Kelly Hughes writes: George Duke is a multi Grammy Award winning legend. So, when I called him to get a few quick quotes for my France Joli interview (he produced her album 'Witch Of Love') I quickly realized I needed to milk this conversation for all it was worth. Duke is a musician's musician with a career spanning over forty years and, even though he's not primarily known as a disco artist, he has produced some great dance tracks. These include Stephanie Mills' 'Edge Of The Razor', Deniece Williams' breakout dance pop crossover hit from Footloose, 'Let's Hear It For The Boy', and his own feel-good smash from 1982, 'Shine On'. He also created adult contemporary staples for A Taste Of Honey and Jeffrey Osborne while in the jazz world has worked with everyone from Nancy Wilson to Dianne Reeves to Al Jarreau. Consequently I decided to break the ice by talking about a time when jazz merged with disco.
JazzReview: Back in the disco era, jazz artists like Marlena Shaw and Herbie Mann put out disco songs. What did you think of those?
George Duke: Herbie Mann did disco?
JazzReview: Yeah, the 'Super Mann' album?
George Duke: I didn't even know.
JazzReview: The one with the cover where he looked like Superman coming out of a phone booth. He had a special Superman logo with a flute going through it.
George Duke: [laughing]
Continue HERE
