Bay Area

Marin City’s George Duke Remembered in Celebration of City’s 80th Anniversary

George Duke received multiple Grammy nominations, the Edison Lifetime Achievement Award, and Keyboard Magazine’s “R&B Keyboardist of The Year,” and won a Grammy for producing the Best Jazz Vocal Album: Dianne Reeves’ “In the Moment.” Over the course of his life, Duke produced 32 studio albums, nine collaboration albums, 47 singles, and eight live albums.

Published

2 years ago

February 3, 2022

Oakland Post

“Faces in Reflections” a 2008 portrait of George Duke drawn by Marin City resident Jazon Polk, was put on display on Jan. 9. Photo courtesy of Jazon Polk.

By Godfrey Lee

The late musician and music producer George Duke, a former Marin City resident who passed away in 2013, is being remembered during Marin City’s 80th Anniversary celebration this year.

Duke was born George Mac Duke on Jan. 12, 1946, in San Rafael, California. He grew up in Marin City and attended the First Missionary Baptist Church.

Duke first got interested in music when his mother took him to see Duke Ellington in concert when he was 4 years old. When they got home, he went crazy and ran around saying “Get me a piano, get me a piano!” his mother said.

Duke began studying the piano at age 7. He learned a lot about music and absorbed the roots of Black music while attending the First Missionary Baptist Church in Marin City, observing “how music could trigger the emotions in a cause-and-effect relationship.”

Duke played in a number of high school jazz groups when he attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley and was influenced by Miles Davis, Les McCann and Cal Tjader. Duke received his bachelor’s degree in music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 1967.

Duke then formed a group with the late Al Jarreau at San Francisco’s Half Note Club, and worked at the Both/And with Letta Mbulu, Sunny Rollins and Dexter Gordon.

George later received a master’s degree in music composition from San Francisco State University and briefly taught a course on Jazz and American Culture at Merritt Junior College in Oakland.

Duke and Jean-Luc Ponty captured the attention of the jazz world with their jazz fusion album “The Jean-Luc Ponty Experience” with the George Duke Trio in 1969.

In the early 1970s, Duke also collaborated with other musicians, such as Frank Zappa, and in 1971 with Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. He also worked with artists such as Nancy Wilson, Joe Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Clarke, Flora Purim, and Airto Moreira.

Duke also collaborated and performed with Jeffrey Osborne, Deniece Williams, Stanley Clarke, Barry Manilow, Smokey Robinson, The Pointer Sisters, Gladys Knight and Anita Baker.

In 1973, Duke, Zappa and Jean-Luc Pont formed a band that stayed together for the next three years. Duke then left to perform with drummer Billy Cobham.

In 1978, Duke’s funk heavy album “Reach for It” went gold and propelled him to the top of the music charts. A year later, he recorded his best-known album, “A Brazilian Love Affair.”

Duke directed numerous musical television specials, including the Soul Train Music Awards. He also worked in television and film scoring during the 1990s, and on films such as “The Five Heartbeats,” “Karate Kid III,” “Leap of Faith,” “Good Fences,” and “Never Die Alone.”

He received multiple Grammy nominations, the Edison Lifetime Achievement Award, and Keyboard Magazine’s “R&B Keyboardist of The Year,” and won a Grammy for producing the Best Jazz Vocal Album: Dianne Reeves’ “In the Moment.”

Over the course of his life, Duke produced 32 studio albums, nine collaboration albums, 47 singles, and eight live albums.

He passed on Aug. 5, 2013, at age 67.

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Oakland Post: Week of July 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 24 – 30, 2024

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July 26, 2024

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July 20, 2024

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Op-Ed Senate Bill 966 Threatens Health Equity in East Bay

My East Bay community is struggling to get by. A proposed State Senate bill would set us back even further. Serving the East Bay community has been my life’s work and my greatest joy. After leaving the Bay Area to complete my seminary, I returned home to found The Community Church in Oakland. From the outset of my time as the church’s pastor, I have been guided by the belief that my service must extend beyond the pulpit, because the health and economic needs of my community are so great. Our church has organized free food banks, COVID-19 testing clinics, and a housing and re-entry program for those suffering from addiction.

Published

1 week ago

July 19, 2024

Oakland Post

Rev. Dr. Lawrence E. VanHook

By Rev. Dr. Lawrence E. VanHook

Special to the Post

My East Bay community is struggling to get by. A proposed State Senate bill would set us back even further.

Serving the East Bay community has been my life’s work and my greatest joy. After leaving the Bay Area to complete my seminary, I returned home to found The Community Church in Oakland.

From the outset of my time as the church’s pastor, I have been guided by the belief that my service must extend beyond the pulpit, because the health and economic needs of my community are so great. Our church has organized free food banks, COVID-19 testing clinics, and a housing and re-entry program for those suffering from addiction.

Through my service, I have seen the challenges that our community members are facing. Oakland, my hometown, has the third-highest rate of violent crime in the state. The local economy is strained. Oakland-based businesses are leaving our community because they’re struggling to get ahead.

Both East and West Oakland has disproportionately high rates of respiratory illness due to heavy air pollution. While our local efforts have brought some aid to those in need, we are also counting on our state elected officials to help us address the systemic health disparities afflicting the community.

Chief among the health concerns of community members is having reliable and affordable access to prescription drugs. Equitable access to medications gives us the peace of mind that we can keep ourselves and our families healthy and safe. Our community should not have to choose between paying rent or purchasing prescriptions.

Unfortunately, rather than taking action to combat soaring prescription drug prices, some California lawmakers are pushing legislation that could raise patient costs at the pharmacy counter.

The Legislature is currently considering SB 966, a bill backed by special interests that would undercut the few tools we have to keep prescription drug costs contained, letting big drug companies increase their prices, profiting on the backs of working families – some of whom already live paycheck to paycheck.

SB 966 would target the fundamental programs through which small businesses, unions, and government health programs are able to offer their employees and members quality and affordable healthcare. Millions of Californians rely on these plans to obtain essential medications at the lowest-possible cost.

The bill would make it illegal for employers and unions to incentivize the administrators of their prescription drug plans to negotiate for the lowest possible cost for prescriptions. Right now, small businesses and unions can choose to pay these administrators more for taking on big drug companies and securing discounts – a choice that will be outlawed under this bill.

As a result, employers will have no leverage to stop big drug companies from setting sky-high prices, disproportionately impacting working families.

As these health costs quickly add up, employers will have little choice but to pass the increases down to their employees. That means California patients will see higher healthcare costs and co-pays.

From my perspective, most concerning is that the bill would exacerbate the health disparities impacting my community and other underserved populations. If SB 966 becomes law, the most vulnerable may be forced to skip prescription doses, stop filling their prescriptions, and avoid essential care.

By rejecting this cash grab by big drug companies, our state elected officials can send a clear message that they stand with the community, patients, and working families.

We cannot afford SB 966.

Rev. Dr. VanHook is the founder and pastor of The Community Church in Oakland and the founder of The Charis House, a re-entry facility for men recovering from alcohol and drug abuse.