George Duke 1946–2013

[7/4]

Still needs to be confirmed, but it looks like George Duke passed away yesterday.

He kicked ass in the Mothers.

Edited August 7, 2013 by 7/4

[king ubu]

damn!

here's an article, but no confirmation either:

http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com/news-mainmenu-139/70-2013/12804-jazz-breaking-news-keyboard-legend-george-duke-dies-aged-67

Also this one, seems to be the source of it all:

http://www.radiofacts.com/veteran-musician-george-duke-dies/

[7/4]

Duke went to music school on a trombone scholarship. There's shots of him playing trombone in the Zappa movie 200 motels.

[CJ Shearn]

What?! His new album was just released and actually it's pretty decent.

[mjzee]

Very sad. At the Zappa shows, it was always very cool to hear the crowd erupt when he was introduced; he was the "star" of the band (outside Zappa, of course). At the end of the '70's, he did those jazz/disco albums, but he had that goofy sense of humor:

RIP for all the good times.

[Jerry_L]

I liked him best as a supporting player. He was a great keyboardist whose talents will be missed. RIP, George.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Jerry_L

[clifford_thornton]

Sad news - a giant in certain sectors of the music, to say the least.

But I still haven't seen anything official (familial) re: his passing.

[ruskaval]

RIP

[CJ Shearn]

NPR reported it An album I really like is "Muir Woods Suite".

[bdamusic]

a genius in any genre,played great Latin jazz,Brazillian,solo piano & the only "smooth jazz" I could ever listen to

George Duke, the legendary jazz keyboardist, died on Monday, his publicist tells NPR.

[sidewinder]

Really sorry to hear this (and shocked) . Last time I saw him he was in the piano chair in a Cannonball Adderley tribute group put together by Nat. RIP.

Just found this photo of him taken at that particular performance.

Edited August 6, 2013 by sidewinder

[BFrank]

Definitely a shock - had no idea he was ill.

Aside from FZ and his solo albums in the 70s, he had a nice career as a sideman with Cannonball, Joe Hen, Airto/Flora, and others - particularly on Milestone.

[7/4]

lymphocytic leukemia.

crap.

[mikeweil]

Oh no ... I spent hours and hours listening repeatedly to some of albums in the 1970's immediately after they were released, dug his electric piano and synth stylings immensely, much more than Zawinul. Plus, he had much more and funkier groove than Joe ... God bless his soul .... Duke, Hancock, and Hammer are my Rhodes heroes (I know Duke played Wurlitzer back then).

[CJ Shearn]

This was posted about a month ago

[JSngry]

I always liked how a song like "Someday" could take the (obvious) Stevie Wonder inspiration and go off on its own tangent.

Such a talented guy, and such an open mind, and such a (seemingly) happy spirit. For some people "influenced by the marketplace" is a horrible, horrible way to die, but for George Duke, it often seemed to be liberating, like hey, I wasn't really gonna do anything specific with these massive skill sets anyway, so thanks for the suggestions!

RIP, and much thanks for the grins, including, especially, the Cannonball music. Couldn't just any old body take Zawinul's place and actually step the momentum up a notch.

[Teasing the Korean]

He is the pianist and arranger on one of my fave LPs.

To me, it's sad...

[CJ Shearn]

The unusual Duke on B-3 clip, posted again here. http://youtu.be/kKTfha5CU6Y

[Hardbopjazz]

Wow. Another one leaves this world.

RIP George Duke.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

incredibly sad about this, RIP.

[GA Russell]

Here's his LA Times obit.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-george-duke-20130807,0,4635879.story

[ValerieB]

This was posted about a month ago

thank you so very much for posting this. George was always "up" no matter what! one would never know by listening to him how sick he was and that he had lost his beloved wife last year. I will always love Corine and George and their family. bless them all, strongly.

[Carl Baugher]

Loved George. He will be missed.

[Gheorghe]

He really was a great musician, and so flexibel. Could play anything. He was also very good on some live recordings he did with Dexter Gordon, where he plays some really exiting piano.

I also love his contributions on those marathon sessions "Montreux Summit" 1977, where he shared keyboards (electric and acoustic) with Bob James and does everything from bop to electric.

[Kari S]

He was not looking well, ever since his wife died a year ago (in that video posted above, for example), you could tell everything wasn't alright with his health.

I was absolutely a "fan", and consider him one of the electric keyboard greats along with Hancock / Corea / Zawinul / Hammer. I have a quite a few of his solo albums from the 1970's (even the 80's) and they always have some great stuff. Just don't consider them as "jazz" and you'll do fine.

The MPS discs (Feel, The Aura Will Prevail, I Love The Blues..., ), the CBS discs (Brazilian Love Affair, Reach For It, etc.) and so on. It's all good up until the mid-80's when he joined forces with Stanley Clarke (ok - apart from "Sweet Baby" which is awesomely cheesy) and then later went heavily into smooth jazz territory.

He was beginning to return to his jazzfunk roots with a few of his more recent albums (like "Deja Vu"), even though most of his recent output was firmly in the smooth jazz domain.

R.I.P.