Keyboard September 2013 PDF [PDF]

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Keyboard Magazine

GEORGE DUKE | MOOG SUB PHATTY | LORBER AND CLAV LESSONS | MOTU DIGITAL PERFORMER 8 | OMD | ADAM HOLZMAN | VINTAGE VIBE

OMD Electronic Legends on LIVID ALIAS 8 Controllerist’s Best Friend

n nn nn nn n BIG FISH AUDIO VINTAGE VIBE Quick and Easy Keys Library

New Synths v e r s u s Old

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ADAM HOLZMAN From Miles Davis to Prog Rock

MOOG SUB PHATTY Affordable Analog Attitude

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SEPTEMBER 2013

MOTU DIGITAL PERFORMER 8 Elegant Powerhouse now does Windows

09.2013 | $5.99 A MUSIC PLAYER PUBLICATION

The all new Prophet 12 from Dave Smith Instruments. The legacy continues.

Visit davesmithinstruments.com for details.

CONTENTS

SEPTEMBER 2013

TALK 8

KNOW

Voices from the Keyboard community.

NEW GEAR 10

24

40

BACKTRACK Backing Track Setup 101

42

DANCE Transforming Drums Into Synths

HALL OF FAMER Multi-keyboard, multi-genre maestro George Duke gives us his most indepth interview yet. Learn about his collaborations with musical luminaries such as Frank Zappa, Cannonball Adderly, Al Jarreau, and Stanley Clarke. Learn in detail about his preferred sound sources, stage gear, and MIDI routing. All this and more! LEGENDS Paul Humphries and Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark talk about old gear, new gear, and the success of their latest album English Electric. GURUS Adam Holzman has played with Wayne Shorter and been musical director for Miles Davis. Hear about his new prog rock work with Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson.

TOSHI

20

THE ART OF SYNTH SOLOING Dukey Tips for getting George Duke-like expressiveness

Our monthly wrap-up of exciting new product releases from keyboard, recording, pro audio, and music software makers.

HEAR 12

38

REVIEW 44

ANALOG SYNTH Moog Music Sub Phatty

48

DAW MOTU Digital Performer 8

54

EXPANSION Kurzweil Kore64

56

SOUND LIBRARY Big Fish Audio Vintage Vibe

60

CONTROLLER Livid Instruments Alias 8

62

APP Omenie/Streetly Mellotronics M3000 HD

CODA

PLAY 28

5 WAYS Matt Beck on five ways to play like George Duke

30

FUNK Brian Mitchell on Clavinet in Context

34

COLD FUSION Jeff Lorber returns with blues concepts for fusion soloing

KEYBOARD (ISSN 0730-0158) is published monthly by NewBay Media, LLC 1111 Bayhill Drive, Suite 125, San Bruno, CA 94066. All material published in KEYBOARD is copyrighted © 2013 by NewBay Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction of material appearing in KEYBOARD is forbidden without permission. KEYBOARD is a registered trademark of NewBay Media. Periodicals Postage Paid at San Bruno, CA and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to KEYBOARD P.O. Box 9158, Lowell, MA 01853. Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

66

Five things Michel Camilo has learned about Building a Better Left Hand

Online Now! • Gear reports from Summer NAMM 2013 • Adam Wakeman on tour with Black Sabbath keyboardmag.com/september2013 COVER PHOTO BY TOSHI

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Keyboard 09.2013

Introducing

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The latest in a series of critically

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Harmonic Resonance Modeling

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VOL. 39, NO. 09 #450 SEPTEMBER 2013 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Michael Molenda [email protected] EDITOR IN CHIEF: Stephen Fortner [email protected] MANAGING EDITOR: Debbie Greenberg [email protected] EDITOR AT LARGE: Jon Regen SENIOR CORRESPONDENTS: Jim Aikin, Craig Anderton, David Battino, Tom Brislin, Michael Gallant, Robbie Gennet, Scott Healy, Ken Hughes, Peter Kirn, John Krogh, Richard Leiter, Mike McKnight, Tony Orant, Francis Preve, Mitchell Sigman EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Grace Larkin ART DIRECTOR: Damien Castaneda [email protected] MUSIC COPYIST: Matt Beck PRODUCTION MANAGER: Amy Santana PUBLISHER: Joe Perry [email protected], 212.378.0464 ADVERTISING DIRECTOR, NORTHWEST, MIDWEST, & NEW BUSINESS DEV.: Greg Sutton [email protected], 925.425.9967 ADVERTISING DIRECTOR, SOUTHWEST & ASIA: Mari Deetz [email protected], 650.238.0344 ADVERTISING DIRECTOR, EAST COAST & EUROPE: Jeff Donnenwerth [email protected], 770.643.1425 SPECIALTY SALES ASSOCIATE: Michelle Eigan [email protected], 650.238.0325

THE NEWBAY MUSIC GROUP VICE PRESIDENT PUBLISHING DIRECTOR: Bill Amstutz GROUP PUBLISHER: Bob Ziltz EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Brad Tolinski SENIOR FINANCIAL ANALYST: Bob Jenkins PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT MANAGER: Beatrice Kim DIRECTOR OF MARKETING: Josh Bernstein MOTION GRAPHICS DESIGNER: Tim Tsuruda SYSTEMS ENGINEER: Bill Brooks CONSUMER MARKETING DIRECTOR: Meg Estevez CONSUMER MARKETING COORDINATOR: Dominique Rennell FULFILLMENT COORDINATOR: Ulises Cabrera OFFICES SERVICES COORDINATOR: Mara Hampson

NEWBAY MEDIA CORPORATE PRESIDENT & CEO: Steve Palm CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER: Paul Mastronardi CONTROLLER: Jack Liedke VICE PRESIDENT, DIGITAL MEDIA: Robert Ames VICE PRESIDENT, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT: Denise Robbins VICE PRESIDENT, CONTENT & MARKETING: Anthony Savona IT DIRECTOR: Anthony Verbanic VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES: Ray Vollmer LIST RENTAL 914.925.2449 [email protected] REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS For article reprints please contact our reprint coordinator at Wright’s Reprints: 877.652.5295 SUBSCRIPTION QUESTIONS? 800-289-9919 (in the U.S. only) 978-667-0364 keyboardmag@computerfulfi llment.com Keyboard Magazine, Box 9158, Lowell, MA 01853 Find a back issue 800-289-9919 or 978-667-0364 [email protected] Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts, photos, or artwork.

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Keyboard 09.2013

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TALK

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VO IC ES FRO M THE KEYBOARD COMMUN ITY

Comment directly at keyboardmag.com

Editor’s Note A couple of months back, I had the privilege of visiting George Duke in Hollywood and shooting a video tour of his studio. (The permalink to that is keyboardmag.com/article/151709.) Off camera, in reply to some question I had about his rig of years past, George said, “Ask that Jerry Kovarsky—he knows more about me than I do!” At that moment, I knew who to ask to write this month’s cover story. I want to thank Jerry for a deep and far-reaching interview that took me back to when I started reading Keyboard. In that story, you’ll notice the term “Hall of Famer” in our top-of-page “crawl” that describes what’s in the magazine. Though our official Hall of Fame issue is planned for later this year, we wanted to induct Mr. Duke early—and have room for Jerry’s full-length interview—as a special honor. Jerry is a heck of a keyboardist himself and one of the hardest working guys in synths, having held high-level gigs at Ensoniq, Casio, and Korg. Now

Key Secrets

twitter.com keyboardmag

that he’s a consultant living the good life in Hawaii, we’re lucky to have him as a regular contributor. Speaking of Keyboard history, among the many reasons I’m thrilled George Duke is on the cover this month is the fact that a small article about him was my first byline in the magazine in the mid-’90s. I first discovered his playing on the Frank Zappa album One Size Fits All. I sent Keyboard an unsolicited analysis of the album, which I’d written to match the format for Robbie Gennet’s “Key Tracks” column (hmm . . . we should bring that back), thinking I’d maybe get some feedback about my writing. When I got an email saying they wanted to publish it, I nearly fell over. On a different topic, I have to point out an occurrence of Murphy’s Law. In last month’s table of contents we said that a review of the Kurzweil SPS4-8 was “coming next month.” We had every reason to think we’d receive the review unit in time to make this issue, but due to circumstances

facebook.com KeyboardMagazine SoundCloud.com KeyboardMag Keyboard Corner forums.musicplayer.com email [email protected]

beyond Kurzweil’s control, we didn’t. We’ll review it in a future issue or online, and keep you posted.

Stephen Fortner Editor

Old Synth, New Tricks

It was time to sell the obsolete gear cluttering my garage. I hauled out the wheezy Korg 707 I hadn’t touched in years, then started to play it. Huh? The sounds were still thin, harsh, and noisy, but the keys felt significantly crisper than the ones on my current controller. So I took the 707 off sale and took it to rehearsal. My bandmates praised the increased groove in my playing. Better, the 707’s buzzy tone made the perfect carrier signal for the vocoder in my Electro-Harmonix Voice Box, another neglected piece. The screeching digital synth had morphed into a rich, organic instrument. From weakness comes strength. David Battino

THE Q: HOW

POLL

DO YOU MONITOR YOUR KEYBOARD SOUND ONSTAGE? Polls rotate every two weeks, and can be found at the bottom of our homepage.

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Keyboard 09.2013

IN-EAR MONITORS ONLY

14%

TWO POWERED MONITOR SPEAKERS FOR STEREO

KEYBOARD COMBO AMP

32%

15%

WHATEVER THE VENUE OR SOUND COMPANY PROVIDES

16%

SINGLE POWERED MONITOR SPEAKER

23%

SPECIAL PREVIEW

APPLE LOGIC PRO X MIDI Plug-Ins: Call these up on an instrument track when you need an arpeggiator, transposer, modulator, chord trigger, or randomizer. You can even script your own.

Just as this issue was going to the printer, Apple announced Logic Pro X. Available as a download only from the App Store for $199.99, this latest generation of Apple’s DAW requires OS 10.8.4 or later. We have it in hand for a full review, but here’s a sneak peek at our favorite new features so far.

Flex Pitch: Integrated pitch correction tool that you can use manually, automatically, or control via MIDI. Drum Kit Designer: Build kits in a graphical interface and tweak them using dampening and tuning controls.

Smart Controls: Each plug-in and instrument has a large panel with musically suitable controls right up front.

Logic Remote: Free iPad app to control Logic Pro X away from the computer when both Mac and iPad are on same WiFi router.

Drummer: New track format has an interactive pattern generator with intuitive controls for creating realistic drum parts.

Track Stacks: Consolidate instruments or tracks with or without submixing them to an aux. You can save these as a Patch and open them in MainStage 3 ($29.99 separate purchase) at a gig.

Other new features include GUI improvements, in-app SoundCloud support, Final Cut Pro X XML import/export, MusicXML export, and nearly 38GB of samples and Apple Loops. All told, Logic Pro X is state-of-the art in function and a steal for the price. 09.2013 Keyboard

9

NEW GEAR BY GINO ROBAIR

HAMMOND XK-1C WHAT Ultra-compact drawbar organ. WITH Splittable keyboard. Upper, lower, and pedal parts. Latest-generation Leslie simulation. Drawbar profiles for various vintage Hammonds, plus classic transistor combo organs. WHY If you need to dedicate a keyboard solely to great B-3 and Leslie sounds, it doesn’t get any more portable than this. $1,499 street | hammondorganco.com

NATIVE INSTRUMENTS DISCOVERY SERIES: CUBA WHAT Sound library. WITH Traditional instruments playing authentic progressions and rhythms. Ensembles based on rhumba and salsa styles. Effects include convolution reverb and virtual tape saturation. Runs in Kontakt 5 and Kontakt 5 Player. WHY A quick way to lend an Afro-Cuban vibe to any production. $99 | native-instruments.com

XILS V+ WHAT Software emulation of classic Roland VP-330 vocoder. WITH Ten-band vocoding. Strings and choir sounds. Arpeggiator with swing control. Modulation matrix. Reverb, phase, and stereo effects. Vibrato with delay time. WHY You get the classic vocoder sound of the ’70s and ’80s without the hassle of vintage hardware. $194 | xils-lab.com

FOCUSRITE iTRACK STUDIO WHAT Turnkey recording bundle for iPad. WITH iTrack Solo 24-bit/96kHz interface. Condenser mic, XLR cable, and headphones. Upcoming Focusrite Tape app for recording. Also works with GarageBand, Cubasis, or any CoreAudiocompatible recording app. WHY It’s a one-stop shop for studio-quality mobile recording. $299.99 list | $249.99 street | focusrite.com 10

Keyboard 09.2013

AKAI MPX8 WHAT MIDI controller with built-in sample player. WITH Eight velocity- and pressuresensitive pads. Eight-voice polyphony. Sample storage on SD/SDHC cards. USB and standard MIDI I/O. Balanced 1/4" outs. Headphone out. Editor and sound library. USB-powered. WHY Who can resist a portable sampler that also works with your DAW? $99 | akaipro.com

MISELU C.24 WHAT Musical keyboard for iPad. WITH Semiweighted feel produced by magnets. Infrared key sensors to provide velocity and aftertouch sensitivity. Top surface is a capacitive, programmable ribbon controller. Doubles as iPad cover. WHY It’s the most advanced iPad mini-keyboard we’ve seen, and it’s being crowdfunded on Kickstarter. $TBA | miselu.com

KORG MONO/POLY FOR REASON WHAT Reason Rack Extension. WITH Four oscillators with sync and cross-modulation. Component Modeling Technology provides authentic analog sound. Extensive modulation matrix and 128-voice polyphony. Unison setting with control over spread. Multi-effects and arpeggiator. WHY The Mono/Poly hardware synth is as hard to find as it is awesome—but now you can have it in Reason. $49 | korg.com

PROPELLERHEAD THOR FOR IPAD WHAT Synth for iPad. WITH Six types of oscillators. Four filter types. Over 1,000 patches included. Play chords using Strum and Hit features. Patches can be shared with Reason on your computer. WHY Thor has proven to be a powerful synth on the desktop, and at this price it’s irresistible for the iPad. All prices are manufacturer’s suggested retail (list) unless otherwise $14.99 | propellerheads.se noted. Follow keyboardmag.com/news and @keyboardmag on Twitter y g / for up-to-the-minute gear news. 09.2013 Keyboard

11

HEAR

HA LL OF FAM E R S » LEGEN DS » GUR US

FUSION MASTER. FUNK PIONEER. JAZZ LEGEND.

e eorg ROCK HERO.

G

BRAZILIAN MUSIC AFICIONADO.

R&B HITMAKER.

KEYBOARD HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE.

fsssdsssa BY JERRY KOVARSKY

Pick any one you like; in fact, pick them all. They only begin to describe the one and only George Duke. Now in the sixth decade of his illustrious career, George is making some of his strongest music ever, as evidenced by his latest release, Dreamweaver. It captures all we’ve come to expect from Mr. Duke: impeccable playing on a variety of keyboards across multiple styles, soulful vocals from guest artists as well as Duke himself, sterling production work, and a playfulness and sense of humor that tells us that he’s having fun.

K U D e 12

Keyboard 09.2013

TOSHI

asssdsssf asssds ssd sd dss ds sssf sssf f Did you write specifically for the new album and a deadline, as opposed to writing when inspiration strikes and putting things on the shelf and waiting? A little of both. Four or five of the songs were written specifically for the album. It actually began on

a boat, and I started getting some interesting ideas. “You Never Know” was one. “Missing You” was one. I had an idea for “Round the Way Girl” that came up on the boat as well. I didn’t necessarily have a melody, but I knew that I wanted to include something like that. The idea of closing the album with “Happy Trails” came to me, and of course, everybody thought I was out of my mind. But those other songs were specifically written for this album, along with “Stones of Orion.” When you say boat, was it one of the jazz cruises? Yeah. I’d go into my studio and because of the situation I’d gone through with the death of my wife, it was just impossible. There was no way that I felt like making any music, which is very strange, because that’s not usually the case. After a few days on the boat, I kind of loosened up. I decided to sit out and watch the sun come up one morning, and the ideas started flowing. How did the production start on the tune “Stones of Orion”? I already had put together a demo with drums, bass, chords, and a synth horn melody. I had Gordon Campbell replace the drum part I’d played, because I wanted real drums, and Stanley Clarke played bass, and the rest I overdubbed. I had a four-piece horn section replace all the horn stuff I did. Then I went in and played the piano around that. On “Trippin’,” there’s a kind of muted wah synth part throughout, along with a trumpet. What was that played on? The muted trumpet was real. The little melody was a Minimoog. I had an idea for this the same as I did for “Stones of Orion,” so the demo track was already there. I’d played the drums and the bass, and didn’t want to change those. There are only a couple of tunes like that on this record where it’s actually all synth—except in this case for the trumpet, which was Michael Patches Stewart, and the sax, which was Kamasi Washington. I wanted real horns. And I wanted to include that Cannonball Adderley reference where you hear, “Ahoom.” That was a thing he used to say, “Ahoom,” which basically meant, “Right on!” On “Ashtray,” the credits say you play lead synth bass, but there’s a bass that sounds pretty real to me. It’s not! It came from Spectrasonics Trillian. There was a bass patch in there that was very aggressive and nasty, and that’s what I used. As a matter of fact, I can tell you that that was the last tune to make the record. I was gonna pull it; 14

Keyboard 09.2013

I wasn’t happy with it. And Erik [Zobler, George’s long-time engineer] took it home and said, “Man, I like this! You need to put it on the album.” Had you already laid down that lead synth bass or did you keep coming back to that aspect of it? No, that came later. I had the melody with the synth and I told Erik, “I’m still not happy. Let’s go back in. I’ve got an idea.” And I put this lead bass on top of it, like a strong kind of Marcus Miller or Stanley Clark style. I wanted the bass to lead this thing because a lot of the sounds I use when I play live are really bass sounds, sometimes moved up a couple of octaves.

TECHNIQUE IS A MEANS TO AN END, NOT AN END IN ITSELF.

What was the synth solo on “Round the Way Girl” played on? A Minimoog? Both of my Minimoogs had been racked and whacked—they weren’t working. I called a friend of mine, Ken Rich, and he said, “George, I have a Minimoog that you’re welcome to use anytime you’d like.” So I said, “Well I need it!” For a lot of the solos on this record I wanted a real Minimoog with its pitch-bend wheel, because it’s different trying to do that with a controller. [Ken Rich is known as one of the best keyboard restorers and customizers in the business. —Ed.] Tell me about the track “Brown Sneakers.” “Brown Sneakers” was actually written for a guy from Holland, Peter Tiehaus, but never recorded. I said, “I want to turn this into a synth extravaganza.” So for the first solo I played a Minimoog. The second solo was my ARP Odyssey. The

melody was actually played on a Prophet-5. But my Prophet died many years ago so I used the old Native Instruments virtual one. That’s what I’d originally sent to Peter and the part sounded good, except I didn’t like the tone. So I said to Erik, “Look, I don’t need to play this again. Do something with it!” [Laughs.] So he ended up reamping it. [Zobler confirms he ran it through an old Standell guitar amp. —Ed.] So everything in there that you think sounds like a lead guitar is actually a synth. And you went back to your two original synths, the Minimoog and the Odyssey. They have different personalities and that’s why I figured if I’m going to play all the solos on the tune, I don’t want that sucker to sound the same all the way through. The main thing for me was not just to play a lot of notes, but to try to construct melodies. That’s my Miles Davis training where it’s not necessary to play every note in the scale as fast as you can, because that’s not music. Technique is a means to an end, not an end in itself. How would you compare the ARP Odyssey to the Minimoog? They’re like two sides of a coin. To me, it’s almost like the ARP Odyssey is the woman and the Minimoog is the guy. What I do on a Minimoog I can’t get out of an ARP Odyssey. It’s the tonality, which leads me in different directions musically. It’s the same way with playing a Rhodes or a good piano. The way it plays will allow you to go to different melodic places that you might not find on a different instrument. The bassy personality of a Minimoog, pretty much across the board, has a fatness and I like that. The ARP Odyssey is a little thinner, but there’s something about it that I love and it lets me do things that I don’t like to do on a Minimoog. What love to do with these instruments is go from one timbre to another during a solo. So you may start a solo with one timbre but by the end you’re somewhere else, and that allowed it to grow. That’s why I hated some of the digital instruments that started coming out [in the 1980s]; you were kind of stuck with what you had. What keyboards and sounds do you use live? I use two Yamaha Motif ES8s as controllers and for a few internal sounds. I use the bottom Motif to trigger the Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Clavinet, all the basic sounds. I’d say 99 percent of the more orchestral stuff is triggered by the top Motif, including brass sounds. Unless I’m doing a trio format with Al Jarreau or I’m using an acoustic piano and a real suitcase Rhodes, my main Rhodes is the Scarbee library. I also incorporated one called [Gospel Musicians] Neo-Soul Suitcase, because that has a little more

grit and meat on it for certain types of sounds. There’s another that’s pretty smooth, and it’s also a Scarbee thing but it’s toned down; it doesn’t have a lot of attack. As a matter a fact, I’m using that sound on “Brazilian Love Affair.” When I go into playing more funk, I might use Neo-Soul Rhodes, which has a lot of attack. But if I’m doing, say, a Miles Davis tune, I prefer the Scarbee. I’ve also used the Rhodes in Pianoteq, so I actually have four different Rhodes sounds, depending on what I want to hear. For Wurlitzer and Clavinet, I’ll use the Scarbee library as well. I like his work. As a matter of fact, [Thomas] Scarbee and I have been talking about doing a “Duke Rhodes.” He’s an amazing cat. In terms of sampled acoustic piano, the one I like best so far is the Dan Dean Blüthner, which is part of the Native Instruments catalog. For synth sounds, some of the patches that I use, like the guitar-type grunt sound, come out of the Motif ES8. I also use Arturia Mini V and a bunch of things for patches where I’m running around with the keytar.

You’ve had some pivotal gigs and musical partnerships. Let’s start with Al Jarreau. I’ve known him a long time, since he came into a club that I was working in northern California. He came up onstage during a jam session and blew everybody away, including me. He’s a fabulous musician and we’re still playing dates together. In terms of his singing, it’s like working with a jazz horn player in that there’s almost nothing you can play that can confuse him. You can’t say that about every singer.

TOSHI

The slap bass sound when you do those kinds of solos—what is it? We’re about to make a change there. The slap bass sound [from Spectrasonics Trillian] that I used on “Ashtray” is the one that I want to use live because it has a little more grit than the one I’m using now, which is from the ES8. I’m always looking for the thing around the block. Now, some of the brass sounds I’ve changed up a little bit. I’ve been doing both of the tunes I wrote for Miles Davis [“Cobra” and “Backyard Ritual”] in my own shows and I’m using the SampleModeling trumpet, which is amazing. [See our review in the April 2013 issue. — Ed.]. I’ve been working my brass section sound for years and I keep making changes. With the Motif I have four different sliders controlling different sounds from the computer—an alto sax on one, (SampleModeling), a tenor sax section on the other (old ProSonus library), a trumpet section on the other (Native Instruments Session Brass), and what’s on the fourth keeps changing because I keep looking for the ultimate fat brass sound that will cut. I’m close, but I ain’t there yet.

THE

DUKEY RIG BY ANDREW PAPASTEPHANOU, KEYBOARD TECH FOR GEORGE DUKE Onstage, George runs a 2.8Ghz Core i7 MacBook Pro with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB solid-state drive. Our sample libraries are on the system drive, thanks to the speed of the SSD. From pressing the power button, we can load the entire show—about 6GB of samples—in under 45 seconds. For keyboards, we use a backline-supplied grand piano—typically a Bösendorfer 290, Steinway D, Yamaha CFIIIS, or Fazioli F308—two backlined Motif ES8s, and a custom-modded Alesis Vortex. I had to rewire the polarity of the pitch-bender on the Vortex to fit how George uses it. Our MOTU UltraLite interface handles both audio and MIDI. We’re using MIDI Solutions’ Quad Thru and Quad Merger devices to route the Motifs and Vortex into the UltraLite. I did this to streamline the rig and reduce the number of drivers that might need updating. Since the UltraLite is bus-powered and the MacBook’s AC supply switches from 100 to 240 volts, we don’t have concerns over unstable or international power. If someone kicks out a power cable, the laptop battery takes over and we don’t have to reboot. We use a MIDIjet Pro system for wireless MIDI between the keytar and UltraLite. This works internationally in the 2.4GHz band and handles dropped MIDI by sending note-offs when the unit goes out of range. I’ve seen George walk up an aisle in a large theater, go out one door, and come back through another without ever missing a note. On the grand piano we have two Yamahiko piano pickups through a Yamahiko DI, plus either two DPA 4021 mics magnetically mounted on the frame or the Earthworks PianoMic system. The combination of pickups and microphones is stellar! Regarding software, we run Kontakt 5 in 64-bit mode for most of George’s computer-based sounds. Kontakt’s instrument banks are great for live use—you can see them in the screenshot. You can edit all the “skinned” Kontakt libraries, save your presets, then drag-and-drop those into slots in your instrument bank and access them via program changes on your controller. We’re running eight MIDI channels of instrument banks: four controlled from each Motif ES8. We also run Apple MainStage 2 in 32-bit mode, using a custom multitimbral template for certain effects-heavy instruments. George and I have built some great guitar and Rhodes patches that live there. MIDI is all routed so that George is never locked out of a sound on either Motif, and when he picks up his keytar, he can access either the computer or the internal Motif sounds—all without having to operate the computer directly.

You saw it here first: George Duke’s libraries for onstage use in Native Instruments Kontakt.

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Keyboard 09.2013

Let’s move on to Jean-Luc Ponty. I love Jean-Luc because he gave me my first shot in the business. I’d sent him a tape and eventually he decided, let’s give the kid a shot. I came to L.A. and through working with him I met Quincy Jones, Frank Zappa, and others who would come to see this fabulous violinist, and I just happened to be there playing piano. Now, I knew instinctively that I needed to draw some attention, so I went kind of nuts. I played with my feet. I did everything, because I realized the music business was out there in the audience. So you started to work with Frank Zappa after the Jean-Luc gig? After we did the King Kong record [King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa], Frank asked me to join the band. I did one date with Frank and an orchestra at UCLA in 1969— with the band that wound up being the Mothers of Invention during 1970. The first recording I did with him was one cut on Chunga’s Revenge, but that was more of a studio date. You go from being a straight-laced jazz guy to out doing Zappa’s 200 Motels. Did that feel like the hardest left turn of your life? Absolutely. I took a lot of heat from the jazz guys, but I felt I had something to learn. Frank was deeper than most jazz guys then realized. And as crazy as 200 Motels was, I did learn something. But you know, when I was first in the band, I didn’t play a lot of keyboards. That was Ian Underwood. I played mostly trombone. He found out I played trombone and I realized, why did I tell him that? When I rejoined, I said, “I’ll rejoin this band on one condition: I will not even look at that trombone!” Then you got the offer to go with Cannonball Adderley. Zappa and Cannonball were similar in that they worked on my musical psyche, but in different ways. Frank would tell me, “George, you should play synthesizer. You should sing. You should let your humor come out onstage.” He’d just sit down and talk to me about things, not telling me “You must do this,” but opening my mind to other forms of music, both simple and complex. That’s the main thing I learned from him: Just because it’s simple doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have value. With Cannon it was different because he came from the jazz world and I couldn’t turn down being a part of that. I said, “Frank, I love what you’re doin’. I’ll still make records with you, but I got to do this thing with Cannonball.” And he understood. I continued to record with Zappa during the time I was with Cannonball, which was a couple of years, 1971 and 1972. He’d tell me I

needed to broaden my palate. He had me listen to some Milton Nascimento, who I’d never heard of before. As far as I was concerned up until then, Brazilian music began and ended with Sérgio Mendes. He said to make yourself aware of the other stuff and if there’s something you want to use, put it on your musical canvas. Then you came back to Zappa. That’s the era when I first found out about you. Waka Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo were jazz records, but Frank wouldn’t admit it. I’d say, “Frank, you’re playing jazz.” He’d say, “No I’m not.” That whole thing led to his well-known saying, “Jazz isn’t dead, it just smells funny.” One reason I went back with Frank from Cannonball was because he’d hired a bunch of jazz guys that I’d worked with, like Ralph Humphrey, the Fowler Brothers [Tom on bass and Bruce on trombone], the incredible percussionist Ruth Underwood, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Sal Marquez, who’s a great trumpet player. Frank was known for having musicians learn a huge book before going on tour, and you never knew what tune he’d call. . . . Basically he’d come in with a form that we had to learn. He didn’t allow reading sheet music onstage, so we had to learn all of it and he was

constantly coming up with new music. When you came in with something new, you had to play the notes or what he had in mind, that’s for sure. But at the same time, it was loose. It was structured, but it was structured chaos. When we were in the studio, for example, he would have a track going on and in terms of whatever I played synthesizerwise, once I understood what he was looking for, he didn’t even say anything to me. I knew instinctively what to do. He’d get this wry kind of smile on his face and I knew I had it. Don’t get me wrong—it wasn’t like everybody just did their own thing. You had to play stuff like “The Black Page” and “Apostrophe” and if you played a wrong note, he’d make you do it again. I made a mistake in “Apostrophe” one show and Frank stopped the band, cut us off, and he said, “George made a mistake. We’re gonna play it again but after George plays it by himself.” So I played the whole doggone thing by myself, and then he said, “Now everybody, 1, 2, 3,4!” After that I said, “I’ll never let that happen again!” So I rehearsed until I had it down and, eventually, he started writing things for me to sing, and that’s when my whole life kind of changed. What can you say about the band with Billy Cobham? Well, obviously I was aware of Billy Cobham for many

years and enjoyed his work with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. We’d done a few dates together where they opened for Frank Zappa. During that tour we began speaking about forming a band. In 1976, we formed one with Dougie Rauch on bass, who’s no longer with us. And we had Billy and myself and John Scofield. I explained to Billy that I didn’t want it to be just a fusion band where we were just playing a lot of notes. That wasn’t making it for me because it seemed at that time that was all I was hearing. I wanted to do something that had more of an R&B tinge to it. I said, “I think we can reach another audience if we lay the law down on some grooves but still play all that other stuff on top of it. But keep some of it simple so people can grab on to it.” I also said, “We need to bring some humor into this.” Fusion had become too serious. That’s why I came up with the thing about “Space Lady.” So, Billy went along with it, he was cool, he laughed, and we always had a good time. We toured a lot, it was a great band, and the record sold way beyond what we ever thought. Tell us about your music with Stanley Clarke. It’s interesting because it’s not the fusion chop-fest people might have expected. When I first met Stanley, I was with Cannonball and Stanley was with Chick Corea, doing the

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Light as a Feather music with Airto and Flora Purim. We met and became friends. Essentially, though we’re different in many musical ways, we’re very similar. When we began to work together as a band, I mentioned that I didn’t think we should do what people thought we should do. Let’s flip the script. The idea of doing a song like “Sweet Baby” wouldn’t even come into people’s minds about Clarke/Duke—are you kidding? We paid the price, too, because the record label wasn’t into it. We then decided to do something a little funkier, something which we thought might get played on the radio, though we wanted to keep the musicality. It worked—we sold a lot of records, we did a lot of touring, and we still tour.

out of a drum solo Ndugu started playing this beat and I started playing this bass line of three notes and people started screaming. I looked at Byron and said, “Play something.” And that’s how “Reach For It” was born. A couple of months later, we recorded it and there it was. It became a huge R&B hit.

Rachelle Ferrell is another artist you’ve worked with. I could relate her to Al Jarreau—fluid, big ears, lives in the moment. She’s one of those few artists like Al where there’s nothing that you can play that’s going to interfere with what she’s doing. I never felt like I can’t play a certain chord because she won’t know where I’m going. She’s probably one of the most amazThe ’70s funk of Reach For It was a huge part ing technicians singer-wise as well as emotionally. I met her through [Blue Note Records chairman] of your most commercial success. Bruce Lundvall. I heard her singing on a CD that That was another stylistic jump. Ndugu Chancler and Byron Miller and I have been working together he sent, and I asked Bruce who was singing the for a long time as a trio. We played a lot of fusion, bass part and he said, “She is.” I said, “Get out off here!” It wound up being the duet she did with and some of the funk stuff that we did in those days was more Sly and the Family Stone-oriented Will Downing, but at that time she did the low in a trio format. I liked the simplicity of what Sly part. We did about two or three albums did. However, one day Ndugu brought over a Par- together and a bunch of touring. liament Funkadelic record, The Mothership ConYou’re known for jazz, funk, and fusion, butt nection, and said, “You’ve got to hear this.” Later, aren’t the blues and church music a large at a club we played in Washington, DC, coming

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Keyboard 09.2013

part of the core spirit you originally brought to the scene? Yeah, I had to embrace that, and it took me a minute because I was taking a little heat. Some people would say I sounded like a bad Ramsey Lewis. People would say I was playing “boogaloo.” And I said, “Man, I was brought up playing this kind of stuff.” And I eventually said, you know, squash you guys. That’s who I am. And who’s responsible for my realizing that? Frank Zappa and Cannonball Adderley. They showed me the way in terms of being who I am musically. Over the past ten albums or so, it’s as though you’ve been saying, “All of this is who I am.” And if you come to see me live, that’s what you’re gonna get, too! • Video tour of George Duke’s studio. • Super-sized extended interview. • George plays and discusses keyboard techniques. keyboardmag.com/september2013

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