Clarke Duke Project

Stanley Clarke and George Duke,two musical titans who'd worked together for years finaly get around to doing a duo album, namely one that emphasises the funk that both artist's regular releases tended to skim over and considering funk is both artists best asset,that's a wonderful thing.

A brilliant player on both acoustic and electric basses, Stanley Clarke has spent much of his career outside of jazz, although he has the ability to play jazz with the very best. He played accordion as a youth, switching to violin and cello before settling on bass. He worked with R&B and rock bands in high school, but after moving to New York, he worked with Pharoah Sanders in the early '70s. George Duke showed a great deal of promise early in his career as a jazz pianist and keyboardist, but has forsaken that form to be a pop producer.

While this CD didn't have the vibe of our first record together, it was vastly superior to the second CD. There was a lot of raw energy coupled with orchestration finesse. That's what Clarke/Duke is about - sweet and sour! ~ George Duke

Right after the release of the first Clarke/Duke Project LP Stanley Clarke and George Duke both decided to take a musical break from each other and do a pair of solo albums without the participation of the other.Duke produced 'Dream On' while Clarke produced this album 'Let Me Know You',both in 1982. Both albums are very much funky pop/R&B vocal albums with some curious differences. 'Let Me Know You' is the slightly more jazz oriented of the two and as always, Clarke is not quite as experienced (or communicative) as Duke.The songwriting is extremely strong and three "Straight From The Heart","I Just Want To Be Your Brother","The Force Of Love" and the pounding "New York City" find Clarke moving away from hardcore jazz-rock fusion and into the world of tighter,more carefully crafted and arranged R&B, funk and pop.

The Essential George Duke is a double-disc, 31-track set documenting George Duke's years with Epic between 1977 and 1984 that netted an astonishing 11 albums, and the third Stanley Clarke/Duke project disc recorded in 1990. These were the years that Duke – never a jazz purist anyway – decided to take a tough swing at the R&B charts. He succeeded.

One of the dozens of undervalued R&B and jazz vocalists active during the '70s and '80s, Sylvia St. James developed a love for music and performance through her mother and grandparents. St. James began in the church and developed an appreciation for classical and jazz; she was offered a scholarship to attend the Chicago Conservatory and study opera, but a family move prevented her from following through. Instead, she performed in bands and an orchestra in the Midwest. A move to California led her to the Shiva Orchestra, as well as recording sessions for George Duke's The Aura Will Prevail, Wayne Henderson's Big Daddy's Place, and Gabor Szabo's Faces.