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My Old Friend

Celebrating George Duke
Oct 10, 2014
Boy, this is a hard one to review because since the mid-seventies George Duke has been one of my favorite artist. His recent death, was hard on the music world because he brought so much depth to the jazz genre. Starting in the sixties with fusion jazz. Of course, it would be reasonable that Al Jarreau and George would be friends, both coming from the world before track music and auto-tuning. All the songs are George Duke original song by Al Jarreau and nicely done. Al Jarreau still has it. My disappointment is that my favorite George Duke tunes were not included which are "Say That You Will", "I Want You For Myself" & "Moving On." Of course, I can forgive Mr. Jarreau because George's music catalog is deep. And with so many left off of this tribute, I would expect another to be in the works to cover more of his hits. George Duke was one of those artist that didn't get the exposure he was due. But inspite of that, his collaborations are plenty, his career long and success acommplished. He was not only played keyboards of all kinds but also sang. I loved his voice. Very comforting. I was fortunate to see him a few years ago in Baltimore and I felt like I was watching a memoir of my past. Al Jarreau, too, deserves the same heart felt acknowlegments. He is also a brick in the foundation of contemporty jazz and has the voice that conveys crafty syncopates of love. Check Al Jarreau's old school tunes, "Alonzo", "Tell Me What I Gotta Do", "Roof Garden" & "My Old Friend."