Big Al Dupree

b. 1923, Dallas, Texas, USA, d. 4 August 2003. By the time Dupree started to attend Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas in the 30s, he was already an accomplished tenor saxophonist. He had also taken part in impromptu sessions in the infamous Deep Ellum area of the city, renowned as much for its crime rate as for being the breeding ground of blues musicians such as Blind Lemon Jefferson and Buster Smith. Through these sessions he became acquainted with trumpeter Doug Finnell, who asked Dupree's parents if their prodigy could join his band. The group, properly titled Joh...