George Duke - Biography
George Duke was a jazz pianist as well as a record producer, He was born in 1946 in San Rafael, California. Duke attended Tamaplais High School in Mill Valley and got his bachelor's degree in music at the San Francisco Conservatory by the age of 21, where he played trombone and contrabass. He later earned his master's degree as well from this institution and proceeded to teach courses there on jazz and American culture. Duke saw the famed Duke Ellington perform in 1950, when Duke was just 4 years old. It inspired the young child to begin lessons in piano, the instrument that would eventually change his life. He began learning music from his local baptist church and studying the roots of black music, mastering skills of call and response and emotional triggers that lied deep in the music. Duke would utilize these tools to shoot himself toward a successful career in music. In high school Duke began to play with the other students, forming jazz combos wherever he could. At the time he was listening to a lot of Miles Davis and Les McCann records a well as Cal Tjader.
Duke's first major professional gig was at the Half Note Club in San Francisco, where he teamed up with friend and budding young singer, Al Jarreau. Meanwhile Duke was picking up work down the street from the Half Note Club at another club called the Both/And, where Duke got to cut his teeth playing with many of jazz's luminaries such as Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Letta Mbulu. The young Duke made his recording debut when he was only 20 years old. He released an album called Presented by the Jazz Workshop of San Francisco (1966 - Saba), which has become increasingly rare on LP. The session was a straight ahead jazz album which featured musicians David Simmons on trumpet, George Walker on drums and John Heard on bass. This was a collection of standards by the groups, which included "Secret Love" and "The Night has a Thousand Eyes". Duke released another album for a small label, this time it was a live LP called Live in L.A. (1971 - Sunset records).
In 1969 Duke began a musical relationship with violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. He had heard through musician friend, Baldhard Falk, that Ponty was coming to Los Angeles to record and Duke took the opportunity to collaborate with the burgeoning violinist. Apparently Duke had sent a note, along with a demo tape, to the head of World-Pacific records with a note that read, "There is no other pianist for this guy but me". This confidence proved worthwhile for Duke and it would be a happenstance situation which would develop and lead to the sound that Ponty and Duke would come to have enormous success with. They had agreed to record a live album at a local rock club, Thee Experience, to make an attempt at crossing over to the progressive rock music scene, which Ponty was not excited about. Duke, who had grown up around San Francisco, was familiar with the rock clubs there and knew there were usually not pianos available there. He had made a special request for one to be brought, which he was assured there would be, but upon his arrival he found there was a Fender Rhodes keyboard rather than the piano he hoped to play. He was upset but it was far too late to track down a piano and move it in so played the Rhodes instead and make the best of it. This proved to be a fateful maneuver which would change his career forever. The crowd, a mix of jazz and rock fans, went wild for this new sound. Many important figures in jazz and rock were in attendance including Gerald Wilson, Quincy Jones, Frank Zappa, and Cannonball Adderley. This concert put Duke and Ponty on the map of the new fusion jazz scene, along with groups like The Mahavishnu Orchestra and Weather Report. Zappa was thoroughly impressed by Duke's playing and approach to music and hired him for the new line-up of the Mothers of Invention. Duke would spend the next year playing with Zappa's group. Duke would go on to record several albums with Zappa including Zappa's famous 200 Motels (1971 - United Artists) and The Grand Wazoo (1972 - Bizarre/Reprise).
In 1970 Duke was offered a job by Cannonball Adderley, who also attended the initial concert by Duke and Ponty, and Duke quickly joined the jazz legend's group. He spent two years touring and recording with Adderley's group. He made many more connections in the music business which would lead to recording and performance dates with many of jazz's biggest names such as Joe Williams, Nancy Wilson, Stanley Clarke, Flora Purim, Airto Moriera, Billy Cobham and Dizzy Gillespie.
The record label MPS caught wind of Duke's playing and soon offered the young musician a contract. He released the album Faces in Reflection (1972 - MPS). This album further solidified Duke's position in the jazz world. The next year Duke would return to work for Zappa. Duke would continue his relationship with Zappa for the next 3 years until he left to work with drummer Billy Cobham. Together they would perform a brand of funky jazz fusion the world was not used to. This group even surpassed, in popularity, the previous efforts by Duke and Ponty.
By the late 70's Duke began to produce much more often than perform or record. One of the main artist he was to work with was the famous Brazilian trombonist Raul de Souza, who had performed with Milton Nascimento, Sergio Mendez and Cal Tjader himself. He also worked with female soul group A Taste of Honey, who had a slew of hits with Duke producing their hit record Twice as Sweet (1981 - Capitol). During the 80's Duke continued to produce albums by groups as diverse as Paula Abdul, Michael Bolton, George Benson, Rickie Lee Jones and Paco de Lucia.
In the 90's Duke got a fair amount of work for film and television and he received many awards and recognitions for his skills, such as when he was honored with the R&B Keyboardist of the Year Award by Keyboard Magazine.
Duke toured, performed and produced records regularly until his death in Los Angeles on August 5, 2013. His influence can be felt far beyond the confines of jazz.
