Dukey Treats

George seems to keep up with previous release by himself. Just what I expected, great. if you like George, you can always buy his new releases, unheard and be satisfied.

This record is a great example of an artist who can still do what they did back in the day but doesn't doesn't want to be known for only that (no matter how good it was) and is straddling the fence now to please any number of audiences.

All the way through this record it sounded like Duke, but not really, pulling his punches, going into the too-smooth bag of tricks. That Duke piled together members of his old 70s collective into the studio to get down does give the record some nostalgic edge, but it ends up being like funky icing on a plain cake. The songs don't really groove, the band does, and that's unfortunate. Everyone's still got the chops, but they're working with material that is either too straight or so self-referential that it sounds like Duke b-sides. Duke has always played with a mutlitude of genres but his best records have always come from a focus on one at a time, maybe inserting apopular single in the mix for kicks (see "Master of the Game", "Muir Woods Suite" or "Reach For It").

And then the last track comes on, "Images of Us", and it's wonderful. A whole record of THAT and I'd have been running in the streets, talking about how Duke has returned from the mountaintop. Unfortunately, you have to go through a record made up of all of the directions that Duke has ever taken us to get to that one, honest track. This isn't a return to form so much as it is an homage to form, and jazz is sick with that mindset these days. I almost wish he hadn't put that last great track on; now I'll just wonder what could have been.

I've alway thought that George Duke is one of the best pianist out there.
Love watching and listening to him play. The CD "Dukey Treats" an excellent CD but, like most if not all CD's I don't like every cut but with George I like most cuts. Next to Chick Corea he is one of my top three pianist.
Keep on doing that voo doo you do so well called music.
I wish he was my big brother and would pass down to me some of his knowledge of chords and technique. He's a Bad Boy.

The Funkmaster is definitely back! It's a mix of funk and jazz. A must have CD for your collection.

As his 4th effort on his BPM label, I think it was good for George to go back to funk and fun. It was great hearing Ndugu, Josie, Lynn and Shelia E and it reminded me a lot of "Don't Let Go", "Master of the Game", "Reach for It" and some of his early 70s funk. The extraordinary part of this particular CD is that...again, the arrangements are really superior. Some of the transitions are really fun to listen to because you just don't expect to hear it...i.e., Somebody Laid it On Us, Are you Ready. I absolutely would NOT have thought that Jonathan Butler and Teena Marie would sound great together...yet they do! Again, this is no "Face the Music" which, to me, is George's BEST EVER, but this was a lot of fun to listen to, has some socially conscience material, a lot of old school feeling and great musicianship. Definitely worth the buy!