George Duke

As a singer, keyboardist, writer and producer, George Duke was truly a musician’s musician, one revered by the many peers and collaborators he attracted from the beginning of his career in California in the late ‘60s up to his death in 2013. Awed by Duke’s mastery of jazz, funk, pop and R&B, these special fans included not just Cannonball Adderley and Frank Zappa—both of whom hired him for their bands in the ‘70s—but Jean-Luc Ponty, Barry Manilow and The Pointer Sisters, too. On solo albums like 1975’s The Aura Will Prevail and 1982’s silky Dream On, Duke’s fusion of genres seemed casual yet was bold and complex, providing a template for later mavericks like Thundercat. Duke was an equally smooth operator when it came to his productions for artists such as Al Jarreau and Jeffrey Osborne. Released in 2013, DreamWeaver was a final demonstration of Duke’s exuberance and finesse.