Thursday Throwback : In Honour of George Duke (1946-2013)

It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of legendary keyboardist, composer, singer and producer George Duke this week, aged just 67.

From the 60s right up until this year, Duke had been one of the foremost pioneers within the jazz and mainstream scenes, releasing over 30 solo albums during his illustrious musical career. George was also famed for collaborations with countless music legends and session musicians including Frank Zappa, Miles Davis and Michael Jackson.

So in honour of all the wonderful music George bought to us, I thought it was only fitting to dedicate this week's Thursday Throwback to three of my favourite Duke tracks.

So sad to have had another legend taken from us at such a young age, but safe to say George Duke's incredible music will endure forever.

RIP George Duke. January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013.

1.George Duke - Dukey Stick Live in the Studio with Sheila E (Epic/CBS, 1978)

2. George Duke - Diamonds (Columbia Jazz, 1977)

3. Michael Jackson - Off The Wall (Epic, 1979)

Michael Jackson - Rock With You (The Reflex Re√ision) *FREE DL*

I'm starting the weekend massively overexcited by the news that The Reflex has finally made his absolutely killer Re√ision of MJ's 'Rock With You' available for free download via Soundcloud.



The track first emerged following a chance meeting between The Reflex and Gilles Peterson through DJ Day, who mentioned to Gilles that he had an edit of 'Rock With You' and that he'd 'done a little thing to it'. Understatement of the year probably.

The Reflex is famed for taking the master stems and re-imagining the studio recordings for a new generation. And this has to be his finest effort to-date, stripping the 1979 original back to bring greater emphasis on the timeless vocal, Rhodes melody, rhythm guitar and orchestral section, as well as beefing up the classic disco drum pattern.

Unfortunately, the only omission from this version is the intro as played by Gilles on Radio 6, which featured an original guide vocal for Michael as sang by its writer and former member of Heatwave, Rod Temperton. Still, this has to be one of the greatest edits of one of the greatest soul/disco records of all time. Simply brilliant.