A tribute to jazz giant George Duke

Byron Miller, Josie James, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Zad McGough.

There is a band extraordinaire doing a short tour in Sweden now. A 55 piece band including ex George Duke veterans Napoleon Murphy Brock, Josie James and Byron Miller (Napoleon is also a well known Frank Zappa sideman).

Yesterday's show in Umeå was really great. The orchestra under conductor Tom Trapp performed a great variety of George Duke compositions, spanning from symphonic arrangements to soul/funk pop songs. 

From Me To You - A George Duke Experience, the programme:

From Me To You
Festival

Love's Weaker Side (Brock)

Tryin' and Cryin', 

Déja Vu

Sausalito

Inca Roads (Zappa)

I Love the Blues, She Heard My Cry

The Black Messiah pt. I

Patience (Brock)

Adonis

Brown Sneakers

Sweet Baby

Dukey Treats

Also performed: Uncle Remus (Zappa)

Norrlandsoperan about the event

Sveriges Radio, January 28

Napoleon Murphy Brock and Mats Öberg, duo gig January 26:

Weekend video: Donald Fagen cover; Good Stuff by Bradley Smith

Favo(u)rite in reprise!

Three years old by now, but a great cover of a track from Donald Fagen's Sunken Condos album. Bradley Smith is the name of this talented guy.

GOOD STUFF - Donald Fagen cover from the album Sunken Condos (HD720) from Analog Image on Vimeo.

Bowie may have planned more albums

The sales of David Bowie music went trough the roof after the artist's death. But the Blackstar album may not be his last. Newsweek has the story.

New Zappa documentary by German filmmaker

The title of the film is Eat That Question. Rolling Stone reports that the film "will allow Frank Zappa to speak for himself through archival footage."  

It is made by German filmmaker Thorsten Schütte. It will be premiered January 25th at Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. This is not to be mixed up with the film that is being made by Alex Winter. Both do have support from the Zappa Family Trust, though.

New from State Cows: Stuck On A Train & Holly Mole

It's been a while but the westcoast/AOR band State Cows from Sweden is back with two new tracks. Stuck On A Train and Holly Mole.

Yes, Steely Dan will play live in 2016!

We were just about to compose a blog post extrapolating that Steely Dan will be touring again this year, when the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival decided to announce the lineup for 2016. And lo and behold! Headlining the very first day of the festival; Friday April 22, is ... Steely Dan!


More on the plethora of artist playing the festival can be found here:

http://nojazzfest.com

Steely Dan has been touring eight of the past ten years. and since we doubt this is a one-off gig expect tour dates to start appearing in the coming months.

http://steelydan.com

Sting and Peter Gabriel touring together

http://petergabriel.com/news/peter-and-sting-tour-2016/

Glenn Frey dead at 67

Glenn Frey, one of the founding members of 1970's group Eagles has died. He was 67 years old.

According to an BBC article the cause of death is complications arising from rheumatoid arthritis, colitis and pneumonia.

Bowie produced a Zappa cover in 1973

We knew there had to be a connection between two of the greatest music geniuses, the recently deceased David Bowie and Frank Zappa.
Here is a song from an obscure album recorded in 1973. Artist: Ava Cherry. Producer: David Bowie. Song: How Could I Be Such A Fool (Zappa).

Musicians: David Bowie, Mike Garson (keyboards), Herbie Flowers (bass), Aynsley Dunbar (drums). 

Nice to know that there were some other connection except the fight between Bowie and Zappa about guitarist Adrian Belew.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/david-bowie-frank-zappa-adrian-belew/

Ava Cherry's album was not finished but got released more than 20 years later.
The album The Astronettes Sessions also includes a prototype version of Scream Like A Baby (I Am A Laser), that would in its new form end up on Scary Monsters in 1980. Worth checking out!

Radio Dupree lists Bowie's best music

Bowie is dead. Long live Bowie!

The master is dead. Radio Dupree did an attempt to list Bowie's best music, as we see it.

Bowie's best songs:
1. Queen Bitch
2. Fashion
3. Word on a Wing
4. Move On
5. Ashes to Ashes

Bowie's best albums:
1. Station to Station
2. Hunky Dory
3. Lodger
4. At the Beeb
5. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust...

Unknown Bowie songs you should check out:

1. Growin' Up (Springsteen cover. Bonus track on some editions of Pin Ups)
2. Holy Holy (Bonus track on some editions of The Man Who Sold the World and The Rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust...)
3. Love you till Tuesday (a track from David's debut album released 1967)
4. Memory of a Free Festival (single version, bonus track on some editions of the Space Oddity album)
5. Baal's Hymn (from the EP Baal)

Music legend David Bowie dies

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35278872

Happy Birthday, Donald Jay Fagen!

Conductor Pierre Boulez dies at 90

Composer and conductor Pierre Boulez has passed away. The Guardian describes Boulez as "one of contemporary classical music’s most acclaimed, controversial and important figures."

To the rock audience he may be most known for his collaboration with Frank Zappa in 1984, and being the one who inspired Paul Simon to write his big hit You Can Call Me Al.

Read more here:
http://www.classicfm.com/composers/boulez/pierre-boulez-dies/#u6rWQv72R5pOUHX8.97

2016. Time for a brand new ... turntable?

2016. What better way to start the year than visit the classic CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas for a look at the future of home entertainment technology and find ... a vinyl record player? (i.e. turntable)

Yep, caught us by surprise so we'll just forward what we know:

Sony has decided that there's a market for people who want to listen to vinyl on a good record player, so here's the company's new PS-HX500.
But Sony is also selling this as an alternative to all cheap (and fairly shoddy sounding) USB vinyl record players offered to convert your vinyl collection to mp3 files.
This record player will give you the choice of converting your vinyl to files in an audio quality up to DSD 5.6MHz or PCM 192kHz/24bit.

And since it's a Sony most likely priced accordingly. Not cheap is our guess. We'll see later this spring.

P.S.
Technics also showed a new turntable at CES.

Radio Dupree Top 4 - January 2016

1. David Bowie - Ragazza Solo, Ragazza Sola
Rare


2. Kansas - Portrait (He Knew)
Point of Know Return


3. The Art Of Noise - Moments In Love
The Best of the Art of Noise


4. Hawkwind - Master Of The Universe - Psychedelic Warlords: The Best of Hawkwind