cxliii. DUKE, George: It's Summertime

cxliii. DUKE, George (1946-2013)

It's Summertime (1998)
GD, keyboards, vocals, barbecue party
Everette Harp, alto saxophone
"Little John" Roberts, drums
Phil Perry, vocals, barbecue party
Jim Gilstrap, vocals, barbecue party
Ray "The Weeper" Fulton, guitar
Lenny Castro, percussion
Lynn Davis, barbecue party
Josie James, barbecue party
Wayne Holmes, barbecue party
Erik Zolber, barbecue party
(5:24)

from Is Love Enough?

"You didn't bring the seasoning?"
"I got some potato salad."
"Is that red pepper or paprika?"

Whoosh.

Duke -- with a soulful alto obligatto by Everette Harp -- is in his mellow mood here.

Classically trained, Duke got a degree in trombone and composition (with a minor in contrabass!) from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 1967.

In 1969, he recorded an album with violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and his trio (John Heard, bass; Dick Berk, drums).

Both Frank Zappa and Cannonball Adderly heard this group, and vied for his services. He went with Zappa for two years, the Adderly for the next two -- finally returning to Zappa again, and around the same time starting recording dates under his own name for the MPS label.

His compositions always seemed to fuse his classical leanings, as well as R&B, funk, and pop. His piano technique is astonishing, though he doesn't always show it off, as in this track ...

It was with Zappa that he received the confidence to first sing (Inca Roads).

"Where's the seasoning tray?"
"Shoot, I've been waitin' all day for this barbecue."
"I need to get my mama down here ..."