Saturday, May 31, 2008

George Duke - "The Inner Source" (1971)





Throughout the 1970s, George Duke continually redefined the way people used electric pianos and other keyboards. Like Joe Zawinul, Duke was an 'early adopter' of the Fender Rhodes, and when he took Zawinul's place in the Cannonball Adderley Quintet - just before this album was recorded in 1971 - he ferociously explored the instrument's sonic possibilities, manipulating echoplex and ring-modulation effects as if they were additional instruments in themselves - check "Manya" and "Nigerian Numberuma" on this album for examples, or check "Circumference" on Adderley's "Black Messiah"

Frank Zappa pushed him onto synthesisers, and Duke went on to release a successful series of albums that neatly straddled jazz, funk, soul and pop, often incorporating Brazilian harmonic structures and musicians. While some jazz piano players in the 70s simply translated their style onto either the Rhodes or electronic keyboards, George Duke continued to look at each one as a new instrument, incorporating the new possibilities into his compositional structures.

1971's "The Inner Source" on the MPS label is my favourite album by him - it's all Rhodes, Wurlitzer, brass and colour. Duke's written an extensive discography of his own albums, so we'll let him talk for this :

SOLUS (THE INNER SOURCE) (1971)

" This is a double album that originally was to be released separately. SABA records folded and became MPS, which is why the first album was delayed. As a result, the powers that be decided to release them as a double LP. However, for the purposes of these personal liner notes, I'll treat them separately, as they were intended.

The name for my first MPS record was to be called "SOLUS". The year was 1971 and I had joined The Cannonball Adderley Quintet (replacing Joe Zawinul). Three months into my gig with Cannon, I recorded this LP. I had already begun to experiment with the Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos with Jean-Luc Ponty and Don Ellis, so I continued doing the same on this record. Joining me on this LP were John Heard bass, Dick Berk drums."


THE INNER SOURCE (1971)

"The interesting thing to me is, looking back, I can really hear a lot of growth in my piano playing from "SOLUS", to the second LP, "THE INNER SOURCE". I almost sound like a different piano player more confident with definitely stronger musical ideas. It was recorded in December 1971. I had been with Cannon for about 10 months. Boy, did I learn a lot. It seems I was beginning to find my own musical voice!
Besides John and Dick, Armando Perazza joined us on percussion. He was living in San Francisco and playing with Santana. Also on the date were Jerome Richardson on saxes and flute; Luis Gasca on trumpet and flugelhorn; James Leary on bass for one tune.

I feel I should mention that on all my LP's for SABA and MPS, that Baldhard G. Falk is listed as producer. I want to clear this up once and for all. He did NOT produce these recordings musically. He did keep track of the budget, pay the bills, secure the LP covers, etc. He's a great music lover that gave me my first shot, never got in the way musically, and was always extremely supportive. He was one of the good guys that was also supportive outside the music arena, and my mother liked him too.

I should also mention that I played Trombone on all the horn tunes. Overdubbing is a wonderful thing! From what I remember, this was the last time I played trombone, at least on record. Oh well, ta ta!"

George Duke (inner sleeve pic)

TRACKLIST

01 Au-Right (3:27)
02 Love Reborn (7:25)
03 Peace (7:39)
04 So There You Go (5:18)
05 The Followers (5:15)
06 Solus (9:05)
07 Nigerian Numberuma (2:49)
08 My Soul (4:37)
09 The Inner Source (6:07)
10 Life (5:39)
11 Some Time Ago (5:00)
12 Feels So Good' (7:10)
13 Manya (3:26)
14 Sweet Bite (3:32)
15 Twenty-Five (4:54)
16 Always Constant (6:47)

MUSICIANS

Tracks 1-7 “SOLUS”

Piano, Electric Piano (Rhodes, Wurlitzer) - George Duke
Bass, Electric Bass - John Heard
Drums, Percussion - Dick Berk

Tracks 8-16 “THE INNER SOURCE”

Keyboards, Trombone, Conductor - George Duke
Congas - Armanda Peroza (tracks 8, 12)
Drums - Dick Berk (tracks 8, 12)
Electric Violin [Bass] - John Heard (tracks 8, 12)
Flugelhorn, Trumpet - Luis Gasca (tracks 8, 12)
Violin [Bass] - James Leary (track 15)
Saxophone [Tenor, Soprano], Flute - Jerome Richardson (tracks 8-9, 12, 16)

Producer - George Duke
(quoted on vinyl cover as Baldhard G. Falk, but see what George says above)

** Please leave a comment if downloading files - the reason you see dead links and no re-ups on blogs is that bloggers get no feedback. For us it's about conversation. Thanks!

DOWNLOAD WAV - MP3


69 comments:

Simon666 said...

... also don't miss the links to the Cannonball Adderley and Jean Luc Ponty albums in the post itself.

Please comment so I know it's all worthwhile :)

Dr. Johnny Fever said...

Killer post!! The Rhodes are coming on strong here. Thanks!!!

AMM said...

hi simon,
saw him & stan clarke in 82 over here in the uk!
awesome concert!
still have this gem!
SO GRAB IT PEOPLE-ITS A MONSTER!

Wone Nation said...

Simon Says "Shut the blog down NOW!!".

Yo "Sweet Bite" may make me a father again if I play that tonight.

If you're going to post baby makin' Rhodes albums like The Inner Source (wink wink), I gotta leave this page and not come back ever again.

Running bath water right now.

Thank you.

Haper said...

What a fine post! I'm loving this stuff! Thanks! Has anyone seen a post of the 1974 album by George Duke "Faces in Reflection"? I remember liking that one as well.

Thad said...

I've been listening to a lot of mid-70s Zappa lately, and have always dug George's playing on those records. However, I haven't really explored his solo work. Thanks for the double-shot introduction!

Zapple100 said...

I never knew Duke had these albums. This is a plesent surprise.
Thanks
Zapple100

Maro said...

OOooooh man....

thank you very much bro' !!!!
This album is a must have and so rare in vinyl... (572$ on gemm !!!)

Damn good work Simon666.

Anonymous said...

rare rare rare........thank you!!

katonah said...

fantastic appraisal of one of my most treasured albums.
an all killer no filler perhaps ??

Simon666 said...

hey katonah, good to see you here :)
Yesi'd agree with that ... it was so hard to pick the preview tracks, because they're ALL good ...

kizza said...

Thanks a bunch!
Great to get high quality rips of albums that I own (saves me having to rip them myself!)
Much appreciated!

Gianni aka Cesare Barbetta said...

hey simon
if you can add an lp link with z-share...you'd make me HAPPY and FREE!

Simon666 said...

sure gianni, i'll do that later at work, thanks for all your comments

klf said...

You've got a special blog and thanks for this post!

Simon666 said...

thanks guys.
Gianni, realised that I haven't got the files here at work, and can't use R'Share to download ,, so i'll have to up to ZShare another day.

Simon

Unknown said...

just came across your blog, can't wait to listen to this george duke album, it sounds great!

Apani said...

Thank you so much for the good sounds! Just came across your blog. Good stuff!

Calisan said...

Hii! Any chance to post the WAV files?? of this beautiful... album!
Master!!!
Thanks!

mr.gone said...

Thanks for sharing. I'm a big George Duke fan ever since I heard him on One Size Fits All by Frank Zappa. I've got most of his LPs on CD & Vinyl (nothing from the mid 80s thoough...) but you're helping me fill the gaps. Would like to get him on the next album I'm putting together, having had Jeff Lorber as a guest on the previous album.

Simon

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Thanks! I had problems with the download the first time but all sorted now. This is all great stuff. Just digging the live Herbie stuff now.

taro nombei said...

Hi Simon
I don't know why I passed over this excellent share when you first posted it, but making up for lost time now. Great to revisit these sounds again after a LONG time... Much appreciated!
TN

FYI: the zShare covers links don't seem to be working now...

Simon666 said...

Hi Taro,
Glad you found this :)
Here are the cover files on Mediafire

taro nombei said...

Simon,
many thanks...
I did find some good visuals here:
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=1395425
cheers!
Tn

makuma said...

Wow..I'm listening and blown away! So good....

Don't know how I've missed it before and have only discovered your post thanks to Jazz Covers from Taschen.

Many many thanks, got to go back to your archives just make sure and didn't miss other stuff!

MAny thanks

CJS said...

Hi,
The 2 parts RS files downloaded do not give me the full tracks.
I keep getting the same tracks 1-13 plus jpegs only.
Seems as though 14-16 are not in the file or there's been a mixup.
Cheers

CJS said...

Big Whoops,
Just worked out where the files were...
numbered from "1" for both files.
Ahem, sorry bout last post.
All the best

Simon666 said...

hey makuma and christopher, glad that you found it :)

Kathryn said...

amazing, thanks a lot

ish said...

Haven't listened to this, but here's an interesting boot: http://boogiewoody.blogspot.com/2008/05/billy-cobham-george-duke-live-at.html

Live George Duke/Billy Cobham date from the same tour as the "Billy Cobham/George Duke Live in Europe" album but a US venue.

Simon666 said...

thanks ish, will check it out

Unknown said...

Hey Simon
many thanks for this share,
it fills the single hole in my personal collection of Duke's MPS albums, and what a killer hole filler it is!
Keep on exploring the "Rhodes Less Travelled"

Pippo said...

Thank You Simon, I was thinkin' never to hear this album again. Thank You

sasha said...

O yea man! Love Reborn..'73 with Flora Purim,Stanley Clarke,Joe Henderson et al...Wow! Lovely to hear another version.

Elpeleon said...

Rhodes-bass-drums : que du bonheur. Thanks a lot !!

FineTuned85 said...

"Love Reborn" alone made this album worth checking out for me. It's one of my favorite George Duke compositions after hearing the version from Flora Purim's album, although I think I prefer that version. I didn't it had been recorded prior to '73. I also really dig the version from George's solo keyboard album from '76.

hulaboy said...

Mahalo nui loa! This sounds like it'll be the album I've always wished he'd made.

JasonG said...

LP opener "Au-Right" is smokin'. Fantastic stuff. Thanks for putting this up.

saint said...

Thanks for the music. great stuff!!!

makuma said...

There's one for sale at discogs for 73 £, just to let people know :)

HCM said...

I will surely enjoy this one, what a great share and what a great albums to start listening George Duke. nice electric keys... Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Gonna make a friend very happy with these George Duke albums. Thank you so much!

Forest said...

Awesome blog you have here! Very happy to have stumbled upon it today. I'm a lover of Rhodes and 70s fusion jazz funk too, and this is a treasure trove of new leads. Funny thing, when I tried the Raidshare link for Part 1 of Inner Source, I got Melvyn Price's Rhythm and Blues album instead. Not that I'm displeased, because it's another great album I hadn't heard, but I'm still interested in getting Inner Source, so if you've got another link, I'd definitely appreciate it. Thanks, and please keep up the good work!

makuma said...

Forest, I searched the web and found this link http://www.mediafire.com/?ynrzm2n3igl

I haven't tested it though.

It's and incredible recording, I found the original LP after hearing it trough Simon.

Hope it works!

Best

Antonio

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for the awesome music. I agree: never enough Fender Rhodes!

Anonymous said...

Is There anyway this album can be reloaded?

Simon666 said...

Hey sorry -

I never do reups for anonymous people, because they don't say thanks, so it's half an hour out of my life for nothing.

Feel free to register a profile, then come back and ask again.

Jon Laine said...

Ok, i SOOO need this. can you do a reup for me please?

Simon666 said...

Hi Jon -
Here's MP3, let me know if you want WAV as well :

http://rapidshare.com/files/2621449681/GeoDuInSource.zip

Thad said...

If you're going to do WAV, I'd love to make an upgrade too. I've been listening to this a lot since I first downloaded it (has it been five years??) and especially now. RIP George.

Jon Laine said...

WAV's would be awesome man....can i hit you up for other reups on this blog? this is awesome...so sorry i found this so late!

Simon666 said...

Hi Thad and Jon -
Link for WAV version now at the base of the post

Thad said...

Wow. All I can say is...

http://whosawesome.com/

n2 said...

I second Mr Thad. Thanks for sharing :)

katonah said...

Hi Simon

Been getting back into the George Duke MPS catalogue lately.

This is, and will always be one of my all time favorite albums.

au-right ... damn right !!

Simon666 said...

hey katonah -
Yes same here , since he passed - I think this is still my favourite :) Been listening to him again on Cannonball Adderley albums too :)

Anonymous said...

And again! Just rediscovered George Duke on that same Cannonball Adderley album! Went out and bought Billy Cobham with GD for a quick fix. Can't wait to hear this! Thanks Simon for the post.

Simon666 said...

You're welcome anonymous, hope you enjoy it :)

Anonymous said...

thank you Simon this is a revelation.

ColonelMustard said...

Many thanks for all your hard work, great blog. I like to collect vinyl but I'm not Rockefeller so this blog is invaluable to me! Really looking forward to hearing Mr Dukes first MPS in it's entirety and WAV as well :-)

Simon666 said...

Glad you're enjoying it, ColonelMustard , thanks for all your comments :)

Steve said...

A truly excellent and vital post, here. Long-time Duke fan, esp. of his work in the 70s. I had no clue these existed. Thank you SO very much!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for uploading this!

Cope said...

Thanks. Glad to have found this one! I have it on vinyl.

jazzobsessive said...

Simon-you are the best.Thank you for keeping the link up for so long.This album is so good......

Anonymous said...

Surprise to all I am happy owner of original lp double set. Good condition. As I am now gatherin cds I might transfer into bits and offer for bids on eBay. Stay tuned.

Unknown said...

Hey just wanted to say thanks for putting this up . great sounds.

Thanks and blessings to you

Anonymous said...

Thank you. Sounds sweet.