Champion Jack Dupree: Champion Jack Dupree

CHAMPION JACK DUPREE: CHAMPION JACK DUPREE (1965)

1) Everyday I Have The Blues; 2) Three O'Clock In The Morning; 3) Oh Lawdy; 4) Whiskey Head Woman; 5) Young Girl Blues; 6) Fine And Mellow; 7) Holiday Blues; 8) People Talk; 9) Shirley May; 10) Federal Man Blues; 11*) Shake Baby, Shake; 12*) Champion Jack's Guitar Blues; 13*) Sporting Life Blues; 14*) Don't Ever Believe; 15*) Christina, Christina Blues; 16*) Hand In Hand.

Again, I am totally unsure about the date of issue: conflicting sources indicate it as anything from 1962 to 1965, although I believe that 1962 really refers to the date of the last sessions — June 15-18, with Mogens Seidelin backing the Champ on bass and an unknown musician on percussion. A few extra tracks from the 1960-1961 sessions are available as well, with the same mediocre Chris Lange on guitar, so I assume this must have been Dupree's last Copenhagen-era album, one that could certainly be defined as an exercise in diligent barrel-scraping and little else.

Like the last time, this is almost completely slow piano blues, with one boogie number thrown in for good measure (ʽWhiskey Head Womanʼ — a re-write of ʽDrinking Wine Spoo-Dee-O-Deeʼ). Since there is absolutely nothing new to be said about any of these tracks — even Dupree's lyrical stories are getting boring — this time I will allow myself to lose my cool and finally slap a thumbs down on the whole thing. Sure enough, the blues is repetitive and monotonous by nature, but for the mid-Sixties, this level is intolerable: re-recording completely generic 12-bar pieces by the dozen really went out of style by the start of the LP era, and I cannot imagine the Danish people wearing out their LPs so quickly that they had to patiently stand in line for the newest Champion Jack Dupree release every Christmas.