In a career that, thus far, spans nearly five decades, George Duke has left his mark on virtually every corner of the jazz world.  An award-winning jazz keyboardist, producer, composer, and arranger, he has moved seamlessly between straight-up jazz, funk, fusion, pop, R&B, Brazilian, Latin and classical genres.

By the age of sixteen, George had played with a number of high school jazz groups. He was heavily influenced by Miles Davis and the soul-jazz sound of Les McCann and Cal Tjader. Attending the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and majoring in trombone and composition with a minor in contrabass, he received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1967. About this time, George and a young singer named Al Jarreau formed a group that became the house band at San Francisco’s Half Note Club. George later received a Masters Degree in composition from San Francisco State University and briefly taught a course on Jazz and American Culture at Merritt Junior College in Oakland.

Barely out of his teens, he quickly made his mark on the jazz scene together with emerging violinist Jean-Luc Ponty in a collaboration that came to be released as The Jean-Luc Ponty Experience with the George Duke Trio, in 1970.  Over the next few years, he worked with Cannonball Adderly, Frank Zappa and Stanley Clarke, until breaking out as a solo artist in 1976.

In 1978, the funk-flavored sound of the gold album, Reach For It, propelled George Duke into the upper reaches of the charts, and from small clubs to large arenas.  In the late ‘70’s, Duke got into producing as a career.  His breakthrough came with an album by A Taste of Honey.  The single, “Sukiyaki,” went to Number One on the pop, adult contemporary and R&B charts, ultimately selling over two million copies.

Duke has acted as musical director for numerous artists and television specials, including the Soul Train Music Awards (nine years).  In 1990, Duke was named “R&B Keyboardist of the Year” by Keyboard Magazine. Other honors include Grammy nominations for his production of “We Are The World” by the Children Of The World; “Sweet Baby” by the Clarke/Duke project; “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” by Deniece Williams; “Stay With Me Tonight” and “On The Wings Of Love” by Jeffrey Osborne; and “Fumilayo” by Dianne Reeves.

His latest album, “Dukey Treats,” released in late 2008, is as George Duke describes it, “ a celebration of ‘old school’ with a new school twist seen through my mind’s eye.”