George Duke George Duke

The Sony/BMG Original Album Classics series brings together 5 CD's of rare and out of print titles with some best sellers from the Sony/BMG Rock catalog. Many of these albums have been unavailable on CD for some time and are sought after by collectors. Each set is presented in a high quality, rigid cardboard slipcase containing five vinyl replica mini LP sleeves. This 5 CD collection of original releases featuring George Duke includes the albums From Me To You, Reach For It, Don't Let Go, Follow The Rainbow, and A Brazilian Love Affair.

Rhino repackaged and re-released five George Duke LPs on Warner Bros. – Snapshot, Illusions, Is Love Enough?, After Hours, and Cool – as a slipcased box set. It's not a bad way to acquire the albums if you don't already own them, but isn't recommended for the casual fan.

George Duke - My Soul: The Complete MPS Fusion Recordings, 1971-1976 (2008) {4CD BoxSet MPS Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.74 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 688 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 33 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1971-76, 2008 Universal / MPS | 06025 1751504 | 24-bit remaster
Jazz / Fusion / Piano

An amazing package of work from George Duke - 6 of his legendary fusion albums for MPS Records, including the never-reissued double-length set Solus / The Inner Source! That incredible album is worth the price of the package alone - as it begins with some sublime trio work from Duke, rooted in jazz but already stretching out in amazing ways - then moves into some even hipper Latin-styled grooves, with Jerome Richardson on reeds and Luis Gasca on a bit of trumpet! Other albums in the set are equally great - and trace Duke's evolution from straighter jazz into funky freer fusion and soul - an incredible musical shift that's presented on the albums Faces In Reflection, Feel, I Love The Blues She Heard My Cry, The Aura Will Prevail, and Liberated Fantasies - each of them classics in their own right, presented together wonderfully here in this complete MPS package! The set is amazing - with a whopping 64 titles in all, and complete notes on all the music - including some recollections from Duke himself.

DreamWeaver marks George Duke's return to recording after a three-year silence, and his first since the death of his wife Corine in 2012. While he is always diverse, this set is uncommonly so. The opener, a slippery, atmospheric title intro, flows directly into the Latin-tinged "Stones of Orion," a jazz tune with Duke on piano, Rhodes, and synths, Stanley Clarke on upright bass, and a four-piece horn section. It's shimmering groove-oriented jazz that reflects the time that Duke spent with Cannonball Adderley. "Trippin'" is a funky, jazzed-up R&B tune where he offers his autobiography; it features some fine muted trumpet work by Michael Patches Stewart. "Missing You" is a jazz ballad tribute to Corine, with the finest vocal Duke has laid down in a decade. But there's funk here, too, in the fat stomper "Ashtray."

It took a few years before I was ready to record another CD. With the mediocre success of George Duke, I needed time to think about my musical direction. Also, I had many A&R meetings with Bob Krasnow about the direction for the project. I would try a few things, send them to him for his reaction, and so on and so forth. I had never been in that position before. By the way, that goes on in the biz everyday, but not to me!! I went along with the program since I knew that if this record didn't do well, that it was curtains for me at Elektra.

George Duke - Brazilian Fusion (2013) {Wounded Bird Records WOU 7001 rec 1977-1984}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 541 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 172 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 13 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1977-84, 2013 Wounded Bird Records / Heads Up / Epic | WOU 7001
Jazz / Fusion / Jazz Funk

A dream of a set – at least to our Brazilian-loving ears – a special package that brings together all the best Brazilian-flavored cuts from George Duke's late 70s run on Epic Records! The package is filled with wonderfully sunny grooves throughout – tunes that sparkle and soar with mighty nice rhythms – topped with loads of keyboards from George, and vocals that often have a scatting, breezy style that's plenty sweet – American soul influenced by Brazilian grooves, in a sound that's a bit like the feel of Earth Wind & Fire's "Brazilian Rhyme".

With a several decade career as an artist and producer successfully spanning the realms of bebop, fusion, soul, and funk, nothing gives George Duke more pleasure than being able to go back to his basics as an acoustic jazz pianist on his smooth, multifaceted Warner Bros. debut, Snapshot. The keyboardist takes listeners on a whimsical, generally cool journey through the myriad styles he's purveyed over the years: Latin, pop, R&B, and live-in-the-studio jazz. Snapshot seems divided by Duke's pop sensibilities and these urges to simplify those electronic trappings.

Straightforward small combo jazz (basically an electric/acoustic piano trio with occasional guitar, reeds and percussion) of a kind that George Duke's detractors say he has long since abandoned, In a Mellow Tone is indubitably a mainstream jazz record with little adventurous spirit and a sound that occasionally even verges on the easy listening horrors of smooth jazz. However, as such albums go, it's more than pleasant, with Duke's underrated piano and Fender Rhodes technique driving the songs.

There is no greater paragon of tenor saxophonist taste than Harry Allen. While the fickle winds of prevailing styles continue to blow this or that way, Allen stands tall like the mighty oak, unswayed by fad fashions and firmly rooted to the music of the Great American Songbook. On this appealing date, Allen visits the music of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Duke Ellington.

On Dukey Treats, George Duke returns to the big FONK of the late '70s and early '80s on this set for Heads Up. In truth, it's a bit of a surprise given the sheer laid-back tone of 2006's In a Mellow Tone, which was a piano trio date, but then, Duke hasn't been predictable for some time. What is interesting is that this return to the music that made him a commercial superstar and a platinum-selling artist coincides with a look back at his early fusion catalog by Universal in Japan, Europe, and the United States.