George Duke describes this as his "strongest album in years." The brilliant keyboardist-composer-producer has gathered a myriad of voices and crystallizes them into a multi-faceted whole that far outweighs the sum of its parts. From bassist Christian McBride's work on the funky jam tune "Burnt Sausage" to Rachelle Ferrell s contemporary jazz singing on "Missing You," every song offers something special. The powerful centerpiece of the album, the positive and politically charged "Change the World," spotlights several up-and-coming young singers alongside some of the most prominent funk, soul, gospel and R&B artists of the last few decades: Lalah Hathaway (daughter of soul legend Donny Hathaway), Jeffrey Osborne, BeBe Winans, Lori Perry (of sister group Perri), Freddie Jackson and Terry Dexter, among others. A special bonus cut, Ball & Chain, features a duet with Duke accompanying the late R&B singer Teena Maria one of the last tracks she recorded before her sudden death in 2010.
Artists are Dreamweavers
We take tangible and intangible elements from the known world and combine them with elements from the spiritual world in order to reach deeper levels of understanding between the two. We spin undeveloped yarn of ideas into reality - it is the ultimate act of creating something from nothing in this world. In short, we are the storytellers and conduits of possibilities. The best of us are those that weave deeper levels of yarn thus giving the fabric more depth. That doesn't necessarily mean that more complexity is better for many times the simplest fabric conveys the strongest meaning. The important thing is intent, message, execution and honesty of design and in that I have always tried to hold my stead. Thus my musical fabric is diverse with multiple levels. That is the way of life and definitely the way I roll, so enjoy the ride … as Cannon used to say - ""Ahoom":
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DreamWeaver - I wanted to begin the album with almost nothing - a sound - a timbre and begin weaving the fabric of the album from that.
Stones Of Orion - features Stanley Clarke on upright bass and allows me to create a "tone poem" if you will. I know some musical scholars hate that term but for me it works. The horns take the lead until the piano in the bridge. From there the tune is led by piano and bass with horn accompaniment. I might also mention that Gorden Campbell lays it down on the drums - yes sir!
Trippin’ - is the first vocal tune on the album. It features Michael Stewart on muted trumpet and Kamasi Washington on tenor sax. The lyrics reflect the real life story of how I was influenced by the jazz music I heard through the walls of my moms apartment from the guy next door. I was around eight years old and quite impressionable not realizing at the time that the guy most of the time was having sex and the music was merely providing ambience and background music for his escapades (smile).
Ashtray - kind of a fonky instrumental tune featuring the horn section and a lot of synth playing. It features me playing lead synth bass, rhodes and various other thangs. The background rapping is basically carried by Stanley Clarke’s son, Chris Clarke. I chime in from time to time and my good friend Rose Geddes is the "lady with a question"
Missing You - set very much like "No Rhyme No Reason" and featuring Rachelle Ferrell towards the end of the song, I approach the melody intimately and play the piano like you know I can and sing the melody like you know I do..hello!
Transition 1 - exactly what it says…
Change The World - one of those "imagine what we could be if we joined forces to fight the various injustices in this world" type song. I know it's a pipe dream but it doesn’t mean that positive energy and messages shouldn’t be brought to the surface in song and verbalized by people of good will who want the best for humanity and not necessarily for personal gain. On board to help me deliver the message is Lalah Hathaway, Jeffrey Osborne, Lori Perry, BeBe Winans, Dira Sugandi, Freddie Jackson, Terry Dexter and the young Kennedy Fuselier. Money, power, lies and greed hypnotize and deceive, but we don’t have to accept it, there must be a way to fix it - we must find a way to fix it.
Jazzmatazz - a jazz dance track that features Chill, the son of Walter Booker who was Cannonball Adderley’s bassist for many years while I was a member of the band. The tune features solos by me on piano and rhodes, Ramon Flores on trumpet, Kamasi Washington on tenor sax and Michael Landau on guitar.
Round The Way Girl - a light hearted look at running into an old friend and reflecting on the very cool things about a real "round the way girl"
Transition 2 - what it is..
Brown Sneakers - an instrumental tune originally written for outstanding guitarist Peter Tiehaus. I decided to record the tune, flip it and make it a synth feature. I mainly play Arp Odyssey, Mini Moog and Prophet 5. Bassist Michael Manson, percussionist Lenny Castro and drummer Gorden Campbell help propel this tune down the street..
You Never Know - a respectful look at what we know and what we don’t know about this life. With the loss of my wife last year many of these thoughts came to the surface of my mind and so I decided to write a song about it.
Ball & Chain - written and sung by Teena Marie, this was to be the first song produced for a Teena Marie jazz album. I was really looking forward to working with her on this project but unfortunately she passed before we had the chance to do more recording. Except for the horns I played all the instruments.
Burnt Sausage Jam - the continuation of a jam started on my Face The Music CD called "Ten Mile Jog". It features bassist Christian McBride, guitarist Jef Lee Johnson and drummer Lil John Roberts. From the original jam session recordings I orchestrated the track and added what I thought it needed.
Happy Trails - yep that’s the one, written by Dale Evans and recorded with Roy Rogers - except you know I did a little something different with the tune - check it out.
