GEORGE DUKE SERVES UP FUNKY TREATS ON HEADS UP DEBUT
Dukey Treats Due in Stores August 26, 2008
Veteran keyboardist and producer George Duke remembers a time when funk was
a powerful force – not just in popular music but in social discourse.
Frequently with a measure of wit and irony, and often with a strong dose of
positivity at the core, titans like James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone and
other funk icons of the ‘60s and ‘70s boldly addressed societal
concerns ranging from poverty to racial disharmony to the battle of the sexes.
Duke invokes that same combination of wit and wisdom in Dukey Treats,
his debut on BPM/Heads Up International set for worldwide release on August 26,
2008. A careful balance of rhythmic energy and simmering balladry, Dukey
Treats recalls the golden age of funk and soul, while at the same
time maintaining a fresh sound and addressing issues that are relevant to the
global culture of the 21st century.
“I didn’t want to drift too far away from the old school sensibility,”
Duke explains. “That was my main objective. I wanted to do an album where
everybody went into the room at the same time and played. That’s important,
because the personalities of the musicians come through, and it’s not
just a progression of different musicians coming in one at a time, sitting down
in front of a computer and laying down a track.” read more
GEORGE
DUKE SERVES UP FUNKY TREATS ON HEADS UP DEBUT
Dukey Treats Due in Stores August 26, 2008
Veteran keyboardist and producer George Duke remembers a time
when funk was a powerful force – not just in popular music
but in social discourse. Frequently with a measure of wit and
irony, and often with a strong dose of positivity at the core,
titans like James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone and other
funk icons of the ‘60s and ‘70s boldly addressed
societal concerns ranging from poverty to racial disharmony
to the battle of the sexes.
Duke invokes that same combination of wit and wisdom in Dukey
Treats, his debut on BPM/Heads Up International
set for worldwide release on August 26, 2008. A careful balance
of rhythmic energy and simmering balladry, Dukey
Treats recalls the golden age of funk and soul,
while at the same time maintaining a fresh sound and addressing
issues that are relevant to the global culture of the 21st century.
“I didn’t want to drift too far away from the old
school sensibility,” Duke explains. “That was my
main objective. I wanted to do an album where everybody went
into the room at the same time and played. That’s important,
because the personalities of the musicians come through, and
it’s not just a progression of different musicians coming
in one at a time, sitting down in front of a computer and laying
down a track.”
Among the numerous treats on this album are not just the songs
themselves but the roster of high-profile personnel helping
to bring them to life – many of them alumni of Duke’s
earlier bands and projects. Included on the guest list are bassist
Christian McBride, percussionist Sheila E and trumpeter Michael
“Patches” Stuart, to name a few. Along with Duke
himself, the vocal crew includes Jonathan Butler, Howard Hewett,
Teena Marie, Rachelle Ferrell and more.
The high-energy opener, “Everyday Hero,” is a song
of praise for the various unsung and under-recognized figures
who move in and out of our lives every day – police officers,
firefighters, doctors, teachers and countless others who make
contributions that often go unnoticed. “This is the first
tune I wrote for the album,” says Duke. “I wanted
something funky that had something relevant to say. It’s
sort of a Sly Stone vibe, only on steroids.”
“A Fonk Tail,” an intergalactic epic full of over-the-top
comic moments, is Duke’s nod to Parliament/Funkadelic,
who perfected the caricature of the cosmic funk hero back in
the early ‘70s. “I’ve often wondered what
happened to funny funk,” he says. “What happened
to the fun and comedy in R&B. This track is recorded in
that old-school tradition.”
The title track is one of two songs recorded with Duke’s
original Dukey Stick band (the other being “Mercy,”
just a couple tracks later). On hand are guitarist Jef Lee Johnson,
bassist Byron Miller, drummer Leon “Ndugu” Chancler
and percussionist Sheila E. Duke who trades vocal lines with
Josie James, Lynn Davis, Darrell Cox and Napoleon “Napi”
Brock, while trumpeter Michael “Patches” Stuart
(a longtime Marcus Miller sideman) rounds out the four-man horn
section. “This one has all the loose talk and fun we used
to have back in the day,” says Duke.
The comical “Creepin’,” which features Christian
McBride on upright bass, is a rearrangement of a song that first
appeared on Duke’s 2002 recording, Face the Music. “I
did a remix of the song, and I had been sitting on it for a
while. It’s a humorous look at sneaking around on your
significant other, with the girls pitted against the guys.”
On the more serious side, “Sudan (It’s a Cryin’
Shame)” deals with the human tragedy that continues in
Darfur. “Joining me to sing about it is Jonathan Butler
and Teena Marie,” says Duke. “The song is not so
much a political statement as an awakening to the tragic situation
being perpetrated there.”
“Are You Ready,” the followup to “Sudan,”
is Duke’s nod to the message of global unity intrinsic
in the music of Earth, Wind & Fire. “What I always
loved about their style was not just the great music but also
the positive messages – peace, respect and tolerance.
It’s a fitting song to follow ‘Sudan,’ as
it is up to all of us to call attention to these injustices
wherever they occur. The title asks the question: ‘Are
you ready to make a change?’”
The closer, “Images of Us,” is essentially “a
long keyboard solo,” Duke explains. “It’s
a jazz/funk instrumental that gives me the chance to build a
solo over an extended period of time, something more than the
thirty seconds before the singing starts again. The tune is
basically a jam vehicle for the rhythm section over a sometimes-syncopated
bass pattern. I wanted to include a songwhere I could just dig
deep and play.”
Digging deep and coming up with great music is what George Duke
has always been about, and Dukey Treats
is no exception. It’s a fun and entertaining ride, to
be sure, but underneath the occasional tongue-in-cheek posturing
and comedic moments – the stuff that made R&B and
funk so engaging in the first place – is music of substance
that speaks to both the lighter and darker sides of the world
we live in.
“I feel a responsibility to carry positive messages in
my music,” says Duke. “I think music is meant to
lift people up. I don’t think you can push things under
the rug and not address them. Those who have the ability and
the opportunity to let people know what’s going on musically
and socially should not be afraid to say it and do it and play
about it and sing about it.”
The scope of keyboardist-composer-producer George Duke’s imprint on jazz
and pop music over the past forty years is almost impossible to calculate. He
has collaborated with some of the most prominent figures in the industry. A producer
since the 1980s, he has crafted scores of fine recordings – many of them
GRAMMY® winners – for artists representing almost every corner of the
contemporary American music landscape.
Duke was born in San Rafael, California, in January 1946. When he was four,
his mother took him to a performance by that other Duke of jazz, Duke Ellington.
He admits that he doesn’t remember much of the performance, but his mother
told him years later that he spent the next several days demanding a piano.
Duke began his formal training on the instrument at age seven, his earliest
influence being the culturally and historically rich black music of his local
Baptist church. By his teen years, his universe of musical influences had expanded
to include the more secular sounds of young jazz mavericks like Miles Davis,
Les McCann and Cal Tjader – all of whom inspired him to play in numerous
high school jazz groups. After high school, he attended the San Francisco Conservatory
of Music and received a bachelors degree in 1967.
But perhaps the most important lessons came after college, when Duke joined
Al Jarreau in forming the house band at the Half Note, the popular San Francisco
club, in the late ‘60s. He also played with Sonny Rollins and Dexter Gordon
in other San Francisco clubs around the same time.
For the next several years, Duke experimented with jazz and fusion by collaborating
and performing with artists as diverse as Jean Luc-Ponty, Frank Zappa, Cannonball
Adderley, Nancy Wilson, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Cobham and Stanley Clarke. He launched
his solo recording career at age 20, and shortly thereafter began cutting LPs
for the MPS label in the ‘70s. As the decade progressed, he veered more
toward fusion, R&B and funk with albums like From Me To You (1976)
and Reach For It (1978).
During this period he recorded what is possibly his best known album, Brazilian
Love Affair. Released in 1980, the album included vocals by Flora Purim and
Milton Nascimento, and percussion by Airto Moreira. Love Affair stood
in marked contrast to the other jazz/funk styled albums he was cutting at the
time.
Duke’s reputation as a skilled producer was also gathering steam. By the
end of the ‘80s, he had made his mark as a versatile producer by helping
to craft recordings by a broad cross section of jazz, R&B and pop artists:
Raoul de Souza, Dee Dee Bridgewater, A Taste of Honey, Jeffrey Osborne, Deniece
Williams, Melissa Manchester, Al Jarreau, Barry Manilow, Smokey Robinson, The
Pointer Sisters, Take 6, Gladys Knight, Anita Baker and many others. Several of
these projects scored GRAMMY® Awards.
During this time, Duke was just as busy outside the studio as inside. He worked
as musical director for numerous large-scale events, including the Nelson Mandela
tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in London in 1988. The following year, along
with Marcus Miller, he served as musical director of NBC’s acclaimed late-night
music performance program, Sunday Night.
The ‘90s were no less hectic. He toured Europe and Japan with Dianne
Reeves and Najee in 1991, and joined the Warner Brothers label the following
year with the release of Snapshot, an album that stayed at the top of the jazz
charts for five weeks and generated the top 10 R&B single, “No Rhyme,
No Reason.”
Other noteworthy albums in the ‘90s included the orchestral tour de force
Muir Woods Suite (1993) and the eclectic Illusions (1995), in addition
to the numerous records Duke produced for a variety of other artists: Najee, George
Howard, the Winans, and Natalie Cole (Duke produced 1/3 of the material on Cole’s
GRAMMY®-winning 1996 release, Stardust).
In 2000, Duke severed his ties with Warner Records and launched his own record
label, BPM (Big Piano Music). “I spent thirty years at other labels as
a recording artist,” he says. “I felt it was time for me to step
up to the next level of challenge and form a company that would give me and
other artists the opportunity to create quality music and push back the musical
restraints that dominate most record labels these days.”
But even with the new responsibilities and challenges associated with running
a record label, Duke has continued to juggle the multiple career tracks of recording
solo albums, international touring and producing records for other artists. In
addition to his own Face the Music (2002), he also produced recent records
for Wayman Tisdale, Dianne Reeves, Kelly Price, Regina Belle and Marilyn Scott.
For the better part of 25 years, Duke has also composed and recorded numerous
scores for film and television. In addition to nine years as the musical director
for the Soul Train Music Awards, he also wrote music – either individual
songs or entire soundtracks – for a number of films, including The Five
Heartbeats, Karate Kid III, Leap of Faith, Never Die Alone and Meteor
Man.
With more than thirty solo recordings in his canon and a resume that spans more
than 40 years, Duke joins forces with the Heads Up label with the August 26, 2008,
release of Dukey Treats, a return to the old-school funk sensibilities
of icons like James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament/Funkadelic.
A careful balance of rhythmic energy and simmering balladry, Dukey Treats
recalls the golden age of funk and soul, while at the same time maintaining a
fresh sound and addressing issues that are relevant to the global culture of the
21st century.
“I feel a responsibility to carry positive messages in
my music,” says Duke. “I think music is meant to
lift people up. I don’t think you can push things under
the rug and not address them. Those who have the ability and
the opportunity to let people know what’s going on musically
and socially should not be afraid to say it and do it and play
about it and sing about it.”
