{"id":9642,"date":"2015-12-10T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=9642"},"modified":"2015-12-10T12:51:03","modified_gmt":"2015-12-10T12:51:03","slug":"box-set-review-george-duke-the-era-will-prevail-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/10\/box-set-review-george-duke-the-era-will-prevail-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Box Set Review: George Duke &#8212; The Era Will Prevail (Part Two)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>Continued from <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=9638\">Part One<\/a>&#8230;<\/i><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-9629\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_feel.jpg\" alt=\"gduke_feel\" width=\"291\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><i><b>Vol. 3: Feel<\/b><\/i><br \/>\nReleased in October 1974, <i>Feel<\/i> again featured bassist <b>John Heard<\/b> and drummer <b>Ndugu<\/b> alongside <b>George Duke<\/b>, but his guest artists lent a decidedly adventurous air to the disc: husband and wife <b>Airto Moreira<\/b> (the Brazilian percussionist Duke knew well through his association with <b>Julian \u201cCannonball\u201d Adderley<\/b>) and <b>Flora Purim<\/b>, plus a guitarist known here as <b>Obdewl&#8217;l X<\/b> (<b>Frank Zappa<\/b>, adopting a pseudonym similar to a character name he&#8217;d use on his own 1984 <i>Thing Fish<\/i> box set).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFunny Funk\u201d is <b>Stevie Wonder<\/b>-styled instrumental funk with jazz chops at its best. Duke&#8217;s multitracked keyboards (electric piano, throbbing synthesizer) engage in playful dialogue, while Ndugu nails down an inventive beat. \u201cLove\u201d starts out sounding like a more accomplished, slightly more adventurous version of smooth jazz, with Duke adopting a vocal style not unlike <strong>George Benson<\/strong>. But bits of Airto&#8217;s percussion suggest something more interesting is afoot. And sure enough, a brief if manic Zappa guitar solo punctuates the laid-back feel. A second guitar solo from Zappa leans a bit more in a jazz direction, but still retains plenty of fire. Duke takes a lengthy solo on synth over a jazzy vamp. And then just when the tune seems to have settled down again, FZ tears out some blistering fretwork, followed by Duke taking it home on the synth fadeout.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: left; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B00S5MQR70&amp;asins=B00S5MQR70&amp;linkId=OP56YKHHIBXXOMYA&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Ndugu&#8217;s \u201cThe Once Over\u201d features frenzied Zappaesque passages set against pastoral, minimalistic sections, and an extended percussion-and-acoustic-bass workout. The title track finds Duke singing in a high register \u2013 with loads of vocal overdubs \u2013 in this sexy r&amp;b slow jam. \u201cCora Jobege\u201d is another engaging multiple keyboard showcase. \u201cOld Slippers\u201d starts off threatening to deliver more smooth jazz, but quickly left-turns into funk territory, with the welcome appearance of some Duke licks on Hammond organ. Zappa and Airto are credited with involvement on the track, but their contributions are uncharacteristically muted.<\/p>\n<p>The moody instrumental \u201cTheme from the Opera &#8216;Tzina&#8217;\u201d offers some nice synthesizer textures, but ends before the theme has the opportunity to express itself fully. \u201cYana Aminah\u201d is a lovely marriage of Brazilian styles (Flora Purim&#8217;s lovely lead vocal) and Duke&#8217;s electric piano textures, shot thorough with alluring percussion. Duke&#8217;s solo is mesmerizing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRashid\u201d initially dials back the energy in favor of a deep, sample-worthy groove; Duke excels on countless keyboards, some of which sound like electric guitar. The brief \u201cStatement\u201d starts and ends too quickly to qualify as a tune.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-9636\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_blues.jpg\" alt=\"gduke_blues\" width=\"300\" height=\"295\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_blues.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_blues-65x65.jpg 65w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><i><b>Vol. 4: I Love the Blues, She Heard My Cry<\/b><\/i><br \/>\nFor this 1975 LP (dedicated to the recently deceased Cannonball Adderley) Duke increases both the number of contributing musicians and the energy level. More associates from Frank Zappa&#8217;s orbit are present, including bassist <b>Tom Fowler<\/b>, brother <b>Bruce Fowler<\/b> on trombone, ace melodic percussionist <b>Ruth Underwood<\/b>, and <b>Johnny \u201cGuitar\u201d Watson<\/b>. (Zappa himself doesn&#8217;t appear.) Purim and Ndugu are on hand as well. Guitarists <b>Lee Ritenour<\/b>, <b>Daryl Stuermer<\/b>, and <b>George Johnson<\/b> all turn in exiting performances. By this point, it&#8217;s likely that some jazz purists in Duke&#8217;s fan base were getting discouraged; as a whole, the disc leans more toward funk and rock than anything in Duke&#8217;s catalog up to this point. Even when the funk is dialed back \u2013 as on the romantic \u201cSister Serene\u201d \u2013 the music feels more assured. Underwood&#8217;s marimba work on \u201cThat&#8217;s What She Said\u201d is never less than thrilling, and Stuermer&#8217;s lead guitar dialogues nicely with Duke&#8217;s dizzyingly-fast keyboard runs.<\/p>\n<p>The brief \u201cMashavu\u201d features percussionist <b>Emil Richards<\/b> and assorted weird space\/jungle sounds. The parody \u201cRokkinrowl\u201d is a funk answer to <b>Jimi Hendrix<\/b>&#8216;s \u201cEXP.\u201d Ritenour cranks out a convincing, churning Hendrixian guitar wail, while Duke&#8217;s lead vocal suggests he&#8217;s taking the piss out of both Hendrix&#8217;s ghost <i>and<\/i> the still alive and (somewhat) well <b>Johnny Winter<\/b>. Some left-field piano breaks near the song&#8217;s end are inexplicable but wonderful nonetheless.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrepare Yourself\u201d mines Stevie Wonder territory once again, with good results. <b>Byron Miller<\/b>&#8216;s bass is a highlight, as is Duke&#8217;s extended (and heavy on the wah-wah) clavinet solo. \u201cGiant Child Within Us &#8211; Ego\u201d begins with avant-classical acoustic piano; gradually other instruments \u2013 marimba, violin, strings \u2013 join on this ambitious and engaging work; at times it&#8217;s reminiscent of sections of Zappa&#8217;s <i>Lumpy Gravy<\/i>. The tune&#8217;s second half is more conventional and relentlessly upbeat. \u201cSomeday\u201d is smooth r&amp;b pop with Duke on near-falsetto vocal. The disc ends with its title track, a loose blues workout that wastes its first minute with ambient sounds that add nothing. Watson&#8217;s guitar work is nice enough in a country blues style, but the entire cut feels like a one-take proposition.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the budget for studio time left no funds for a professional sleeve design; <i>I Love the Blues, She Heard My Cry<\/i> suffers slightly from its dashed-off cover art.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-9635\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_aura.jpg\" alt=\"gduke_aura\" width=\"295\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_aura.jpg 295w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_aura-65x65.jpg 65w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 295px) 100vw, 295px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><i><b>Vol. 5: The Aura Will Prevail<\/b><\/i><br \/>\nLater in that same year (1975) Duke released <i>The Aura Will Prevail<\/i>. In contrast to the all-star lineup of the previous disc, this record featured only Duke on keys (including synthesizer bass) plus Ndugu\/Chancler on drums and bassist <b>Alphonso \u201cSlim&#8217; Johnson<\/b> on most tracks (Airto provides percussion on two cuts, and three female vocalists appear on \u201cMalibu\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>The backing on \u201cDawn\u201d is smooth funk-jazz, but Duke layers it with varied and spacey synth lines. The uptempo \u201cFor Love (I Come Your Friend)\u201d goes through multiple movements, all of which are worthwhile, and none of which sounds like the others. The funky intro minimalism of \u201cFoosh\u201d proves once again how the spaces between the notes are important. A manic \u201cFloor De Loop\u201d feels like a funkier <b>Return to Forever<\/b> with its progressive jazz vibe.<\/p>\n<p>The Latin feel of \u201cMalibu\u201d adds a wholly different dimension to the album, and Duke&#8217;s vocal arrangement is a delight. \u201cFools\u201d is the album&#8217;s (seemingly) obligatory r&amp;b slow jam; by George Duke standards, it&#8217;s unremarkable, and the lyrics are uncharacteristically weak and clich\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p>A pair of Frank Zappa tunes follow; as it happens, they&#8217;re among Zappa&#8217;s best. \u201cEchidna&#8217;s Arf\u201d is a devastatingly complicated piece of music that somehow manages to be appealing; Duke changes up the arrangement \u2013 one he knew well from playing it onstage with <b>The Mothers<\/b> \u2013 and a long midsection focuses on electric piano, ring modulator, and synth bass.<\/p>\n<p>The faux-gospel \u201cUncle Remus\u201d (a Duke\/Zappa co-composition) might even be superior to Zappa&#8217;s version on <i>Apostrophe<\/i>; Duke&#8217;s piano and <b>Billy Preston<\/b>-ish organ are breathtaking. The disc closes with the very brief track \u201cThe Aura,\u201d a closing theme not unlike the kind of thing Cannonball Adderley did in concert (albeit with more percussion here).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-9631\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_liberated.jpg\" alt=\"gduke_liberated\" width=\"300\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_liberated.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_liberated-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_liberated-65x65.jpg 65w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><i><b>Vol. 6: Liberated Fantasies<\/b><\/i><br \/>\nThis 1976 LP is the last in the new box set, and its release marked the end of George Duke&#8217;s association with the German MPS label. Writing in the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century on his website, Duke had this to say: \u201cOverall, this is not a great record!\u201d He characterizes some of the tunes as disasters, placing the blame on the demands of r&amp;b radio. For all that, the ingredients for a solid album seem to be in place: many past associates return (Ruth Underwood, Airto, Ndugu and several others), and longtime Zappa associate <b>Napoleon Murphy Brock<\/b> helps out on vocals. But there is an airless, by-the-numbers rhythm and blues feel to many of the tracks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeeing You\u201d is pop piffle; good enough for commercial radio, but a disappointment coming from someone of Duke&#8217;s stature. \u201cBack to Where We Never Left\u201d is solid if slightly faceless funk. \u201cWhat the&#8230;\u201d is thirty seconds of pointless rehash that even Zappa wouldn&#8217;t have bothered with. But \u201cTryin&#8217; &amp; Cryin&#8217;\u201d is fascinating; it sounds musically closer to <b>Todd Rundgren<\/b> than to anything else. \u201cI C&#8217;n Hear That\u201d is more instrumental funky r&amp;b, but it&#8217;s a marked improvement over \u201cBack to Where We Never Left.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter the Love\u201d sounds like a half-baked Brazilian-flavored bid for pop chart domination; it&#8217;s pretty enough, but fails to launch. As such it&#8217;s merely mood music. \u201cTzina (excerpts from Act II Scene II)\u201d is related to the tune that appeared on <i>Feel<\/i>; here it&#8217;s a bit more developed, but only a bit. The disc closes with the nearly ten-minute title track; this workout skillfully combines Duke&#8217;s Latin musical proclivities with his impressive keyboard chops (the latter of which are in oddly short supply elsewhere on <i>Liberated Fantasies<\/i>). There&#8217;s a slightly distressing disco vibe to the track, but the impressive soloing keeps things on track. A strong finish to an uneven album.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-9634\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_mps03.jpg\" alt=\"gduke_mps03\" width=\"283\" height=\"283\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_mps03.jpg 283w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_mps03-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_mps03-65x65.jpg 65w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 283px) 100vw, 283px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>From here, Duke continued his career, finding greater commercial success. Later collaborators included <b>Billy Cobham<\/b>, and furthered his immersion into pop, jazz, r&amp;b, Brazilian, and other styles. By the 1980s he began his long musical association with bassist <b>Stanley Clarke<\/b>; I was fortunate enough to see the <b>Clark\/Duke Project<\/b> in concert circa 1982 (the height of their fame); sadly I wasn&#8217;t familiar enough with Duke&#8217;s 1970s work to have recognized any of it if he had played it. At that point \u2013 in my defense, I was only eighteen \u2013 I knew him only as \u201cthat black guy who played keyboards for Frank Zappa.\u201d With the addition of <i>The Era Will Prevail: The MPS Studio Years 1973-1976<\/i> to my vinyl collection, a serious wrong has belatedly been put right.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">N.B.: There is another George Duke compilation &#8212; released in 2008 &#8212; of this same material, called <em>My Soul: The Complete MPS Fusion Recordings<\/em>. It&#8217;s a bit less pricey, but it&#8217;s a 4CD set, and as such, the audio is AAD (analog recording, analog mixing, digital mastering). The wonderful set reviewed here is fully analog (AAA). Your turntable &#8212; not to mention your ears &#8212; will thank you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9632\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_mps01.jpg\" alt=\"gduke_mps01\" width=\"500\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_mps01.jpg 500w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/gduke_mps01-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Continued from Part One&#8230; Vol. 3: Feel Released in October 1974, Feel again featured bassist John Heard and drummer Ndugu alongside George Duke, but his guest artists lent a decidedly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,19,31,32,42,51,56,60,64,65,69,73],"tags":[861,2561,1535],"class_list":["post-9642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-compilation","category-funk","category-fusion","category-jazz","category-pop","category-prog","category-rb","category-reissue","category-review","category-soul","category-vinyl","tag-frank-zappa","tag-george-duke","tag-mps","cat-9-id","cat-19-id","cat-31-id","cat-32-id","cat-42-id","cat-51-id","cat-56-id","cat-60-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","cat-69-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9642"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9921,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9642\/revisions\/9921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}