RIP Cornell Dupree studio guitarist for Aretha, Brook Benton, Paul Simon, Mariah Carey & more

May 14, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/nyregion/cornell-dupree-studio-guitarist-is-dead-at-68.html?hpw

Cornell Dupree, Guitarist and Sideman to the Stars, Dies at 68

By PETER KEEPNEWS

Here's part of the Obit:

Cornell Dupree, a guitarist whose quietly bluesy style made him an in-demand session musician throughout the 1960s and ’70s for artists like Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon and Ringo Starr, died May 8 at his home in Fort Worth. He was 68.

The cause was emphysema, said David Kramer, his agent and longtime friend, who had organized a benefit concert for him in New York in March.

The average listener may not have known Mr. Dupree’s name (“Not many people read the back of albums,” he acknowledged in a 1997 interview in The Dallas Observer), but millions knew his playing. His licks are an indispensable part of a number of Ms. Franklin’s biggest hits, Brook Benton’s “Rainy Night in Georgia” and many other records.

By his own estimate, he played on about 2,500 sessions. Jerry Wexler, the Atlantic Records executive who produced hits for Ms. Franklin and many others, said on several occasions that he had often used three guitarists on the sessions he supervised, to get as full a sound as possible, until he realized Mr. Dupree was the only one he needed.

Though best known as a rhythm-and-blues player, accompanying performers like Wilson Pickett and B. B. King, Mr. Dupree also performed or recorded with Joe Cocker, Barbra Streisand, Laura Nyro, Bonnie Raitt and Mariah Carey, among other pop stars. He played on Mr. Simon’s 1973 hit album “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon” and Mr. Starr’s R&B-influenced album “Ringo the 4th.”

Quite a career and largely unheralded

He had emphysema and was awaiting a lung transplant.

from the nice Washington Post obit

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/cornell-dupree-rhythm-and-blues-guitarist-dies-at-69/2011/05/10/AFt1XyjG_story.html

Cornell Luther Dupree was born Dec. 19, 1942, in Fort Worth. At 14, he was inspired to learn guitar after seeing a performance by bluesman Johnny “Guitar” Watson and soon started sitting in with older R&B musicians. In 1961, he was recruited to New York by King Curtis.

Curtis, in-demand as a session player, brought Mr. Dupree into the highly competitive New York studio scene with his band the Kingpins.

After the success of Franklin’s “Respect,” Mr. Dupree often found himself in the studio 10 hours a day, six days a week. The Kingpins also backed Franklin on the road.

From the general RIP thread: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2011/05/guitar_great_cornell_dupree_wh.php
which links to http://www.dallasobserver.com/1997-02-27/music/the-quiet-man/

I thought Scott or Soto might chime in here. Maybe later...

Dude played with Hendrix in King Curtis' band, played in Stuff who did funky 70s things on their own and backed Joe Cocker on Saturday Night Live in 75, played with all the American opening bands on the Beatles 1965 US tour

I need to get Aretha Live at the Fillmore West...(he's on it)

rip! guy played some classic riffs on some classic records. would love a playlist of his stuff.

In that old Dallas O. piece linked to in the recent Dallas obit one Dupree mentioned that he barely remembers many of the 2,500 sessions he did.

Each record was just a matter of doing his day job, punching a clock. His house in North Richland Hills, north of Fort Worth, could be that of any ordinary manufacturer or civil service official. There's nothing to indicate that this is home sweet home for the man whose guitar graces a Yellow Pages of popular song by Aretha Franklin; King Curtis; Sam Cooke; Otis Redding; Ringo; Miles; Joe Cocker; Carly and Paul Simon; B.B., Freddie, and Ben E. King; and Big Mamas Thornton, Streisand, and Midler.

knew him from king curtis' shoutout in 'memphis soul stew'

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mCn3jPlLgZU/STB0-An7U4I/AAAAAAAABjA/EhMFTTHPe6E/s1600/Dupree.jpeg
haven't heard this record, but great cover

I see that one blogger lists his favorite jazz (mostly) albums that Dupree played on:

I am partial to Cornell Dupree’s work on a wide variety of great records in my collection including Gabor Szabo and Lena Horne’s Lena & Gabor (1969), Eddie Harris’ great Come on Down (1970), Hank Crawford’s It’s A Funky Thing To Do (1971), Les McCann’s brilliant Invitation to Openness (1971), Herbie Mann’s Push, Push (1971, alongside Duanne Allman), Archie Shepp’s Attica Blues (1972), Miles Davis's tremendous but oddly loathed "Red China Blues" (from Get Up With It and later The Complete On The Corner Sessions), Stanley Turrentine’s CTI classic Cherry (1972), The Man With The Sad Face (1976), West Side Highway (1977) and Nightwings (1978), David Newman’s Lonely Avenue and The Weapon (both 1972) and Return To The Wide Open Space (1990), Jimmy McGriff’s The Mean Machine (1976) and Carla Bley’s Dinner Music (1977).

http://dougpayne.blogspot.com/2011/05/cornell-dupree-rip.html

http://www.jazzdisco.org/atlantic-records/discography-1971/

His name appears here and there on this

If you haven't seen Still Bill, do so post-haste. Dupree has an amazing moment onstage with Bill doing "Grandma's Hands."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCpiYJH8rLQ

I have not seen it and need to see it. Thanks.

I would have thought some r'n'b fanatic would have put together a list of personnel credits for more Atlantic label sessions but I haven't found anything online yet.