George Duke - R.I.P.

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No problem Ed! I remember reading it a couple of years ago, and glad I remembered it was there.
 
And this one (Ed's takin' it to the bridge! :D ):

http://vinylalbumcovers.com/albums/ae/georgedukereachforit.html

Is that one a first or early pressing? Seems like that would have been the orange Epic label for that time period (later 70s).

LOL! Yeah, it's a first press. Still in great shape too. We were definitely dealing with the orange Epic label at that point. The blue one with Epic script didn't show until the very early '80's I think.

Ed
 
Off The Wall was the blue epic label, and my copy of the Jacksons album immediately prior to that was the blue label as well (although mine could have been a repress). My 12" of Heatwave's "Groove Line" is the orange label.
 
Yeah, you're right. I've seen several "Off The Wall"'s and they're all blue. The Jackson's "Destiny" is too on any press I've seen. I have a copy of Bill Champlin's "Single" album from 1978 which is orange. Maybe they just slowly phased it out?

Ed
 
Could be. And the label may have held on slightly longer for 12" singles? Not sure. I think the album "Groove Line" was from had the blue Epic label, whereas the 12" had the orange. Boogie Nights originally had the orange label.

I think the yellow and black "strobe" label was one of the coolest though. :D
 
LOL! Black and yellow strobe? Okay, I'm slow. Clue me in...:wink:

I've got a single for "Groove Line" too. Both the album and the single are orange. They're from 1977 so that stands to reason.

Ed
 
epic_3393a.gif
 
Polka party!! :goodie:

I'm tellin' you, baby,
I'm through with you,
Just because, just because.

I've got a single for "Groove Line" too. Both the album and the single are orange. They're from 1977 so that stands to reason.

I may have seen reissue vinyl in that case. I am pretty sure Central Heating was blue label.
 
George was a guy perfect for Zappa who, ever the bandleader, needed pros who could play what he needed but could also add their own ideas to the mix as well (kinda like Miles used to do). He made some good music outside of FZ, but not sure he ever was as inspired again, or fun to hear.

ED


Agree, but mainly only if you're a technician...!

A difference between progressive sounding stuff in the Zappa fold, and experimental fusion Jazz going adrift from its muddy beginnings, much like later Mahavishnu Orchestra vs. something like Birds Of Fire or The Inner Mounting Flame--comparable to early Santana vs. the more later, if Carlos & Co. did return to a more rootsier sort of sound, not heard since its initial triology of Latin Fusion Masterpieces...

I'm open and partial to Stanley Clarke's stuff after leaving Return To Forever--or it merely evolving into Chick Corea's solo career--in the same manner--save for the Lionel Richie clone of Let Me Know You and the too out-there spacey theatrics of Time Exposure, if the latter works to a more comfortable degree... (Although over-talk boxed and vocoder-overkill w/ frequent collaborator, guitarist Jeff Beck,--who learning about his appearances on Clarke's stuff turned me on--on "Are You Ready For The Future", equally was making me a bit wary!)

The Clarke-Duke projects also flirt w/ pop (a "vehicle" as Stanley calls it) prove more than just commercial pandering of the fluke hit "Sweet Baby" and Duke's own output just simply were conveyed in the same way...

Just the music you never much got to hear, other than recognizing the name in the record bins, as it was never designed to fit in any category as far as any conventional radio format went, but simply created its very unique own!


-- Dave
 
Duke says of the "Sweet Baby" that the R&B division of Epic didn't want it as the first single because it was "too white". Huh? If Jeffrey Osbourne had done it, they'd have jumped all over it. He would do similar material just a few years later as produced by Duke anyway. I don't think of that tune as Pop at all; to me, it's definitely R&B. "Touch and Go" is the Pop tune on the record.

Ed
 
It's coming back to me now. "Sweet Baby" was the one tune that did actually play on soft rock radio in Detroit (WNIC--Detroit's Nicest Rock). R&B or contemporary jazz radio, on the other hand, didn't have anything to do with it. That is why it surprised me to hear the track on the album when I finally got it! "Sweet Baby" was right there in NIC's playlist with all of those early 80s AC hits. I wasn't so much a fan, but my buddy used to play the station sometimes when we'd hang out in the summer, or more for the Harper & Gannon morning show.
 
I, too, remember only hearing it on our AC station here. My mom loved that station and subjected me to it whenever I was in the car with her. I remember thinking how out of place that tune was on it's format. The R&B station in my area did play it back then and the adult R&B station in my area still plays it to this day. It's such a great tune - regardless of whatever genre people think it falls into. I love "Touch and Go" too, though that one is so clearly a Pop tune.

Ed
 
[quote="Harry, post: 120506, member: 4 Epic label shown above[/quote]

Of course! I know that label. I have LP's with it and several singles with it as well. Great label!

Ed
 
Not exactly George Duke related but, at the Jazz Festival last Sunday, I'm pretty sure Al Pryor (of Mack Ave. Records) mentioned that they had just signed Stanley Clarke. Makes me wonder if Duke would have ended up on the label at some point--a lot of major names are making their way over to the label. (Kevin Eubanks, Yellowjackets, Kyle Eastwood, Stanley Jordan, Christian McBride, Gary Burton and dozens of others.)
 
Duke's finest moment is here, in one the Best Musical Partnerships ever:



That Moog/ARP Odyssey solo just floats from one stereo speaker to the next! From"Concerto For Jazz/Rock Orchestra, Part II & III" from Clarke's Journey To Love album...


-- Dave
 
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