Welcome to another new edition of our bi-weekly record-diving sampling extravaganza!
Thank you all for joining in another week of sampling goodness! Before we get into our artist and track in focus, and in case you aren’t already aware, there are some other Mission Briefs/Challenges currently taking place that you may also fancy spending some time on here:
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@sleepside is hosting Hip Hop Beat Battle #30 Voting & Feedback
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@waftlord is hosting Exquisitely Sounding Corpse 37
Summer is starting to slowly show it’s lovely self here in California, and as such it only felt appropriate to celebrate with a chill groove from keyboard giant, George Duke. The smooth jazz funk track “I Need You Now” is the ninth track from Dukes album A Brazilian Love Affair. Recording sessions for the album took place from March 1979 to April 1979 at Level E Hawai Recording Studio in Rio de Janeiro and at Westlake Recording Studios with additional recording at Le Gonks West Studio in West Hollywood, California. The album was originally released in the United States in 1980 through Epic Records (Epic – FE 36483).
Here is some information about George Duke and the album, from Wikipedia and BBC Music:
George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013)[2] was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a professor of music. He first made a name for himself with the album The Jean-Luc Ponty Experience with the George Duke Trio. He was known primarily for 32 solo albums, of which A Brazilian Love Affair from 1979 was his most popular, as well as for his collaborations with other musicians, particularly Frank Zappa.
Biography[edit]
George M. Duke was born in San Rafael, California, United States,[2] to Thadd Duke and Beatrice Burrell, and was raised in Marin City. At four years of age, he became interested in the piano. His mother took him to see Duke Ellington in concert and told him about this experience. “I don’t remember it too well, but my mother told me I went crazy. I ran around saying ‘Get me a piano, get me a piano!’” He began his formal piano studies at the age of seven at a local Baptist church.[3]
He attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley before earning a bachelor’s degree in trombone and composition, with a minor in contrabass, from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 1967.[3] He earned a master’s degree in composition from San Francisco State University in 1975.[4]
Although Duke started playing classical music, he credited his cousin Charles Burrell for convincing him to switch to jazz.[5][6] He explained that he “wanted to be free” and Burrell “more or less made the decision for me” by convincing him to “improvise and do what you want to do”. He taught a course on jazz and American culture at Merritt College in Oakland.[3]
Duke recorded his first album in 1966. His second was with French violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, with whom he performed in San Francisco. After Frank Zappa and Cannonball Adderley heard him play, they invited him to join their bands. He spent two years with Zappa as a member of The Mothers of Invention, two years with Adderley, then returned to Zappa.[7] Zappa played guitar solos on his album Feel (1974). In 1975 he recorded with Pete Magadini (his Original drummer) the album Polyrhythm on Ibis Recordings. He recorded I Love the Blues She Heard My Cry with Zappa’s bandmates Ruth Underwood, Tom Fowler, and Bruce Fowler[8] and jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour.[9]
Duke occasionally recorded under the name Dawilli Gonga, possibly for contractual reasons, when appearing on other artists’ albums.[10]
Duke in concert with Stanley Clarke
In 1977, Duke fused jazz with pop, funk, and soul music on his album From Me to You. Later, that same year, his album Reach for It entered the pop charts, and his audiences increased. In 1981, he began a collaboration with bassist Stanley Clarke that would last through the 1980s, which combined pop, jazz, funk, and R&B. Their first album contained the single “Sweet Baby”,[11][12] which became a Top 20 pop hit.
During the 1980s, Duke’s career moved to a second phase as he spent much of his time as a record producer. He produced pop and R&B hits for A Taste of Honey, Jeffrey Osborne, and Deniece Williams. His clients included Anita Baker, Rachelle Ferrell, Everette Harp, Gladys Knight, Melissa Manchester, Barry Manilow, The Pointer Sisters, Smokey Robinson, Seawind, and Take 6.[7]
Duke worked as musical director at the 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in London. In 1989, he temporarily replaced Marcus Miller as musical director of NBC’s late-night music performance program Sunday Night during its first season.[13][14] He was a judge for the second annual Independent Music Awards.[15]
He died on August 5, 2013,[2] in Los Angeles, at the age of 67 from chronic lymphocytic leukemia.[16]
A Brazilian Love Affair is the fourteenth studio album by American keyboardist and record producer George Duke. It was released in 1980 through Epic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place from March 1979 to April 1979 at Level E Hawai Recording Studio in Rio de Janeiro and at Westlake Recording Studios with additional recording at Le Gonks West Studio in West Hollywood, California. It was mastered by Brian Gardner at Allen Zentz Recording Studio in Los Angeles.
Duke used various keyboard instruments for A Brazilian Love Affair, including Rhodes piano, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, Oberheim polyphonic, Minimoog, ARP Odyssey, Yamaha CP-70. The album features guest appearances from Brazilian jazz musicians, such as vocalists Flora Purim, Milton Nascimento and Simone, guitarist Toninho Horta, drummer Robertinho Silva, and percussionist Airto Moreira, along with Duke’s frequent collaborators: Lynn Davis, Jerry Hey, Larry Williams, Sheila Escovedo, Roland Bautista and others.
In the United States, the album peaked at No. 119 on the Billboard 200 and at No. 40 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It reached No. 33 in the UK Albums Chart. Its single, the title song “Brazilian Love Affair”, peaked at No. 36 in the UK.
-Taken from Wikipedia.org
"Brazilian Love Affair is one of George Duke’s most well-known albums from a long and illustrious career which has spanned five decades.
Prior to releasing Brazilian Love Affair, George Duke was first know as a talented Jazz pianist before moving into pop and becoming famed within the RnB scene for hits such as Dukey Stick and Reach For It as well as working with Frank Zappa.
His 1979 album involved him travelling to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and collaborating with a number of local musicians and vocalists including Milton Nascimento, Flora Purim and Airto Moreira. Although fans of his earlier work hoped for a return to instrumental jazz, Brazilian Love Affair instead provided an album which seamlessly mixed jazz with pop and soul influences."
- Review for BBC Music by Dan Cocker
Here are two versions of both tracks available on YouTube, in case anyone experiences regional playback issues:
Here is a link to a version of the track that has been converted to 16bit/44.1KHz wav, and to the STEMS, please delete it after using:
GEORGE DUKE - I NEED YOU NOW - (WAV)
GEORGE DUKE - I NEED YOU NOW - (STEMS)
links are active for one week from today (05/04/24)
Album Photos:
images from google search
THE BRIEF
YOU have been selected by the notorious Global Sound Syndicate for a top-secret operation. Not really, please, share with your friends, family, and even your local wooden windchime manufacturer.
Mission:
-Sample any part(s) of the track we’ve nominated
-Spend no more than 1 week turning it into music
-Post your creations here for us all to enjoy
Deadline: Sunday, May 5, 2024
Submit your entry no later than 11:59 PM, Sunday, May 5, 2024, or be faced with a brief moment of self-loathing for not participating. Submissions entered on later dates are also welcome!
Compensation:
Hearts and compliments from the community
(not guaranteed)
You can use as much or as little of the sample track as you like, you just have to use it. No winners, no losers, just good times!
Every two weeks we will post a track from our record collections, ideally something you’ve not heard before. Jams, full tracks, noodles - share whatever you like!
Whatever magic you’re doing on the phatness levels, man it’s lovely. Vocals are very fitting too for the song’s mood, thank you for sharing man! 
