I was sorry to learn that the prolific pianist George Duke died this past week. I had the pleasure of seeing him live with Frank Zappa in the early ’70s. He played a lot of great music during his 67 ½ years.
Below is a video clip from a French television broadcast featuring a performance—starting at about the 1:14 mark—of “REDUNZL” (aka “RDNZL”) by one of Zappa’s greatest bands, including not only George Duke but also Ian Underwood (woodwinds), Bruce Fowler (trombone), Ralph Humphrey (drums), Tom Fowler (bass), Ruth Underwood (marimba), and Jean-Luc Ponty (violin). Not the best video quality, but it’s a nice taste of what Zappa’s music was like around the time of Studio Tan / Läther.
For a taste of George’s later work, here’s “My Piano” from his 2002 album “Face the Music”—
