D
Larry
Dale
b: 1923,
Texas
A
New York session guitarist who backed some of the city's top artists, Larry Dale
also made a handful of fine singles as a singer during the 1950's and early
1960's.
Taking initial inspiration on his guitar
from B.B. King during the early 50's, Dale made some solid sides as a leader for
Groove in 1954 ( including 'You'd Better Heed My Warning'/'Please Tell Me') with
a band that included another local great, Mickey Baker, and pianist Champion
Jack Dupree. Dale was a frequent studio cohort of the pianist, playing guitar on
all four of Dupree's 1956-58 session for RCA's Groove and Vik subsidiaries and,
under his legal handle of Ennis Lowery, on the definitive Dupree LP, 1958's
Blues From The Gutter for Atlantic. Dale also recorded with saxist Paul
Williams during the mid 50's for Jax, providing the vocals on 'Shame, Shame,
Shame'.
Dale worked the New York club circuit during
the 50's with pianist Bob Gaddy, who had a fairly successful single for Old Town
in 1955,'Operator'. From 1956 to 1958, Dale played with bandleader Cootie
Williams before rejoining Gaddy. At last report, the two still play
together.
Dale made most of his best sides as a
leader when the decade turned. For Glover Records, he waxed the storming party
blues 'Let The Doorbell Ring' and an equally potent "Big Muddy' in 1960, then
revived Stick McGhee's 'Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee' in 1962 on Atlantic. None
of the sides made much of a splash.
Floyd
Dixon
b: Feb. 8, 1929,
Marshall, TX.
Floyd Dixon was an unabashed admirer of Charles Brown's mellow
"club-blues" sound, but he added a more energetic, aggressive jump blues edge to
his sound during the early 50's - a formula that made the L.A.-based pianist an
R&B star.
A Texas émigré, like so many of his
postwar California contemporaries, Dixon hit the city of angles at age 15,
influenced by Louis Jordan and Amos Milburn along with Brown, Dixon was swept up
in the late 40's R&B boom, recording for Supreme in 1947 and signing with
Modern Records in 1949. He nudged into the R&B Top Ten with "Dallas Blues",
and just missed similar lofty stature with "Mississippi Blues" later in 1949.
After cutting for Modern, he switched over to Eddie Mesner's Aladdin logo and
hit in 1950 with "Sad Journey Blues" (also issued on Peacock) "Telephone Blues"
the next year (backed by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers) and the mournful "Call
Operator 210" in 1952.
But there was a playful
ribald side to Dixon, too. The double-entendre "Red Cherries", a storming
"Wine,Wine,Wine", and the two-sided 1951 live recording "Too Much Jelly Roll"
showcased his more raucous leanings. The hits ceased but Dixon's West Coast
R&B odyssey continued with dates for Specialty in 1953, Atlantic Cat
subsidiary in 1954 (where he recorded the rollicking "Hey Bartender", likely his
best well known tune thanks to covers with Koko Taylor) and
Checker.
Chris
Duarte
b: Feb. 16, 1963, San
Antonio, TX.
Austin-based guitarist, songwriter, and singer Chris Duarte is such a
promising young upstart in the world of modern blues that he's already being
compared with the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. It's heady stuff for the
musician, who plays a rhythmic style of Texas blues-rock that is at times
reminiscent of Vaughan's sound, and at other times reminiscent of Johnny Winter.
the truth is, Duarte has his own sound that draws on elements of jazz, blues,
and rock 'n' roll. Although he is humbled by the comparison with the late
Vaughan, the San Antonio-based musician began playing out in clubs there when he
was 15 years old.
After Duarte moved to Austin when
he was 16, he began taking his guitar playing much more seriously, and at that
time, Vaughan was still around playing at Austin area clubs. Duarte was one of
those lucky few thousand who got to see Vaughan at the Continental Club before
the late guitarist got his first break with David Bowie. After a short stint in
an Austin-based jazz band, Duarte joined Bobby Mack and Night Train, and began
getting heavily into blues at that point. He traveled all over Texas with that
band before a big break came his way in 1994, when New York-based Silvertone
Records released his critically praised debut album, Texas Sugar/Strat Magik.
Tailspin Headwhack followed in 1997.
Alfred 'Big Al'
Dupree
b; 1923, Dallas,
Texas
Alfred Dupree was born in Dallas in 1923. He started piano lessons at the age of
five. He was only thirteen when he started playing professionally with John R.
Davis and his Dallas Dandies. In 1943 he joined the U.S. Army. After his stint
in the service, he returned to Dallas and joined Buster Smith's Heatwaves of
Swing as a tenor player, often backing such names as T-Bone Walker, Pee Wee
Crayton, and Al Hibbler. Through the early '50s he worked with his own band, The
Dreamers, and did singles on piano at lounges and eateries. In the mid '50s, he
went to work for the post office, but didn't stop playing music. Many Dallasites
remember him as the pianist at Southern Kitchen East, a spot he held from '76 to
'83.