One of the blues world’s most colorful characters, William Thomas’ “Champion Jack’ Dupree was both a first-rate entertainer and a top-quality artist, whether he took the role of merry mirthmaker, political commentator, or down-and-out denizen of the gutters of life. Born in New Orleans on July 23, 1909, according to official records (but July 4, 1910, by Dupree’s account), Dupree came up under a crew of barrelhouse pianists in the Crescent City, later making stops in Indianapolis (where he ran a restaurant), Chicago, and New York. The nickname ‘Champion Jack’ came from his career as a boxer. The first of a notable wave of top American blues pianists to emigrate to Europe, Dupree managed, perhaps better than any of the other expatriate bluesmen, to infuse his work on the continent (both live on and record) with a continuing sense of freshness and vitality. His recording career spanned 51 years, beginning with the 1940-41 sessions for OKeh that produced, among other classics, ‘Junker Blues’ (later rewritten by Fats Domino as ‘The Fat Man’). The depth of his 1958 Blues From the Gutter album on Atlantic earned it a Blues Hall of Fame entry as one of the Classics of Blues Recording. After recording in Europe since 1959, Dupree returned for triumphant U.S. tours in 1990-91, waxing his final sessions for Bullseye Blues. Dupree, who took pride in his talents as a cook and painter as well as in his music, died in Hanover, Germany, on Jan. 21, 1992.
– Jim O’Neal (Revised from O’Neal’s entry in the first edition of The All Music Guide.)