Saying Goodbye to George Duke

A genius, an inspiration, a friend
Music • Views: 22,372

This is a really difficult post for me to write. George Duke, one of my most important musical mentors, a real genius in every sense of the word with a heart as big as his talent, the guy who gave me my real start in the music business, has died at the age of 67 after battling chronic leukemia.

When I was growing up and learning to play guitar in Hawaii, George Duke was one of my heroes. It was a dream come true to play in his band, and I’ll always be grateful to him for his supportive attitude — and the way he pushed us all to play the best we could.

It’s a very unhappy day, dear readers. I’m heart-broken. But to celebrate George’s life, here’s a video from 1978 of the George Duke Band in the studio, recording the follow-up album to “Reach For It,” titled “Don’t Let Go.” (That’s me playing guitar.)

So long, George. You were the greatest.

YouTube

Band:
George Duke - keyboards, vocals (January 12, 1946 - August 5, 2013)
Charles ‘Icarus’ Johnson - guitar
Byron Miller - bass
Sheila E - drums/percussion
Leon ‘Ndugu’ Chancler - drums
Napoleon ‘Nappie’ Murphy Brock - sax, vocals
Josie James, Muffy Hendrix - vocals

As recorded for album: George Duke - Don’t Let Go (1978) http://goo.gl/OcaHq

Snippet from: “George Duke: A Preview” http://goo.gl/h1dbI

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48 comments
1 Kragar  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:31:55am

Sorry to hear you lost a friend.

2 HappyWarrior  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:34:59am

Sorry about your loss Charles. It’s always tough losing a friend. I lost one recently myself and he too was a musician.

3 b_sharp  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:35:24am

My condolences Charles.

4 darthstar  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:37:11am

Sorry to hear about your loss.

5 Bulworth  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:38:51am

Very sorry to hear of your loss, Charles.

6 darthstar  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:38:58am

Do I detect a little innuendo in this song?

7 wrenchwench  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:42:06am

re: #6 darthstar

Do I detect a little innuendo in this song?

Some of those entendres go both ways.

8 Shockingly, Pathetically Low  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:44:29am

Condolences, Charles.

9 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:45:09am

BD”E

10 Gus  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:45:48am

Sorry to hear this news Charles. Was taken aback by the news this morning. That’s a nice portrait of him.

11 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:47:54am

Condolences, Charles; keep the happy memories. Glad you are able to look back and give us this.

12 OhNoZombies!  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:49:30am

I’m so sorry for your loss.
Love to see an artist in their element…happy memories.
They stay with you forever.

13 Flounder  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:54:27am

My condolences Charles, thank you for sharing that music clip as well.

14 wrenchwench  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:56:00am

Youtube Video

15 thecommodore  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 11:59:16am

Sad news, but you were truly blessed to be able to play with such an amazing talent. Few artists get to do that.

16 OhNoZombies!  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:03:38pm

re: #14 wrenchwench

<iframe>

Yeah. Me and my cousins danced our own little Soul Train line to this…

17 No Country For Old Haters  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:03:43pm

Far too young to go. My condolences on the loss of your friend.

18 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:04:02pm

sorry i did not mean to post that here.

19 A Mom Anon  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:07:22pm

I am sorry for your(and ours too, we all lose when an artist passes on) loss. Thanks for sharing that video, it looked like ya’all were having a lot of fun. Can’t have good music or any kind of art without the fun part. Peace to all of you on a sad day.

20 DisturbedEma  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:09:39pm

My sympathies to you and music lovers everywhere…

21 Sol Berdinowitz  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:11:52pm

Uncle Remus is one of those songs that just lodges in your gut and does not budge..Youtube Video

22 sattv4u2  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:13:23pm

Charles

Sorry for your (and the music worlds) loss

23 b.d.  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:15:54pm

There is a shortage of good people in this world and I am sorry to hear that we lost one of them, I sorry at the loss of your friend Charles.

24 abolitionist  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:17:52pm

Condolences, Charles. Nice tribute to a friend.

25 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:26:35pm

Losing a Mentor is doubly tough because you are then obligated to “carry the torch”, in a sense.

You mourn the loss of your Mentor and the person you were when they were alive and can no longer be.

It changes you. It changes you.

((((((Charles)))))))

26 wrenchwench  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:29:30pm

Youtube Video

27 Sol Berdinowitz  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:30:24pm

I love the blues, she heard my cry…

28 lawhawk  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:32:53pm

Condolences Charles on the loss of your friend, musical hero, and mentor. Be thankful for the memories you have, and that his legacy can live on in music for generations to come so that others could be inspired to play.

29 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:33:19pm

redacted —bad form.

30 lgffan  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:43:52pm

sincere condolences.

31 OhNoZombies!  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:45:21pm

re: #29 FemNaziBitch

If I’m not mistaken,
He’s the one puttin’ some stank on that guitar…
Do the damn thang Charles!!!

I had no idea. :-)

32 NJDhockeyfan  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 12:55:53pm

Sorry to hear that Charles. It’s very sad when a friend passes but remembering the good times will always be with you.

Here is a quote of his I found. Is he talking about Frank Zappa?

Frank liked me because I went nuts on the piano using feet, head, whatever I could find to bang on the piano.

George Duke

33 Charles Johnson  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 1:01:15pm

Thanks for the kind words, folks. This kind of hit me hard - very unexpected. Had to take a few hours away from the computer world.

34 Charles Johnson  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 1:07:21pm

That video is a clip from a longer video about the making of that album. The part at the beginning where we change the guitar part to make it funkier was actually staged in advance, and the music is lip-synced. I had to come up with a really un-funky part for that little intro, so we could pretend to inject the funk. :)

35 wrenchwench  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 1:12:35pm

re: #34 Charles Johnson

That video is a clip from a longer video about the making of that album. The part at the beginning where we change the guitar part to make it funkier was actually staged in advance, and the music is lip-synced. I had to come up with a really un-funky part for that little intro, so we could pretend to inject the funk. :)

Surfer dude!

36 ObserverArt  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 1:16:44pm

Condolences Charles.

I was lucky to see George both with Frank Zappa/Mothers and with Billy Cobham (George, Alphonso Johnson & John Scofield) back in the early 70s. Sad day.

37 wrenchwench  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 1:41:08pm

Youtube Video

38 Slap  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 2:26:48pm

re: #32 NJDhockeyfan

Exactamundo. He was in one of my favorite Mothers lineups (including Nappy Brock, who is part of the band in Charles’ clip above.)

This,sadly, occurs as one of the more legendary Mothers performances, the “Roxy and Elsewhere” show, should see it’s LONG-delayed release this year. I never heard Mr. Z having a better time playing than with this bunch.

My condolences, Charles. I heard this early today, and figured you’d weigh in. He seemed like such an expansively joyous human. The world is a little less light today.

Youtube Video

39 Dizzy  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 4:34:16pm

Sorry for your loss. What a legacy you have though.
Wow, what an amazing combo you guys were. That is eternal.

40 fubar  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 5:37:34pm

Charles
I am gobsmacked. I had no idea you were so hip, and funky. Killer guitar brother, very nice. My heart is heavy at your loss.

41 Cardio (formerly JRCMYP)  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 5:57:55pm

I’m sorry Charles. A little piece of him is in you and all the people he touched. Remember that.

42 teleskiguy  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 5:59:59pm

My condolences Charles.

I first heard George Duke through Zappa’s early 70s bands, The album One Size Fits All is probably my favorite of his Zappa stuff, and he killed it on the studio version of “RDNZL”. I need to listen to more of his solo stuff, as evidenced by the freaking funky funk in the video above.

Zappa’s old cronies are disappearing. Jimmy Carl Black, Ray Collins, Captain Beefheart, and now George Duke. Sad day, indeed.

43 PhillyPretzel  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 6:12:47pm

Charles I am very sorry to hear of your loss. Hold onto all of the good memories; they are precious.

44 Egregious Philbin  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 8:54:18pm

Every time I hear “Inca Roads” (and that is a lot!), I think of the genius of George Duke.

Rest well, you gave a lot of us so much enjoyment.

45 danhenry1  Tue, Aug 6, 2013 9:13:27pm

Hi Charles, sorry for your loss of a good friend. And thank you for introducing me and others to some really good music. What I viewed was a group of people enjoying each other, the moment, and some fine music. whole lotta work, and fun. Coool.

46 _RememberTonyC  Wed, Aug 7, 2013 6:21:38am

Charles, sorry for your loss.

47 Red Lion  Wed, Aug 7, 2013 11:57:56am

Sorry for your (and all our) loss, Charles. Duke was supposed to play in my town in October. But thanks for posting that funky clip. I always wanted to hear your guitar playing, but never had before this.

48 davesax  Wed, Aug 7, 2013 1:18:18pm

Very sad. You were are part of musical history. My, how the business has changed.


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