George Duke

George Duke was an accomplished keyboardist, producer, arranger, bandleader, and composer, and a progenitor of the jazz- funk tradition. He was successful in both popular music and jazz, and straddled both sides of that aisle for most of his career, amassing thousands of credits. His U.S. debut album, Save the Country, appeared in 1970 when he was working in the bands of Jean-Luc Ponty, Gerald Wilson, and Don Ellis. He spent 1971 and 1972 with Cannonball Adderley and began his working relationship with Frank Zappa in 1970, joining his band from 1973 to 1975. He recorded on MPS under his own name between 1970 and 1976, and released I Love the Blues, She Heard My Cry. From 1977 to 1984, he released a string of hit albums on Epic including his jazz-funk breakthrough Reach for It, Follow the Rainbow, and Guardian of the Light. (Between 1975 and 2005 he released 18 Top 200-charting albums.) He co-led a group with drummer Billy Cobham and formed the Clarke-Duke Project with bassist Stanley Clarke. He moved to Elektra in 1985, then to Warner Bros., where he released the classical crossover outing Muir Woods Suite. Between 2008 and 2013, he was signed to Heads Up International and released charting albums such Dukey Treats and Deja Vu.