George Duke

George Martin Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013)<ref name="Obit">Template:Cite news</ref> was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a professor of music. He first made a name for himself with the album The Jean-Luc Ponty Experience with the George Duke Trio. He is known for his 32 solo albums, as well as for his collaborations with other musicians like Stanley Clarke and (his cousin) Dianne Reeves, but particularly with composer, guitarist and bandleader Frank Zappa.

Biography

George Martin Duke was born in San Rafael, California, United States,<ref name="Obit"/> to Thadd Duke and Beatrice Burrell, and was raised in Marin City (CA). At four years of age, he became interested in the piano. His mother took him to see Duke Ellington in concert and told him about this experience. "I don't remember it too well, but my mother told me I went crazy. I ran around saying 'Get me a piano, get me a piano!Template:'" He began his formal piano studies at the age of seven at a local Baptist church.<ref name="Official site/biography"/>

He attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley (CA) before earning a bachelor's degree in trombone and composition, with a minor in contrabass, from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 1967.<ref name="Official site/biography">Template:Cite web</ref> He earned a master's degree in composition from San Francisco State University in 1975.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Although Duke started playing classical music, he credited his cousin Charles Burrell for convincing him to switch to jazz.<ref name="Coryell">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He explained that he "wanted to be free" and Burrell "more or less made the decision for me" by convincing him to "improvise and do what you want to do". He taught a course on jazz and American culture at Merritt College in Oakland.<ref name="Official site/biography"/>

Duke recorded his first album in 1966. His second was with French violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, with whom he performed in San Francisco. After Frank Zappa and Cannonball Adderley heard him play, both invited him to join their bands. He spent two years with Zappa as a member of The Mothers of Invention, two years with Adderley, then returned to Zappa.<ref name="Jurek">Template:Cite web</ref> Zappa, who never played or recorded other than for his own projects, played guitar solos on Duke's album Feel (1974), after Duke joined him on nine of his albums and toured with the Mothers. In 1975 he recorded with his original drummer Pete Magadini the album Polyrhythm on Ibis Recordings. He recorded I Love the Blues, She Heard My Cry with Zappa's bandmates Ruth Underwood, Tom Fowler, and Bruce Fowler<ref name=Watson>Watson, Ben, Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play, St Martin's Press, New York 1993, p. 294.</ref> and jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour.<ref>I Love the Blues, She Heard My Cry, MPS/BASF (5071 or MC 25671, a.o.) 1975, sleeve notes on Discogs.</ref>

Duke in concert with Stanley Clarke, 2010

Duke occasionally recorded under the name Dawilli Gonga,<ref>Entry as Dawilli Gonga on Discogs.</ref> possibly for contractual reasons, when appearing on other artists' albums.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1977, Duke fused jazz with pop, funk, and soul music on his album From Me to You. Later, that same year, his album Reach for It entered the pop charts, and his audiences increased. In 1981, he began a collaboration with bassist Stanley Clarke that would last through the 1980s, which combined pop, jazz, funk, and R&B. Their first album contained the single "Sweet Baby",<ref name="remembers">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="meeting">Template:Cite news</ref> which became a Top 20 pop hit, reaching Number 19 on the Billboard Magazine Hot 100 and Number 6 on the R&B charts.^{Ref missing}

During the 1980s, Duke's career moved to a second phase as he spent much of his time as a record producer. He produced pop and R&B hits for A Taste of Honey, Jeffrey Osborne, and Deniece Williams. His clients included Anita Baker, Rachelle Ferrell, Everette Harp, Gladys Knight, Melissa Manchester, Barry Manilow, The Pointer Sisters, Smokey Robinson, Seawind, and Take 6.<ref name="Jurek" />

Duke worked as musical director at the 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in London. In 1989, he temporarily replaced Marcus Miller as musical director of NBC's late-night music performance program Sunday Night during its first season.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Sunday Night, episodes No. 104 (1988), No. 113 (1989), No. 114 (1989), No. 121 (1989).^{Ref missing}</ref> He was a judge for the second annual Independent Music Awards (AIM).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

He died on August 5, 2013 in Los Angeles, at the age of 67 from chronic lymphocytic leukemia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Awards and honors

Grammy awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Duke has received two awards out of nine nominations.<ref name="Grammy">Template:Cite web</ref>

Duke performing on keyboards in 2010

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result
1981	Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal	The Clarke/Duke Project	Template:Nom
1985	Best Recording for Children	"We Are the World (single)"	Template:Nom
1990	"Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s)"	Fumilayo (track)	Template:Nom
1998	Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s)	"The Look of Love (track)"	Template:Nom
	Best Contemporary Jazz Performance	"After Hours"	Template:Nom
2000	Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album	"Cool"	Template:Nom
	Best Jazz Vocal Album	"In the Moment – Live in Concert"	Template:Won
2001	Best Jazz Vocal Album	"The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan"	Template:Won
2005	Best Pop Instrumental Performance	"T-Jam"	Template:Nom

GMA Dove Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result
1993	Contemporary Black Gospel Album	Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration<ref name=IMDB>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Won

Soul Train Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result
2013	Best Contemporary Jazz Artist/Group		Template:Won<ref name=IMDB />

Other honors

Duke was inducted into The SoulMusic Hall of Fame at SoulMusic.com<ref name="soulmusic1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Al Jarreau recorded the tribute album My Old Friend: Celebrating George Duke (Concord, 2014) with songs written by Duke. Appearing on the album were Gerald Albright, Stanley Clarke, Dr. John, Lalah Hathaway, Boney James, Marcus Miller, Jeffrey Osborne, Greg Phillinganes, Kelly Price, Dianne Reeves, and Patrice Rushen. The album received the 2015 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Discography

• The George Duke Quartet Presented by the Jazz Workshop 1966 of San Francisco (1966)
• Save the Country (1970)
• The Inner Source (1973)
• Faces in Reflection (1974)
• Feel (1974)
• The Aura Will Prevail (1975)
• I Love the Blues, She Heard My Cry (1975)
• Liberated Fantasies (1976)
• From Me to You (1977)
• Reach for It (1977)
• The Dream (a.k.a. The 1976 Solo Keyboard Album) (1978)
• Don't Let Go (1978)
• Follow the Rainbow (1979)
• Master of the Game (1979)
• A Brazilian Love Affair (1980)
• The Clarke/Duke Project with Stanley Clarke (1981)
• Dream On (1982)
• Guardian of the Light (1983)
• Rendezvous (1984)
• Thief in the Night (1985)
• George Duke (1986)
• Night After Night (1989)
• Snapshot (1992)
• Illusions (1995)
• Is Love Enough? (1997)
• After Hours (1998)
• Cool (2000)
• Face the Music (2002)
• Duke (2005)
• In a Mellow Tone (2006)
• Dukey Treats (2008)
• Déjà Vu (2010)
• DreamWeaver (2013)

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:IMDb name
• George Duke at NPR Music
• Template:Discogs artist
• Template:Find a Grave
• 2009 interview at All About Jazz
• 2010 interview
• George Duke Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection (2010)
• 2012 Interview: Part 1 Template:Webarchive, Part 2 Template:Webarchive