Louis Armstrong

Happy birthday to Louis Armstrong, born 112 years ago today (08/04/1901) in the world's most musical city, New Orleans.  In 1961, he worked with another musical genius, Duke Ellington, on the soundtrack for the film Paris Blues, which featured Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, Diahann Carroll and Joanne Woodward.  In addition to his soundtrack contributions, Armstrong appeared in the movie, playing a character, a trumpet player naturally, called Wild Man Moore.  Here's the song by that name from the soundtrack.

Duke Ellington featuring Louis Armstrong  -  Wild Man Moore


Photo: the Jet magazine archives.

Champion Jack Dupree made a LOT of records

Champion Jack Dupree made records for over 50 years.  His first sides came out on the OKeh label in 1930, and his last album was released in 1992.  In the 40s he cut dozens of single sides for about as many labels - including several under different names (like Meat Head Johnson).  Most of these only came out on 78, and were largely unavailable in any other form until the CD-era. He made lots of LPs for a variety of European labels after moving there in the early 60s, and made one of the best blues albums ever for Atlantic. Most of the 45s he recorded were cut from '53 - '59, for Robin, Groove, and King. The Euporean blues afficianado for whom he recorded in the 60s seems to have favored the long player.

The jist is that CJD made a LOT of records. He was the John Lee Hooker of barrelhouse piano (in more ways than one, since some of his best recordings are just him, his piano and his stomp). He was always happy to reinvent one or more of his Dupree specials for whoever might be willing to give him some bread. Like John Lee, he got thrown in with an awful lot of younger, white blues players in the 60s, with similar mixed results. But he made records both rockin' and righteous all his life, he tells great autobiographical stories in a lot of his songs, and he casts a shadow over the history of enough Ichiban-oriented interests to keep us amused for a month. Plus he's hilarious.

And he knows his Shakespeare

Jack Dupree was born in New Orleans in 1909 or 1910.  Like Louis Armstrong, he claimed to have been born on the 4th of July, and like Armstrong, that claim has proven to be inaccurate. Also like Louis Armstrong, he was raised in New Orleans' Home for Colored Waifs, after he lost his parents in a house or store fire that may or may not have been set by the Ku Klux Klan. Jack talks about this on his song "The Death of Louis Armstrong" and makes reference to the fire in a song called .

Jack taught himself to play piano after the orphanage acquired one from the Salvation Army, and apprenticed in the juke joints with Willie Hall, also known as Drive 'Em Down, who apparently taught him one of his signature numbers, "Junker's Blues".  He reminisces about Drive 'Em Down at the start of the song "Workhouse Blues", from an early 60s session for Storyville, recorded in Denmark.

In the 30s he split New Orleans for Detroit, where he became a boxer. Here he earned, either honorably or ironically, the nickname "Champion", depending on whose stories you believe. One imagines he got sick of hitting something that hit back, so he moved to Chicago at the start of the 40s and started playing the piano again.

Listen to "The Death of Louis Armstrong"
Listen to "Workhouse Blues (Talkin' Bout Drive 'Em Down)"

sorry about so many slow songs today - we'll get to boogie plenty by month's end . . . 

Relative to his large body of work and the colorfulness of his life, there does not seem to be a lot of information about Champion Jack Dupree out there. He is not the subject of any biographies, and he doesn't get a lot of mention in the blues history books I've checked. Francis Davis's History of the Blues offers a useful if slightly condescending three page biographical overview.  

This blog post has a great interview with CJD and will be returned to frequently this month.

Big thanks to the exhaustive Champion Jack Dupree discography here.  Pretty much my only tether to reality this month.