CHAMPION JACK DUPREE: THE HEART OF THE BLUES IS SOUND (1969)
1) My Baby's Coming Home; 2)
You Rascal You; 3) No Tomorrow; 4) The Heart Of The Blues Is Sound; 5) The
Japanese Special; 6) Hard Feeling; 7) Blues From 1921; 8) Don't Mistreat Your
Woman.
Another alumnus of John Mayall, drummer Aynsley
Dunbar, has been recruited by the endlessly charismatic Champion for these
sessions, held in London in August 1969. Having actually been fired from the
Bluesberakers, Dunbar had only just formed his own band — appropriately called
«Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation» — and, apparently, they are all here backing Dupree,
except for the first track which, in a rare stint of mind, he prefers to sing a
cappella. Notable members of the band include Victor Brox, whom most people
probably remember as the metallic-evil voice of Caiaphas in the original
recording of Jesus Christ Superstar
— in fact, he'd already been a professional blues singer and player by that
time, although on this album he sticks to keyboards and harmonica; trombonist
Nick Evans, known for a brief stint in Soft Machine; and guitarist John
Moorshead, known for very little in particular, yet capable of grinding as mean
an axe as any alumnus of the John Mayall school.
As for Dupree himself, he takes a slightly more
experimental approach on the record. The tunes are fewer in number and shorter
in length, leaving plenty of space for jamming and improvisation (keeping up
with the spirit of the times), and there is also a pronounced jazz influence:
the only song not credited to Dupree
on the album is ʽYou Rascal Youʼ, credited to Louis Armstrong (in reality, it
was written by Sam Theard, but Dupree was not much of a sucker for detail), and
then there is the oddest thing the man ever took part in so far — ʽThe Japanese
Specialʼ, a tribal groove featuring a discordant, almost atonal battle of
trombones, saxes, guitars, and organs: surprisingly energetic and delightfully
chaotic, it could be defined as «Soft Machine meets Jack Dupree» (referring
specifically to Nick Evans' participation in it), except that there's really
very little Dupree-ish about the track in general. Honestly, I'm not even sure
if the Champ plays on it in the first place. But even if he is not, it is
pretty cool to encounter four minutes of free jazz on an LP by a pre-war urban
blues specialist, is it not?
Elsewhere, it is mostly the same schtick:
super-slow 12-bar electric blues (ʽHard Feelingʼ; ʽDon't Mistreat Your Womanʼ),
old-fashioned blues balladry (ʽNo Tomorrowʼ; title track), and a cute attempt
to do a regular jazz-blues oldie with a piano and a blaring trombone over it
(rather blatantly called ʽBlues From 1921ʼ). The sound is nice, and altogether
it feels as if the band gels together much better than any of Dupree's previous
white-boy outfits in London. However, that is because the band is a band, rather than a motley crue of
vaguely interested guest stars — and the album might as well have been called
«The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation Feat. Champion Jack Dupree», given that his
role is consistently diminished throughout the record. He does sound quite
charming on that vocal-only number, though.
A motley... crue?
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