Info: From my own viewpoint I can see that the Blues only really became mainstream in the late 1950's, and the album, Blues From The Gutter, is the perfect introduction, slow, moody and amazing piano playing. There is no confirmation of William Thomas Dupree's true date of birth, 1908, 1909 or 1910, however, he passed away on 21st January 1992 in Niedersachsen, Germany, interestingly, he asks at the beginning of the above video (1971) 'Where will I be in 1999!?'. Dupree came from an intriguing background, his father was from the Belgian Congo, and his mother was part Native American, at the age of two, he was sent to the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, an orphanage, which was also the alma mater of Louis Armstrong. During his time in the home, he learned the piano, from his mentor Tuts Washington, who taught him how to play Junker's Blues (above video). His career was put on hold when he joined the U.S. Navy as a cook during the Second World War, he would go on to spend two years as a prisoner of war in Japanese camps. In the 1960's he migrated to Europe, where he spent time in Switzerland, Denmark, England, Sweden and Germany (where he eventually died of cancer). My favourites on this album are tracks 1-4, but personally I love "TB Blues", track 2, and "Bad Blood", track 7, and "Goin' Down Slow" for blues guitar heaven, it really is an album that can be listened from start to finish as one.
Track Listing:
1. Strollin'
2. T.B. Blues
3. Can't Kick The Habit
4. Evil Woman
5. Nasty Boogie
6. Junker's Blues
7. Bad Blood
8. Goin' Down Slow
9. Frankie and Johnny
10. Stack-O-Lee
This review is my final of the 1950's, and in some way I'm relieved due to my ignorance of the decade, but I would like to add some albums from the 1950's that I think are very good and necessary listening;
1) Clifford Brown & Max Roach - Clifford Brown & Max Roach (1954)
2) Kenny Dorham - Afro-Cuban (1955) *
3) Louis Prima - The Wildest! (1956)
4) Thelonius Monk - Brilliant Corners (1957)
5) Billie Holiday - Lady In Satin (1958)
6) Marty Robbins - Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs (1959) *
7) Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)
8) Art Blakey - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers (1959)
9) The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out (1959) *
10) Chet Baker - Chet (1959)
* best of the rest
