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Jazz Articles about George Duke

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Liner Notes

Jean-Luc Ponty: Individual Choice

Read "Jean-Luc Ponty: Individual Choice" reviewed by Peter Rubie


By 1982, jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty had established an enviable reputation as a pioneer in jazz-rock and jazz fusion. He began as a young bebop player in the late 1950s with little interest in becoming another swing or gypsy style violinist. It was the “sheets of sound" music of John Coltrane that spoke loudest to him. By the early 1970s Ponty was recording and touring with rock composer Frank Zappa, and playing with John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, as well as ...

Album Review

Frank Zappa: Waka/Wazoo

Read "Waka/Wazoo" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


Il programma dela pubblicazione di inediti zappiani in occasione del loro cinquantesimo anniversario, iniziato con il box set The Hot Rats Session e proseguito con i cofanetti dedicati alle Mothers del 1970 e 1971 e alla colonna sonora del film 200 Motels, prosegue ora con quello che probabilmente è il titolo più atteso, da tempo annunciato e ora finalmente disponibile. Il nuovo cofanetto Waka/Wazoo contenente 4 CD di materiale inedito e un Blu-Ray celebra i 50 anni dalla pubblicazione di ...

Album Review

Frank Zappa: Zappa/Erie

Read "Zappa/Erie" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


La pubblicazione di inediti dall'apparentemente inesauribile archivio zappiano prosegue a un ritmo tale da mettere a dura prova anche i fans più incalliti, soprattutto considerando che quasi tutte le ultime uscite sono cofanetti con più dischi. Anche questo nuovissimo Zappa/Erie consiste di 6 CD alloggiati in una elegante confezione a libro formato LP, con 24 pagine di note e foto (una versione speciale deluxe limitata contiene anche un poster). Questa volta non si tratta di celebrare un ...

7
Profile

George Duke: The Master of the Game

Read "George Duke: The Master of the Game" reviewed by Jeff Winbush


[Editor's Note: The following piece was first published at AAJ contributor Jeff Winbush's The Domino Theory blog, and is reprinted here in tribute to George Duke, who passed away on August 5, 2013]I never caught George Duke live in concert. I never met the man in person. However, he did give me two hours of his extremely busy time to talk to me for a career-spanning interview. What came of it was the longest interview I had ever ...

5
Extended Analysis

George Duke: Dream Weaver

Read "George Duke: Dream Weaver" reviewed by Jeff Winbush


The end comes eventually for us all with only the time and method to be determined. Dream Weaver is an album constructed around death, loss, healing and moving on. George Duke lost his wife, Corine, in 2011 as well as guitarist Jef Lee Johnson, and vocalist Teena Marie who passed away in 2010 as she was collaborating with Duke on a jazz album.Despite the sense of loss and sorrow hanging over the recording, Dream Weaver is hardly a ...

15
Extended Analysis

The Complete Arista Albums Collection

Read "The Complete Arista Albums Collection" reviewed by John Kelman


When fusion first emerged in the late 1960s/early '70s with artists like trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Chick Corea and guitarist John McLaughlin, the emphasis was on guitar and keyboard heavy lineups like Return to Forever and Mahavishnu Orchestra, with an equally strong predilection for the intensity and volume of rock and a kind of thundering funk that was different than the kind of music coming from R&B and soul artists like Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire. Parallel to ...

49
Album Review

George Duke: The Complete 1970s Epic Albums Collection

Read "The Complete 1970s Epic Albums Collection" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


The George Duke Band: The Complete 1970s Epic Albums Collection compiles the six albums that keyboardist, bandleader, composer, arranger and producer George Duke released on Epic Records between 1977 and 1979, accompanied by extensive and reflective notes on each album personally written by Duke, who wrote, arranged and produced just about every track. As an instrumentalist, Duke strongly resembles one of his most famous employers, soul-jazz saxophonist and bandleader Cannonball Adderley: Duke plays in an enthusiastic and compelling ...


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