Smooth Jazz Vibes

Jazz Gypsy: You have had such an amazing career and such a staggering body of work, you are definitely considered music royalty.

George Duke: Well, I don't know about all that, I'm just a piano player for a lot of years.

Jazz Gypsy: Well a lot of times musicians complain about having to pay lawyers, accountants, and managers and such but I want to know if you have to pay a historian to keep track of all the things you've done and you plan on doing?

George Duke: Well, obviously I have a legal team. I have a lawyer, an agent but I don't have a manager any more. In terms of keeping up with what I've done, no I've done a pretty good job of keeping up with what I've done. But if you ask me how many albums I've put out, I couldn't tell you. I haven't counted. I'm going to have to do that once of these days because I keep getting asked that but actually, I have no idea. But, I know it's in the 40's, later 30's probably the amount of solo albums I've put out. But yeah, I've done a lot of things. But between my son and myself, we've done a pretty good job of keeping track.

Jazz Gypsy: You just referred to yourself as a piano player, but how would you really describe yourself because you've done so many things?

Sunday shortly before noon, the festival continued with saxophonist Rocco Ventrella who did his own 45 minutes show, he kicked it off with a cool cover of an r&b classic, next was "Teresa Margarita" from his current release Sweet Temptation, featuring a swaying reggae vibe, after that he turned up the heat with "Rocco Funk", before he settled into "Knock On Wood" and one more picture perfect smooth jazz song, before he invited singer Ilaria De Robertis onto the stage, she comes from Bari, Italy like Rocco. She did two songs and won the audience over in heartbeat with her heartfelt singing, she actually gave me goose bumps! They finished the show with a shuffling blues number, having Marc Antoine and Matt Marshak joining in. Rocco Ventrella did an excellent show and is a player to watch!

After that, guitarist Marc Antoine and keyboardist Brian Simpson did their show, first each one featured one of his songs, before Brian Simpson did his "South Beach" on the keytar, allowing him to get to the center of stage. Then it was Marc Antoine's turn for a couple of his tracks, then Brian Simpson did "Brazilia" that got its inspiration from a trip to Rio, then another latin groover from Marc, which really blended nicely into the flow of music. One personal highlight was Brian doing his sensuous "Let's Get Close" which culminated in a great piano solo. After that it was "Saturday Cool", which segued in Grover Washingtin, Jr.'s "Mr. Magic" having Brian stepping out into the audience with his keytar, allowing for one more slapping bass solo by Marius Goldhammer, marking the highlight of the show.

I had to rush off after that track to catch my bus to the airport, which was a bit early for my needs, but anyway, I got loads of outstanding music by a bunch of world-class players over the course of this festival. In addition, I met many old and new friends, chatted with other music aficionados, enjoyed the excellent facilities of the hotel and had a great time in Mallorca. I have marked my calendar for next year already, the Smooth Jazz Festival Mallorca 2014 will take place April 30 - May 4, 2014, at the same location. See you there!

Saturday night, the festival continued with guitarist Matt Marshak, his funky and bluesy playing won the crowd over quickly, the house band had drummer Andy Pilger taking over, plus the same players from the night before. He did "Sunday Noon", followed by "Cadillac Kid", bringing things up to speed. Next he honored one of his main influences - George Benson - with his rendition of "Breezin'". He slowed things down a bit with a new song called "Teddy P" which featured a cool, slow groove and funky, distorted guitar, that was very well received, and one track from his days with Four80East. His show continued with head-bopping, accessible and groovy funk-jazz, featuring his guitar playing, supported by the great band, during "Funkology", Marius Goldhammer did a wicked bass solo, that had the crowd cheer along, while Andy Pilger pulled all the stops during his complex drum solo. Another nice one was "On The Rocks", followed by his rendition of the Larry Carlton classic "Sleepwalk" plus one more funky number from his own catalog. He gave us one encore that got people up, clapping and dancing along, wrapping up a great show.

Next was trumpet player Rick Braun, being supported by saxophonist Rocco Ventrella, bringing almost the energy of an R 'n' R show. Rick started the show playing from the audience, slowly wandering towards the stage, the first groovy track featured another awesome bass solo by Marius Goldhammer, jokingly nick-named "Goldfinger" by Rick. Rick and Rocco blended really well together, and Rocco Ventrella played his heart out. Rick played his biggest hit "Notorious" on the flugelhorn, before he slowed things down with the Tony Bennett classic "The Good Life" from his Sings With Strings album, featuring him on flugelhorn and vocals. After this romantic excursion, the pace picked up with more groovy tracks, one of them "Use Me" that allowed for some audience participation, having Michael Lington to join the party on the saxophone. They kept the energy level high with "Green Tomatoes" from his Esperanto album, before he wrapped up the show with "Grazing In The Grass", where he had a guest trumpet player joining the band doing a great job. The encore was the funky "Mustang Sally", done in the spirit of James Brown, finishing a great night of music.

The 2nd annual Smooth Jazz Festival Mallorca was held this year May 3-5 at the Protur Biomar Grand Hotel & Spa in Mallorca, Spain, a modern and well equipped hotel complex located in Sa Coma at the eastern coast of the island, that provided the perfect backdrop to this event, besides the hotel director is a huge smooth jazz fan and supporter of the event. Festival organizer Christian Bössner did once more a great job offering a top-class lineup, bringing some of the genre's finest players to the Balearic island, they were supported by the house band of German players, featuring Lutz Deterra on keyboards, Martin Feske on guitar, Marius Goldhammer on bass and special guest, local drummer Patti Ballinas on drums. The weather was nice and the crowd was ready to be entertained and have some fun.

The festival was kicked off by saxophonist Michael Lington, who originally hails from Denmark and has some personal ties to the island, having spent several holidays with his family there when he was a kid. He brought things right up to speed with his lively playing, among the songs done were "Twice In A Lifetime" which segued into the Sanborn/James classic "Maputo", which inspired the previous composition. Another nice one was "You And I", one of if his chart topping hits. Then he summoned a bunch of his friends to the stage (Rick Braun, Darren Rahn, Marc Antoine, Rocco Ventrella) for a shuffling blues track, after that he asked a woman from the audience to join him so he could serenade her with some heartfelt sax playing, before he did "Roadtrip" from his Pure CD featuring guitarist Martin Feske. He finished his beautiful set with "Show Me" having the audience sing along, he was asked back for an encore and did "Still Thinking Of You", thanking for being so warmly welcomed here. His show was pure smooth jazz bliss.

After an intermission, the producers Darren Rahn on saxophone and Paul Brown on guitar took over the stage. Both artists have been involved in a string of hit records, having produced several of the genre's biggest stars, apart from having released their own successful albums over the years, in addition they have been recording together previously. The Wes-inclined playing of Paul Brown blended well with the silky smooth tenor saxophone of Darren Rahn. After the first couple of tracks, Marc Antoine joined the stage to do "Brother Earl", a song he recorded with Paul Brown on their Foreign Exchange album. Then things slowed down with a beautiful Wes-track, then acknowledging one of their hit productions, they did "Grazing In the Grass" featuring Rick Braun on trumpet, later turning up the heat with their great rendition of "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now", followed by the Luther Vandross classic "If Only For One Night" (with whom Paul Brown actually worked in the studio). Then back to one of the Paul Brown classics with "Sugar Fish", a request he got on the street in Palma the day before, having the woman asking for it dancing in the isle, which prompted Paul Brown to go out in the audience, being the gentleman he is, with Darren Rahn adding some smoking sax work to the song. Later, Paul Brown did "Moondance", before the groove picked up again with "24/7" featuring Rick Braun on trumpet, bringing the audience to their feet. Then all the artists present were summoned onto the stage to do "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", bringing an outstanding show to an end. The audience demanded an encore, which was given in the form of Grover Washington's "Winelight", ending the first concert evening at 1am. Those people still in the mood were invited for the "aftershow party".