Jazz / Jazz-Pop; Crossover Jazz
Recorded: 1978
With a hot funk band and a big hit, "Reach for It," behind him, George Duke appears mostly in his persona as R&B star on this ebullient package of sometimes Latin-inflected '70s funk. The centerpiece is a self-parodic bit of shuck and jive called "Dukey Stick," which became a number four hit single on the R&B charts (at his gigs, Duke used to flaunt a gaudy, lit-up, perhaps phallic wand, the Dukey stick, during this number). The percussion section is pretty potent, staffed by Ndugu Chancler and Sheila Escovedo in her pre-pop-star days; they even get a Latin workout of their own simply entitled "Percussion Interlude." While some of Duke's considerable keyboard and electronic prowess breaks through now and then, this album is mainly aimed at the R&B market, as the preponderance of soul vocals indicates. As such, it is a cut or two above the routine fare of the time, though not as infectious as its predecessor Reach for It.
---Richard S. Ginell, allmusic
George Duke - Keyboards, Narrator, Vocals
Byron Miller - Bass, Narrator
Carol Shive - Violin
Wah Wah Watson - Vocals
Icarus Johnson - Guitar, Narrator
Charles "Icarus" Johnson - Guitar, Narrator
Roland Bautista - Guitar (Rhythm)
Napoleon Murphy Brock - Vocals
Leon "Ndugu" Chancler - Mandolin, Drums
Sheila E. - Percussion, Conga, Narrator
Judy Geist - Viola
Jose James - Vocals
Josie James - Vocals |
