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who had been taped in Memphis for the first (and only) time at the age of 61! The recording was
unreleased in his home country, but Blue Horizon put it out as “Presenting The Country Blues”.

Blue Horizon achieved its first singles chart placing (37) in April 1968, with the second Fleetwood
Mac release, ‘Black Magic Woman’, which to this day many people believe was written by Carlos
Santana! Only 4 months later, their third single, ‘Need Your Love So Bad’, went 6 places higher in
the chart. It charted again, twice, in 1969! The guitar player on the original recording of the song,
by Little Willie John, was Mickey Baker, who was one half of the duo Mickey and Sylvia. Mike
Vernon felt that a string arrangement would work well on the recording, and coincidentally it was
Baker who wrote that arrangement, at the request of Vernon. The two songs have since rightly
become blues classics, with many dodgy versions being heard in pubs and clubs over the decades,
to which I have to plead guilty as well!

Another blues pianist who was
Jack Dupree signing for Blue Horizon very popular in the UK was
Champion Jack Dupree. Born in
New Orleans, he was raised
primarily in the Colored Waifs
Home, following the death of his
parents in a fire, which was
apparently the work of the Ku
Klux Klan. Incidentally, this was
the same home in which Louis
Armstrong spent his childhood.
After an early career as a
professional boxer, and a pretty
good one from the sound of it
(107 bouts including a Golden
Gloves title shot), and service as
a chef in the US Navy during
World War 2, Dupree changed
his name from William to Jack,
and put Champion in front of it,
in honour of his boxing career.
He then decided to concentrate
on playing the piano, which he
had been doing with limited success since his teenage years.

Dupree visited the UK for the first time in 1959, and thereafter Yorkshire became his home for
many years (including a Yorkshire wife!), until he moved to Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and
finally Germany. There is a wonderful photograph of Dupree playing a gig for the Halifax Women’s
Institute - goodness only knows what those middle class ladies, in their hats and coats, thought
of him, with a stud in one ear and bottle of whisky close at hand!

Mike Vernon first recorded Dupree in 1964, backed by Keith Smith’s Climax Jazz Band, for an
album that achieved few sales, but he took the opportunity to record him again in 1966, with
backing this time including members of The Artwoods, plus Tony McPhee, John Mayall and Eric
Clapton. The resulting Decca album, “Blues From New Orleans to Chicago”, was very well received,
both in the UK and USA.