Dupree Blues

by Dale Curran

A classic, hard-boiled novel of the Jazz scene... back in print for the first time in 70 years!Dupree is a hot trombone player who plays his music from his heart. Then he meets Betty, a singer whose sweet music comes from her aching desire. What she wants is a diamond ring, but if he gets it for her, it will cost him much more than money, plunging him into a whirlpool of sex, betrayal, gambling and murder."When a man is addicted to liquor and hot music, he will not necessarily get into trouble. But add a beautiful blonde — and he is doomed." Hartford Courant"A tightly composed, tense story." Associated Press"The novel is brief, earthy, and completely convincing with the strong flavor of the tawdry, entertainment underworld." Atlanta Journal

Genres: Noir

Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is actually a long folk history associated with the story in Dupree Blues. Frankie Dupree, as legend has it, tried robbing a diamond wedding ring from a jewelry store in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1921, intending to give the ring to his girlfriend Betty, killing a police officer in the process and then killing others as he tried to flee custody. In 1931, Blind Willie Walker took the legend and turned it into a blues song, Dupree Blues. In 1948, Dale Curran took the story and turned it into a novel, which has more recently been republished by Cutting Edge Books. Finally, in 1969, Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead took the old blues folk song and transformed it into Dupree’s Diamond Blues.

In the novel by Curran, Dupree is not the hardened criminal he appears to be in the true story and the various versions of the song. Rather, he comes off as an innocent sucker for a beautiful lady. Dupree, a trombone-player, has it bad for Betty, the jazz singer, to the point that he even takes all his gambling winnings and borrows more and buys her a diamond ring. She, however, is not ready to love only Dupree and makes his life miserable, continuing to see the one man Dupree finds threatening, his gambling nemesis.

It is a smoothly written tale that takes you into Dupree’s life, but as a reader, you wish Dupree wasn’t such a fool getting taken in by Betty and her curves, getting taken at the gambling tables, and getting taken by the jeweler. It is in that sense a far cry from the original story of Dupree, a desperado with a quick shot trying to knock over a jewelry store. When Dupree finally gets the balls to take action, he acts without thinking and, rather than being a tough guy, he is two-time loser who misjudged everything.

[Lawrence FitzGerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

See Dave's review.

Kindle Unlimited

[Thrillers R Us · Rating 4 out of 5]

If the Blues are nothing but a good man feeling bad, DUPREE BLUES got plenty to burn about. Dupree's in love, outta money & in deep trouble with the law. Soak up the beat & all that jazz.

A double punch of blockbuster summer entertainment provided the push that one of the AMERICAN FLYERS from SILVERADO needed to break into the big time. The second film bearing Kevin Costner's name in 1987 debuted at the end of the summer and was anything but NO WAY OUT for the burgeoning Hollywood mega star. Leading into a string of hits and Academy Awards, NO WAY OUT had Costner in the role of a Pentagon-dwelling Navy squib deeply enmeshed in betrayal, lust, murder, dizzy Sean Young and fighting the system. Doused with the soothing sounds of Dixieland, DUPREE BLUES lives 1940s Americana, chronicling the life and times of the eponymous musician and his follies. Dupree doesn't fall easy, but when he falls, he falls hard. Juggling Jazz, gambling, diamonds and a dazzling dame, there's NO WAY OUT for Dupree--he's in love, outta money, and in deep trouble with the law. If the Blues are nothing but a good man feeling bad, DUPREE BLUES got plenty to burn about.

A regular PETER PAN, Dupree has a reputation that precedes him; bad boy, gambling, playing for keeps. Sometimes, things aren't what they seem. He's no boy at 35, even though he acts like one from time to time. The fact that Dupree no longer lives with his parents seems to be a definite plus. Living in a crummy rooming house, it isn't home, though Dupree is determined to stay in this lousy little Southern town and play trombone for his friend. He's the guy who plays trombone in their great little jazz band. It was a time and place where a man could do what he wanted to do, make music, and know that music was good. Dupree drinks his three exact permitted drinks and he plays tremendous jazz improvisations. Like Ace Frehley two decades later in the big bad 70s, he plays better when he's had a slug or two or three of firewater. When he's playing music, he doesn't have to think, he is doing something and it is good and that's enough. That ain't a whole lot for a guy to ask out of life, is it? Dupree could have anything in this world he wanted if he had courage and nerve to reach out for it. Working for a living, playing it safe and being just a regular guy is for the birds; there's a whole world of adventure and Dupree never even seen it for all the trees. The world was his were it not for that self-proclaimed dizzy blonde, a diamond, and a roscoe.

Almost like an O'Henry story in full feature length, DUPREE BLUES is a novel about a Blondie from St. Louis, with her diamond ring and how she led a lousy cheap nickel-and-dime crap shooter around by his apron strings. But he likes it when she calls him pops! A book that crackles with the insipidity of a pop song, DUPREE BLUES doles out fifties axioms the likes of 'Gambling can bring big trouble', that music is better than people and much simpler, there's no known defense against the common cigarette, and that a man without his instrument is a musician no more. An orgiastic climax of literary creation, DUPREE BLUES's narrative has a warmth and depth and vibrant strength, guiding the reader down a lonesome road, alone in the dark with Dupree, feeling bad, feeling low. When Dixieland is all gone from inside him and it's all been said, he is done. Soak up the back-kicking vibration of DUPREE BLUES, the music and craps. If you know, you know. And if you don't, after DUPREE BLUES, you're read in. The gambler wins, the sucker loses. Next book and ALL THAT JAZZ.