CoronaVinyl Day 217 (D): Don't Let Go by George Duke

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

Today's CoronaVinyl category is "D," and I'm going with George Duke's 12th solo studio album, 1978's Don't Let Go.

Before today, I knew very little about George Duke, but from what I've learned he was a pretty interesting guy.  He was a classically trained musician, who then switched to jazz.  In the '70s, he was part of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention and part of jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley's band, while also putting out his own solo material.

In the mid '70s, he began to fuse funk and jazz, and I think that's an accurate description of Don't Let Go.  Some songs are pure '70s funk, some are more jazzy, and some are both.  In addition to Duke on the keyboards, he has a bevy of great backing musicians, including Wah Wah Watson of The Funk Brothers (Motown's legendary studio backing bad) and former/future Earth, Wind & Fire member Roland Bautista on guitar, and a young Sheila E. on congas and percussion.

The album went to #39 on the Billboard album chart and was Duke's second Top 10 album on the Billboard R&B album chart, reaching #5.  "Dukey Stick" went to #4 on the Billboard R&B singles chart.

Duke continued his varied interest over the next several decades, producing music for the likes of A Taste of Honey, Deniece Williams, Anita Baker, Gladys Knight, Melissa Manchester, Barry Manilow, The Pointer Sisters, and Smokey Robinson.  He also continued to make his own music in a variety of genres until his death in 2013 at the age of 67, and he won back-to-back Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2000 and 2001.

The version of the album on Spotify is a deluxe version with three bonus tracks, which are all different versions of "Dukey Stick."

Favorite song from Side 1:  "We Give Our Love"

The opening track on the album starts with a galloping bass line, reminiscent of the opening of Megadeth's "Peace Sells" over a decade later (aka, the MTV News lead-in music), and then the congas come in, followed by the keyboards, and the song turns into a spacey funk jam.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Don't Let Go"
The title track is a kind of frantic jazz/funk fusion with vocals that are so fast-paced I would need to read on a lyric sheet to understand.