George Duke was never a myopic jazz purist -- the keyboardist/singer/producer/composer always had a healthy appreciation of soul, funk, and rock.
Nonetheless, instrumental jazz was his main focus prior to 1977.
It was in 1977 that Duke placed jazz on the back burner and made vocal-oriented R&B his top priority.
The album that marked this change of direction was From Me to You, which was the first of two R&B-oriented releases that Epic put out for the artist in 1977 -- the second was the superb Reach for It.
This LP contains a few noteworthy fusion instrumentals, including the driving "Up on It" and the contemplative "Seasons." But From Me to You is an R&B album more than anything, and Duke lets the funk prevail on vocal-oriented tracks like "Sing It" and "Carry On" (which he revisited when he produced Flora Purim's Carry On LP in 1979).
Occasionally, this album is excellent, although most of the time, it is merely decent -- on From Me to You, Duke doesn't wear the soul/funk hat as confidently as he did on subsequent R&B-oriented projects like Reach for It, Don't Let Go, and Follow the Rainbow.
This record is a bit uneven, although it has more plusses than minuses and is worth hearing if you're among Duke's hardcore fans.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | From Me to YouGeorge Duke | George Duke | Play | 01:45 | 4 MB | 12 MB |
| 2 | Carry On | George Duke | Play | 04:35 | 10 MB | 33 MB |
| 3 | 'Scuse Me Miss | George Duke | Play | 03:36 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 4 | You and Me | George Duke | Play | 03:40 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 5 | Broken Dreams | George Duke | Play | 02:50 | 6 MB | 17 MB |
| 6 | Up on It | George Duke | Play | 09:04 | 20 MB | 65 MB |
| 7 | Seasons | George Duke | Play | 05:45 | 13 MB | 37 MB |
| 8 | Down in It | George Duke | Play | 01:21 | 3 MB | 9 MB |
| 9 | Sing It | George Duke | Play | 04:09 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 10 | What Do They Really Fear | George Duke | Play | 04:28 | 10 MB | 28 MB |
| 41 mins | 94 MB | |||||
| 41 mins | 287 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leon "Ndugu" Chancler | Drums, Percussion |
| 2 | Stanley Clarke | Bass, Bass (Electric), Cello, Guitar, Vocals |
| 3 | George Duke | Composer, Keyboards, Percussion, Primary Artist, Vocals |
| 4 | Kerry McNabb | Engineer |
| 5 | Byron Miller | Bass, Bass (Electric) |
| 6 | Dianne Reeves | Vocals |
| 7 | Michael Sembello | Guitar, Guitar (Electric) |
| 8 | Jessica Smith | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 9 | Julia Tillman Waters | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 10 | Maxine Willard Waters | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |