George Duke: Duke, CD

This excellent 2005 album from GEORGE DUKE, one of the true giants of the jazz and soul music scene who sadly passed away in 2013 at the age of 67, is now available at mid-price. It’s an album of grooves, gorgeous ballads and Latin melodies – a kaleidoscopic tour through his soul, jazz and Brazilian influences. And it’s also a very vocal oriented album.

ERIC BENET provides vocals and a vocal arrangement that Duke described as “masterful” on a re-working of Stevie Wonder’s ‘SUPERWOMAN’. RACHELLE FERRELL co-wrote and sings NO ONE, a beautiful ballad originally intended for Anita Baker. A beautiful arrangement by George of the Bacharach-David classic IN BETWEEN THE HEARTACHES – originally recorded by Dionne Warwick – on which he plays Rhodes electric piano, has guest vocals from PHIL PERRY and JIM GILSTRAP. George himself takes lead vocal in a somewhat Isley Brothers style on I WANNA KNOW, with background vocalists including HOWARD HEWETT.

Instrumentally, the highlight is HYBRIDS, an all-star jazz-funk workout where Duke let the musicians run free for close to 30 minutes, then edited it down. Guests include AIRTO and SHEILA E on percussion, GERALD ALBRIGHT on sax. T-JAM features HUBERT LAWS on flute and saxist EVERETTE HARP, while the closing track HOMELAND features JONATHAN BUTLER on acoustic guitar. George’s enduring passion for Brazilian music is represented by the samba love song SAUSALITO, about the place where he grew up north of San Francisco.