Rest In Power: George Duke

George Duke
(January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013)
I hadn't been on the internet for more than 12 hours. After finally getting on and logging on to Facebook, the first thing I see posted by producer Easy Mo Bee is that the legendary and pioneering keyboardist George Duke has passed away. Reading that news made me feel as if I got punched in the chest very hard in the area where my heart is. Another talented musician who will be greatly missed.

Duke first made a name for himself on the critically acclaimed The Jean-Luc Ponty Experience with the George Duke Trio (1969) and has recorded with the likes of Frank Zappa, Anita Baker, Al Jarreux, Jeffery Osborne and many others. There are a string of artists that he has been producer, arranger, songwriter and music director for. He has released 39 albums as leader, from 1966 to 2013. "Reach For It" and "Dukey Stick" being two of the most well known recordings from his music career. For a more detailed biography, log on to GeorgeDuke.com.

Below is We Love George Duke, a tribute mix put together by B+ for Brainfeeder that was done in 2011. Kriswontwo did a re-up of this mix on his Soundcloud page and has it available for download.

Friday Flashback: Tom Scott & The L.A. Express

For this week, we dig back into the drum break from "Sneakin' In The Back" by saxophonist Tom Scott and his impressive L.A. Express collective that brought about this classic Jazz-Fusion tune from the Tom Scott and The L.A. Express album released in August 1973. We also pay homage to Houston's legendary Joe Sample for helping to compose this tune, who also plays guitar and piano for the LP. Many notable names in Trip-Hop, Hip-Hop and Pop music have used the drum break to build around for their own classic tunes that are still in many a DJ's rotation around the globe.