Search - George Duke :: Deja Vu

George Duke
Deja Vu
Genres: Jazz, Pop

Track Listings (10) - Disc #1
1. A Melody
2. You Touch My Brain
3. What Goes Around Comes Around
4. Bring Me Joy
5. Ripple In Time
6. Oh Really?
7. 6 O'Clock Revisited
8. Come To Me Now
9. Stupid Is As Stupid Does
10. Déjà Vu

When keyboardist-composer-producer George Duke made a return trip to the heyday of funk on his 2008 recording, Dukey Treats, he reminded his fans and the music press of exactly what made the good old stuff so good. DownBea... more »t called it "a wild and crazy album, especially if you're nostalgic about the guitar-scratching, double-clutching rhythms of James Brown and George Clinton and the bedroom ballads of Stevie Wonder and Aaron Neville." The Philadephia Enquirer called it simply "a valentine to funk." Duke returns to that same wellspring for Déjà Vu. The album revisits the synthesizer sound that characterized some of his most memorable recordings from the golden age of funk and soul. "The whole idea behind Déjà Vu was to take a look back at some of the stuff I used to do that was a little more musically challenging," says Duke. "In some way or another, whatever happened before always comes around again. It may be a little different, but it will resurface. That's kind of what this album is - a resurfacing of some ideas I had back in the `70s when I recorded albums with a lot of synthesizers, like Feel and The Aura Will Prevail. Still, Déjà Vu does feature a few more shades of straightahead and contemporary jazz than its predecessor - as evidenced by fine guest performances throughout the record by trumpeter Nicholas Payton, flutist Hubert Laws and saxophonist Bob Sheppard. "These are three very strong instrumentalists," says Duke. "We do it here just like we did in the old days. Everybody gets a shot at playing. It's not just me playing a solo and then we take it out. I try to keep it a little more democratic. It's the typical jazz scenario of the old days, where everybody gets to play." In the final analysis, Déjà Vu is a glance back, but with a very contemporary sensibility - a piece of work that comes together very much in the present, but also conjures up a persistent feeling of something great that came before. "I've always considered myself a multi-stylistic artist," says Duke. "I try to take people on a musical journey, whether it's on an album or in a show. I think the style of music that you choose to play is really irrelevant, as long as you're honest about what you're trying to present."

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CD Details

All Artists: George Duke
Title: Deja Vu
Members Wishing: 5
Total Copies: 0
Label: Heads Up
Original Release Date: 1/1/2010
Re-Release Date: 8/10/2010
Genres: Jazz, Pop
Style:
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 888072320314

Synopsis

Product Description

When keyboardist-composer-producer George Duke made a return trip to the heyday of funk on his 2008 recording, Dukey Treats, he reminded his fans and the music press of exactly what made the good old stuff so good. DownBeat called it "a wild and crazy album, especially if you're nostalgic about the guitar-scratching, double-clutching rhythms of James Brown and George Clinton and the bedroom ballads of Stevie Wonder and Aaron Neville." The Philadephia Enquirer called it simply "a valentine to funk." Duke returns to that same wellspring for Déjà Vu. The album revisits the synthesizer sound that characterized some of his most memorable recordings from the golden age of funk and soul. "The whole idea behind Déjà Vu was to take a look back at some of the stuff I used to do that was a little more musically challenging," says Duke. "In some way or another, whatever happened before always comes around again. It may be a little different, but it will resurface. That's kind of what this album is - a resurfacing of some ideas I had back in the `70s when I recorded albums with a lot of synthesizers, like Feel and The Aura Will Prevail. Still, Déjà Vu does feature a few more shades of straightahead and contemporary jazz than its predecessor - as evidenced by fine guest performances throughout the record by trumpeter Nicholas Payton, flutist Hubert Laws and saxophonist Bob Sheppard. "These are three very strong instrumentalists," says Duke. "We do it here just like we did in the old days. Everybody gets a shot at playing. It's not just me playing a solo and then we take it out. I try to keep it a little more democratic. It's the typical jazz scenario of the old days, where everybody gets to play." In the final analysis, Déjà Vu is a glance back, but with a very contemporary sensibility - a piece of work that comes together very much in the present, but also conjures up a persistent feeling of something great that came before. "I've always considered myself a multi-stylistic artist," says Duke. "I try to take people on a musical journey, whether it's on an album or in a show. I think the style of music that you choose to play is really irrelevant, as long as you're honest about what you're trying to present."

CD Reviews

Where's the funk?

S. gregory | ohio | 08/11/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a pleasant enough cd, but I surely wouldn't call it a throwback to the funk of "the day" I just didn't feel much funk with it at all, just smooth jazz."

George Duke Bringing Joy And Other Things

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 08/11/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Considering the all out funk assault of his previous album Dukey Treats it's not a big surprise that his following release. His independantly released BPM albums from 2003 have all been extremely high quality and varied in their flavor and this album continues very much in that vein. Aside from Everett Harp,Paul Jackson and Hubert Laws most the musicians here aren't quite as well known. The idea of this music wouldn't appear to be about creating any kind of supergroup of already established name but,as the description of this album here on Amazon.com indicates to return work to the world of primarily instrumental jazz. That's not to say it's a retro excersise and neither is it clished smooth jazz. On some of the vocal numbers such as "Bring Me Joy" and "6 O'Clock Revisited" there is a definate sense of mingling a light groove with a strong jazzy sense. And that sense is something that really permeates most of the album. Songs such as "A Melody","Oh Really" and "Stupid Is As Stupid Does" all look to George Duke's fusion flavors more than his funk flavors and even though there's a distinct combination of the two they are both seperate styles of playing in many ways;one is slicker and the other tends to be faster and more bombastic. The one thing that actually helps the fusion jazz oriented numbers here from being too over the top is the fact that Duke comes at them with something of a funk styled approch which marked many of his classic album masterpieces such as Feel. The reason I deduct one star for this album is the fact this album is lacking to a fairly large degree on the melody department. On songs that spin out from fusion to funk such as "You Touch My Brain" it's on full demonstration for all to see but other times the instrumentatal work is more paramount than melody and harmonic construction and I know from his long career Duke is more than capable of bringing all of this together. More over this album is vital mood music even if the melodies are a lot less evident than would be expected from Duke. In terms of material he's still in a class all by himself and always will be. And more albums of this style would be welcome in the future as long as more carefully crafts his melodic themes before improvising on them."