “No Good Lover”: Washboard Bill! Mr Bear and Washboard Bill on the same LP? There can be no higher recommendation!

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/327220834/Groove_Jumping_.rar

Or here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=N7X0PD80

1. Ride And Roll / Sonny Terry
2. No Good Lover / Mickey & Sylvia
3. Strange Kind Of Feeling / Tiny Kennedy
4. Bottle It Up and Go / 'Big' John Greer
5. Boot 'Em Up / The Du Droppers
6. Talk That Talk / The Du Droppers
7. Lawdy Miss Mary / The Five Keys
8. Worried 'Bout You Baby / Roy 'Mr Guitar' Gaines
9. Dat Dat De Dum Dum / Roy 'Mr Guitar' Gaines
10. Radar / Mr Bear
11. How Come? / Mr. Bear
12. Dead Broke / The Du Droppers
13. Speed King / The Du Droppers
14. Smack Dab In The Middle / The Du Droppers

Recommended purchases:

The Westside label released two compilation CDs of Groove and RCA material in 1998: “Honkin’ ‘n’ Hollerin’” and “The Groove Story.” Both CDs are long out of print but you might find them at your local second hand CD dealer.