“Melody is important!” writes George Duke, referring to his latest release, In a Mellow Tone. “A simple but eloquently-stated melody will stand the test of time.” Heed well this advice, especially since it comes from a keyboardist who knows what musical longevity is all about — from his late ’60s work with Jean-Luc Ponty and Frank Zappa to this masterful most recent recording, George has spent well over three decades improvising and writing several lifetimes’ worth of timeless melodies. In a Mellow Tone is a testament to such unwavering creativity, combining soulful arrangements of classics like “So Many Stars” with such impressive originals as the Mose Allison-esque Rhodes showcase, “Down the Road.”
Whether speaking the languages of jazz or funk, pop or R&B, George’s musical voice remains unmistakable, marked largely by his deep grounding in the blues. “I’m not talking about a form of music,” he explains. “It’s a spiritual thing. It’s a connection to the blues.” That connection — and the groove, swing, emotion, and fire that come with it — permeates George’s work on In a Mellow Tone. It makes for timely debate, as well: For a great discussion of the current and future states of jazz, be sure to read “An Observation” at www.georgeduke.com/corner.html.
And for the current and future states of the Duke himself, read on.
What are your favorite keyboards at the moment? What do you take on the road with you?
It’s probably one and the same. What I take on the road right now is a Sony VAIO computer. It’s old, but it’s the strongest they had at the time. It has [TASCAM] GigaStudio in it and so most of my orchestration and whatever I do comes from that. If I have an acoustic piano, which I ask for everywhere, I use that. But if I don’t get it, then sometimes I’ll use the acoustic piano that comes out of the GigaStudio. It’s a pretty beefy setup along with trumpets and whatever else I need to orchestrate with. Then I also use two Yamaha Motif ES8s. One I use for my basic keyboard — Rhodes and piano sounds and that kind of thing — and then the one on top I use for orchestration.
I have a [RME] Hammerfall audio interface that I use in conjunction with several things. I have a Roland AX-7, an instrument I wear around my neck. It utilizes sounds out of the VAIO as well as the Motif — mostly the Motif at this point. The only thing I carry is my laptop, and the rest is backlined [provided by the concert promoter at George’s request] wherever I go.
Some people think strap-on keyboard controllers like the AX-7 are the coolest thing ever, and others aren’t so hot about it. What’s your take?
Well, I was one of the first people to use it and the reason for me was — well, management for one thing. They were on me like, “Look, you need to get out from behind all these keyboards.” At the time, there were all these black keyboards with these big speakers and I was black. [Laughs.] I’m sitting so nobody can see me and I’m the leader of the band. They said, “You really need to figure out how to get out from behind those keyboards so people can see who are and identify you with your name.”
The second thing is I began to feel, once I started using the instrument, that it gave me some freedom to move around the stage. It created a whole new dynamic with the audience. It gave me some movement, and I like that. I don’t use it extensively and I don’t do whole gigs with that strap-on. Normally, I play the end of the show with it so I can get out and hang with the audience and have a good time. But the jazz gigs — the club gigs — I don’t use it.
What musical role does the strap-on play?
When I was on tour with Stanley Clarke this last year, I used it for leads as well as backing up. Both of us were out front and looking at each other. As a matter of fact, at the end of the show, we usually ended with a little 12-bar blues kind of thing. I would accompany him and he would accompany me playing chords on the bass, and I’d play a lead. So it served two purposes.
Let me mention one thing as long as you’re on that strap-on keyboard. I’ve got kind of a special keyboard. It’s modified so it’s not a stock AX-7. I can’t go into details about that, but the instruments that I used to use — not only were they not wireless, they weren’t MIDI. But the feel of those old instruments, even though they were much heavier and made out of wood — some of them, you couldn’t play them too much or you would die on stage. They were too heavy. I wish that there were some other strap-on keyboards that were made more like that. It wasn’t like you were trying to be a guitar player. It had a derivative of that. A lot of people started calling my strap-on keyboard the “Dukey Stick,” because I had a song called “Dukey Stick.” But it’s really not about that. So I switched to an AX-7 because it was the most elaborate one that was out there. I don’t care too much for the stunted end and I would much prefer a longer neck, like the older ones.
What advice could you offer to our readers who were thinking about picking up an AX-7, or maybe an older strap-on controller?
I think the AX-7 is the best way to go, of the ones that I know about. There have been others that have come about that I checked into, but they don’t seem to be around right now. A lot of people liked the Lync strap-on keyboards. I do have one of those. It’s designed to be played where your hands are straight down with the keyboard in front of you. I like the keyboard off to the side, so it’s more of a guitar type feel. I can do both, but the Lyncs were always a little uncomfortable for me. I had a Yamaha KX1 for a long time. It was kind of heavy, but it did have MIDI. It couldn’t do as many things as the AX-7. It wasn’t as comprehensive, but that was a nice axe with a nice long neck.
Your newest album has some great original tunes on it, like “Down the Road.” On that tune, and in general, I really dig your chord progressions. They tend to catch me off guard in a good way — I expect certain resolutions, but you keep mixing it up.
I guess I get bored easily. [Laughs.] I don’t do every tune like “Down the Road.” I like tunes that have surprises in them, or don’t necessarily go the way that one might expect. That’s my job, to do what somebody else might not have thought of.
When you play or record a classic tune like “In a Mellow Tone,” how do you keep it fresh and make it your own?
Putting the arrangement together was pretty simple. A lot of times, with those kinds of tunes — not only this current album, but a lot of albums that I produced that use standards in a new way — I try to book them so we have some kind of introduction, some kind of ending, and maybe even something in the middle that’s outside of the tune, so I can open the song up and go somewhere else. So I’m not just playing the same changes over and over and over again. That’s the way I look at playing a tune.
I just played a gig at the Vault — Christian McBride was the bassist on that — and we changed the chords up here and there. That’s the beauty of it. You work with creative guys who bring a lot to the table and you don’t ever have to worry about getting bored with any song. Miles Davis was a classic example. He must have played some of those songs off the Blue in Green record forever. How many times could he play “So What,” which really only has two chord changes? But he found a way, whether it was tempo, whether it was the way the melody developed or the way harmony was treated within the improvisatory process. He defined new ways of dealing with that song. That is the same thing that I try to do in my own way to songs that I play. Of course, In a Mellow Tone is more traditional. I wanted this to be very melodic, more of a traditional record. But down the line, you wait! [Laughs.] I’ll be testing some ears.
Can you speak a little more to that, or is it confidential?
No, no it’s not. Hopefully before I check out, I have a lot of things I want to do. My next record’s going to be a jazz and funk record — there’s no doubt about it. That’s what I want to do and that’s what I’m gonna do. After that, I actually want to record a big band record and a fusion record. So I’m going to be vacillating back and in between, funk, jazz, R&B and that kind of thing. And if you ask why, why not? Because that’s who I am.
You’re a prolific writer and producer. How do you know when a tune is done? How do you know when it’s good enough?
Well, in terms of the writing, I know it’s done when it moves me. On a production level, it’s really the same thing. The old adage of “We’ll fix in the mix,” applies to a degree because the EQ, the level of certain instruments — it all affects things. So I know it’s right when I start moving my feet, my head starts moving, I cry, I laugh, or it makes me want to get up and dance. Something has to happen physically and then I know it’s done. If I’m writing a lyric, it’s the same thing. I know I got the lyric I want once it touches me emotionally and it creates a physical reaction.
If I don’t get a physical reaction for something, then it ain’t right. And that includes classical music, which doesn’t have a beat — well, in a classic pop sense. If it doesn’t take me to that other spiritual place that manifests itself physically, then I know it’s not quite there for me.
How differently do you approach playing the Rhodes and the piano?
Well, the piano is a beast. I don’t think there’s anything better than playing a great piano. The Rhodes in many ways can do the same thing as the piano, but a lot of times the sounds are uneven. The tonality may change from one note to the next. You can take advantage of that, which is what I’ve done in the past. If I had something that went “clunk,” I took advantage of that in whatever I was playing.
The main thing is, you can’t play the Rhodes the same way you can play the piano. You can’t play the Clavinet like you play the Rhodes and you can’t play a synth like you play a piano. All these instruments are totally different and require different technique. A Yamaha Motif ES8 is a different action than a [Yamaha] DX7, just because of the mere fact that the key soles are different.
There’re certain things you can do to make a piano sing. If you play the piano very hard when you’re playing a solo — and most pianists who have strength are guilty of it — the tonality of the instrument gets brittle. Of course, that all depends on the instrument you’re playing too, but overall, there’s certain ways you can approach the piano that are going to make those notes sing. Guys like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett — those guys are great at being able to play loudly and still keep the tonality of the instrument the majority of the time.
You have to learn, “Well, I have to play a little harder to get that sound on the Rhodes,” or a little softer depending on which instrument you’re playing. That’s what a sound check is for. If you get an instrument you haven’t played before at a show, you figure out, “Okay, what are the keys to this instrument?” You have to learn what it is that makes this piano or this Rhodes work.
I heard a story about how you began working with [violinist] Jean-Luc Ponty. You sent a tape to his record label with a note that said, “There is no other pianist for this guy but me.” That was really gutsy, but it seems to have paid off big.
Well, it’s a true story. I had done some recording for a label called Saba, which eventually became MPS Records. They’re no longer around. My liaison with the company, which was in Germany at the time, he says, “Yeah, Jean-Luc Ponty who was on our label just signed a contract with Pacific Jazz Records. Maybe when he comes over there, you’ll get a chance to meet him and play with him.” I had been listening to Jean-Luc on the station KJAZ up in the Bay Area. He sounded like the Miles Davis of violin. I just instinctively knew that this guy was the guy I was supposed to be with. I had something to learn from him. I had a trio that had been working in the Bay Area for many, many years. Basically what I said was, “I got the band for Jean-Luc!”
I don’t think Jean-Luc knew who I was, and he said, “Oh, let’s give the kid a shot.” I couldn’t believe it when I got the call saying, “Okay, Jean-Luc wants to meet with you.” I mean, I was like, “Man! I really made it here!”
Do you think that sort of guts is necessary to be successful as a musician?
Professionally, you can’t put your foot in the door and just peep in. You gotta have all your luggage with you when you go or you’ll be naked when you come around the door. You got to have your ducks in a row and know what you’re talking about and at least feel in your heart of hearts that you’re prepared for a situation. Once that door opens a little bit, you got to walk through that sucker and say, “Here I am.” I think that’s very important — that attitude of being proactive in your career. You can’t just sit back and say, “Well, the phone will ring. Somebody will call me and be aware of my talent.” That ain’t gonna work.
When I started playing with Jean-Luc, I did have something to learn as well as something to give. We worked really well together because I instinctively knew what he was trying to do. We took it to another level. He was playing electric violin, and then he also had a baritone violin. I was like, “Wow, this cat is really pushing the bounds of violin playing and jazz!” He’s such an interesting character and everybody in town would come to see us play. There would be Frank Zappa and there would be Quincy Jones and Cannonball Adderley — whoever was in the music business would be at these shows. I just happened to be there playing and, hopefully, playing well. I knew instantly that this was a turning point for me — I got to go in here and really do this!
So yeah, you gotta open that door and say, “Hey, I got something to offer. I got something to learn, but I got something to offer.” You’ve got to get out there and make your own breaks.
