Jazz Articles about George Duke

like 274

George Duke: Deja Vu

by Jeff Winbush
December 20, 2010

George Duke's Deja Vu should win the 2010 Truth in Advertising award, because it will sound familiar to anyone who following the keyboard virtuoso's 40-year career. Duke, however, doesn't recycle riffs wholesale from his repertoire, as he did on 2008's tepid Dukey Treats (Heads Up); instead, he pulls back from trying to recapture past funk glories with more consistently satisfying results, sounding more relaxed--and, perhaps, having a bit more fun.As a musician and producer, Duke has accomplished too ...

like 463

George Duke: Dukey Treats

by Woodrow Wilkins
September 14, 2008

George Duke is one of those artists who defy easy description. A keyboardist, vocalist, composer and producer, he may turn up anywhere. At various stages of his career, he's been a bandleader, a sideman and manager of his own label, BPM (Big Piano Music).Duke's associations on the stage or in the studio cover various genres: pop, funk, blues, jazz, smooth jazz, etc. He was a member of Julian “Cannonball" Adderley's band, collaborated with Stanley Clarke, and has worked ...

like 1,939

George Duke: My Soul - The Complete MPS Fusion Recordings

by John Kelman
June 18, 2008

George Duke My Soul -The Complete MPS Fusion Recordings MPS/Universal Music Germany 2008 While he's gone on to become a renowned pop producer and, in recent years, has veered towards smooth jazz territory, keyboardist George Duke has, in fact, the credentials, skill and intuition to tackle most anything he chooses. So, while his early days might be considered by some to be more significant in that they were closer to a jazz aesthetic and further ...

like 404

George Duke: Faces in Reflection

by John Kelman
March 19, 2008

Keyboardist George Duke's career may have swerved towards pop and smooth jazz in recent years, but his mid-1960s emergence suggested a future as bright as contemporaries including Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. Seminal work with renegade guitarist/composer Frank Zappa in the mid-1970s further cemented a reputation built on earlier recordings with violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and vocalist Flora Purim. That he's chosen a more accessible route since then doesn't diminish the string of fine albums released under his ...

like 360

Restore Your Soul: George Duke in Concert, Boston

by Jason West
February 15, 2008

George Duke Berklee Performance Center Boston, Massachusetts January 31, 2008

When George Duke walked out on stage this evening, he was greeted with a show of love befitting one of soul music's favorite sons. Showered with supportive shouts from Berklee students with whom he had spent a week-long residency, Duke didn't have to win over his audience: he had them in his pocket from the first soulful beat.

Backed by a 13-piece ...

like 349

George Duke: Face The Music

by AAJ Staff
November 17, 2002

From A to Z (Cannonball Adderley to Frank Zappa), George Duke has worked with an eclectic bunch. He has always marched to the beat of a different drummer. Face The Music is Duke’s first release on his own label, Big Piano Music.

The recording kicks things off with “The Black Messiah (Part Two),” which includes the voice of the late Cannonball Adderley introducing George Duke at one of their performances. Duke brings his flair for funk; you can ...