 George Duke, one of the greatest pianists, producers, songwriters, arrangers, musical directors, and all-around musicians I've have ever seen, passed away last week at the age of 67. Duke's career saw him play with everyone from Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly, and Frank Zappa, to Billy Cobham, Stanley Clarke, Diane Reeves and a who's who of some the greatest musicians of his generation. Duke will be missed; his battle with leukemia took many who didn't know by surprise. I will never forget waking up at exactly 8am on August 6th to a slew of texts and voicemails that simply said, "Sorry for your loss." I had no idea what was going on. A couple of phone calls came in shortly after that, but I didn't answer. I was thinking that maybe a family member died or something. After I braced myself for whatever news I was about to receive, I headed to facebook to see what was going on, and it was all over the place that Duke had passed. I instantly burst into tears. This news took me by surprise and was just as devastating as a family members death. A man that meant so much to me... was gone. My love affair with George's music started when I was 15 years old. In the Spring of 1995, my mother bought a turntable from the Spiegal catalog (took y'all back, right? Lol!) and I didn't have anything to play on it. I remember that my aunt had some vinyl in her basement, so I went over there one day after school and asked he if I could take some home. She said yes. George "Don't Let Go", famous for "Dukey Stick", was one of those albums. I listened to the album and was amazed, but when I listened to the last song on side 2, "Preface - The Future", I was FLOORED! The feeling and emotion behind that song resonated with my spirit. from that moment, I have been hooked on Duke!! |
| During our first set, I looked to the left and there is George walking in. He was much shorter than I had imagined. I was shocked with nervousness. All of my band mates knew how I felt about him and shot me a smile. When our set was over, I started walking in the opposite direction, and the keyboard player said, "Man, where you going? George is over there." I was SO star struck. I hadn't met anyone of his magnitude before and I had no idea what to say. Finally, I mustered up enough courage to say hi. I went over to speak and he greeted me with open arms and told me that I sounded good. I just remembered that detail just now. I completely forgot that Duke actually got to hear me play. Not a lot of people showed up to the listening party because it wasn't well advertised, which means I pretty much got to talk to George as much as I wanted to that night. We talked about everything!! Music, life, everything!! I tried to get him to play, but he wouldn't. He was a very down to earth and humble guy. It was a great night. The next time I came in contact with him was at another listening session he did in 2006 at The Rhino. I heard about it out the radio and called up some good friends of mine and told them to meet me there. When I got there, I saw some keyboards set up, but Duke wasn't there yet. I stood next to the keyboards so i could be "front row". When George finally got there, he walked right up to the keyboards and looked and said, "I can't play this shi*t". I laughed my face off! It was a Kurzweil SP88 with semi-weighted keys. With him being a piano player, he's used to playing weighted keys. I quickly stepped up and said, "I have a Motif 8 at home if you need it". He said, "Yeah, get me something." I remembered that my friend Reggie Braxton was coming down to see him, so I called him and it turned out that he had his Motif 8 in the car. We set that up for George and he played his behind off, as he always did. He signed some CDs, we had a couple glasses of wine together and that was that. George LOVES his wine! Another great night with Duke!! |
| I encountered George a number of times after that, but this post will become very long if I mention them all, so I'm going to wrap it up with this one. Over the years, I had collected a large amount of Duke vinyl and I wanted him to sign all of them. For my birthday one year, I was treated to see him and Lalah Hathaway at Chene Park. When the show was over, I was standing right at the bottom of the stage and George came over to say hello. I told him that I wanted him to sign all these albums, and he looked at me like I was crazy. He kind of laughed it off, but I was DEAD serious. He told me to come backstage and he would do it for me. When he was done signing them all, he said, "I've never done this before and you're the only person I'm ever going to do this for." That was a great feeling!! I'm guessing it had something to do with me finding him that keyboard some years earlier. Lol!! |
| Fast forward to 2012. I was reluctant to do so, but I asked George to be on my upcoming record, XII. Instead of an immediate no like I thought I would get, I got a yes. That was a huge surprise!! I sent the song to George's manager and he said yes. He didn't ask for any money or anything. He just said he would do it. At this time, he was still mourning the loss of his wife Corine. He said that as soon as he could bring himself to walk past her office to go into the studio, that he would record the song. When the time came that he was back to work, he was already delayed with getting his own album done and he said that he would try to get to it after that. He was super busy because he was behind with his own work, so it never came to fruition. I ended up getting another incredible pianist to record the song... Master Don Blackman. He did an amazing job with the tune. You will hear a lot of George's friends on the record though. Lil John Roberts (drums), Larry Kimpel (bass), Bill Summers (percussion), and Dwight Sills (guitar). It is an amazing song written by my good friend, Mark "Polo" Dixon, and produced by me. Can't wait for you all to hear "Spend My Life". It will be dedicated to the memory of George Duke. In closing, I want to say that George was one of the best people that I've ever met. He gave so much and asked so little. He created timeless music. My ultimate respect to this great man. The virtuosity, the passion for music, the love for mankind, the love for his wife and family, the humor... it's all embedded in the grooves. He was just like his music; just as complex and just as simple. The consummate musician, a master of his art, a very kind gentleman with a big heart who had a lasting effect on jazz & R&B music. ALL of music. I can't express what his music means to me and how it has helped me through some of the worst times of my life. How it has inspired and influenced me. He will surely be missed. |
~B.
