I play keyboards and George Duke was very much an influence for me.
From the New York Times:
George Duke, Keyboardist Who Crossed Genre Boundaries, Dies at 67
George Duke, who began his career as a jazz pianist in the 1960s but made his name by crossing musical boundaries, died on Monday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 67.
He had suffered heart complications after being treated for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, said his manager, Darryl Porter, who confirmed the death.
The name of the instrument with which Mr. Duke is perhaps most closely associated also describes his approach to music: synthesizer. While he remained a respected figure in the jazz world, over the years he also played keyboards with Frank Zappa and Michael Jackson, sang lead on a Top 20 single and produced pop and rhythm-and-blues hits for others. His work has been sampled by hip-hop and electronic artists, including Daft Punk.
�I was in a rock band, I played with a bunch of Brazilians, I played R&B with Parliament-Funkadelic and all of that,� he said in an interview before his most recent album, �DreamWeaver,� was released last month. �I mean, I�ve done jazz with Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderley. It�s a goulash. It�s a gumbo.�
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