| Jazz Wizard George Duke Recalls Early Days [message #224700] |
Do, 23 Februar 2006 04:54 |
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02 /22/AR2006022202457.html
By JOHN ROGERS
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 22, 2006; 9:59 PM
LOS ANGELES -- He doesn't talk all that much about it, but jazz
keyboard wizard George Duke attended the San Francisco Conservatory of
Music _ on a trombone scholarship.
The reason was simple, Duke recalled: He didn't think he was good
enough to get one of the school's piano scholarships.
George Duke performs in this Tuesday, March 29, 2005 file photo in New
York. He doesn't talk all that much about it, but jazz keyboard wizard
George Duke attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, on a
trombone scholarship. (AP Photo/Jennifer Graylock) (Jennifer Graylock -
AP)
Photos
Eye on Entertainment
A look at movies, music and television with celebrities from around the
world.
Save & Share
Tag This Article
Saving options
1. Save to description:
Headline (required)
Byline
2. Save to notes (255 character max):
Blurb
3. Tag This Article
"They had too many classical piano players. I didn't have their chops.
I couldn't keep up with them," Duke said of the applicants the year he
applied. "But they also had a brass scholarship for trombone and they
didn't have any trombone players. So I knew I could get that one!"
A Wednesday news conference announcing that Duke and fellow jazz great
Stanley Clarke will be among the headliners at the 28th annual Playboy
Jazz Festival in June got the modest keyboardist to reminiscing
afterward about his early days.
This year marks the first time he and bassist Clarke have toured
extensively together since 1990.
"Stanley and I decided at the end of last year to do a couple of dates,
and we had so much fun we said let's make a commitment," Duke recalled
as he stood in the back yard of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's Holmby
Hills home.
"We were going to do an album," he added. "But our agents put out some
leads and the next thing we knew we were doing a world tour."
That means they'll be doing the album next year, he said. When it comes
time to record it, don't expect Duke to pick up a trombone. He did
years ago at the late Frank Zappa's insistence, he says, but seldom has
since.
"It's a great instrument," Duke said. "It's just not my instrument."
|
|
|
