George Duke
There is now a George Duke Channel available 24/7 at www.myjazznetwork.com. Simply click this link and you will find the home page. Click the Artist tab, scroll using the right arrow and you will see my picture. Click the open tab and you will find what is available at this time.
Brazilian Love Affair Channel - if you like music with a Brazilian vibe from across the globe, check this out!
There is also a Funky Fusion channel, but it can’t be accessed from the Artists tab at the moment. It can be found by clicking the All Music Channels tab – followed by the Electic tab and scroll to the Funky Fusion Channel.
There is no dialog – just music of the genre with a very large play list, so enjoy!
Now there are also various interviews available that I’ve conducted with an interesting mix of people. Currently there are interviews posted with Flora Purim & Airto and Jonathan Butler. I have interviews with Tower Of Power, Dianne Reeves and James Moody on the way among others.
We plan to have five formats of music within the George Duke channel, so there will be a great variety for all the Duke fans and I’ll be updating the music regularly. In production are The Real Funk Channel, Cool Jazz, and African Violet.
OK! I’ve finally signed a contract with Heads Up International to promote and distribute all new BPM product in the near future. First up will be a new George Duke CD that will be as funky as it will be beautiful. I’ll be calling upon the original Duke funk band along with other illustrious musicians and singers. Already on board are Bootsy Collins, Ernie Isley, Teena Marie, Jil Scott and Jeffrey Osborne among others. The album is slated for release in September 2008.
I’ve finished work on Chante’s album and mixing Dianne Reeves album as we speak. I cut lead vocals for Tower Of Power the first week of December and looking forward to recording the horns before the end of the year.
Backing up to August the Clarke/Duke Project visited Johannesburg, South Africa for two shows. I loved every minute except for the LONG flight. The Motherland is truly a wonder!
I returned to LA and played the Huntington Beach Jazz Festival with my band and turned it out! A week later I was out again with Stanley for a long trip to Seoul, Korea. Actually we played for around 8000 people about three hours outside of Seoul. The audience was incredible, actually volume wise louder than the band – imagine that!
I returned to the States and played a show with my band in Fort Worth, Texas. A great audience!
Back in LA I recorded vocals with Larisa Dolina and Dianne Reeves.
In October I flew to the Washington D.C. area to play several club dates and stretch out as a musician. We started at the Ramshead in Annapolis, Maryland and ended up in DC at Blues Alley. I stayed an extra week to record the third installment of The Gospel According To Jazz with Kirk Whalum. Along for the ride this time, guitarist Doc Powell and singer Layla Hathaway.
Back to LA, I found myself mixing Chante Moore’s four tracks, cutting a duet with Al Jarreau and Larisa Dolina, recording sax overdubs with Steve Wilson for Dianne Reeves, and acting as MD for the Thelonius Monk Institute Trumpet Competition at the Kodak Theater in LA. The show also featured a tribute to Herbie Hancock with Sting, Al Jarreau, Joni Mitchell, Jamie Fox, George Benson, Wayne Shorter, Terence Blanchard, Patrice Rushen and others.
I found time to perform at Bishop Noel Jones Fresh Oil Conference and also the annual Jesse Jackson Birthday Bash in November. On the 23rd I flew with my band to Seattle where we once again tore the roof off the sucker! The next day found me back in LA recording Randy Brecker for Larisa Dolina’s album. Most of December I’m mixing Dianne and Larisa.
December 1st I performed a benefit concert with guitarist Ray Fuller in Riverside, California for the Artists For Kids organization.
I’ll chill for the Holidays, but by the second week in January I’ll be back at it with Tower Of Power until we finish at which time I’ll begin work on my next solo album.
I’ve signed on to do three cruises in 2008 – one in January, one in September and one in November. On January 20th I’ll join the Wayman Tisdale Cruise for a week followed by an artist in residency at Berklee School of Music in Boston. February 14th I take my band to the new Yoshi’s in San Francisco for a week. I’ll give you more on the September cruise later. The November cruise is with Dave Koz.
The Clarke/Duke Project has some live dates in Australia, Asia and Russia. I’ll let you know more about that later. I join Terri Lyne Carrington and Christian McBride as judge at the Next Generation Festival in Monterey, California the first week of April. I’ll also visit Rotterdam, Holland April 10th to celebrate the long running Ferry Matt Show.
Please enjoy the Christmas season and New Years celebrations but don’t get caught up in the hype! I truly believe next year will prove to be an outstanding one – at any rate I choose to remain positive. Let’s toss our positive energy into the pool of musical variety and choose to bring quality music of all genres to the top.
OK – I’m done!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!
George Duke
