George Duke › Similar Artists

Jeff Lorber - 96% match to George Duke

4 November 1952, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. A pioneer of the smooth jazz/New Adult Contemporary format, keyboard player Lorber’s compositions are characterized by syncopated, chromatic melody and modal writing and a seamless fusion of electric jazz, rock, R&B and funk styles. Lorber started playing the piano when he was four and played in local R&B bands w Read more

Patrice Rushen - 73% match to George Duke

30 September 1954, Los Angeles, California, USA. Rushen grew up in Los Angeles and attended the University of Southern California. She started learning classical piano when she was three, and turned to jazz in her teens. A group with which she was playing won an award for young musicians at Monterey in 1972. She played with a host of artists, including Abbey Lincoln, Donald Read more

Lee Ritenour - 65% match to George Duke

Yellowjackets - 65% match to George Duke

Over four decades, the Yellowjackets have achieved a formidable reputation for their live performances and critical and commercial success with their recordings of electric pop jazz. The members of the band are accomplished musicians in their own right and perhaps this accounts for the Yellowjackets’ two Grammys and six nominations. The formative line-up was assembled in 1 Read more

Joe Sample - 63% match to George Duke

Joseph Leslie Sample, 1 February 1939, Houston, Texas, USA. While still at high school, Sample co-founded a group that would dominate his working life. Known from 1960 as the Jazz Crusaders, the band, with its core of Sample on piano, Wayne Henderson, Wilton Felder and Nesbert ‘Stix’ Hooper, produced a series of popular albums that helped to define the term ‘s Read more

Lenny White - 62% match to George Duke

Leonard White III, 19 December 1949, New York City, New York, USA. White took up the drums when he was 14-years-old and by the late 60s was playing in the band of Jackie McLean. He joined the sessions to record Bitches Brew with Miles Davis in 1969 and in the next couple of years played with many other leaders - Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Gato Barbieri, Joe Henderson, Stan Read more

Wayman Tisdale - 62% match to George Duke

6 June 1964, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. Tisdale began playing bass as a child but, although quickly becoming an accomplished musician, a sporting career beckoned strongly. He played basketball at Oklahoma University, making All-America and becoming the first OU player to have his number ‘retired’. Tisdale became a member of the USA basketball team for the 1984 Olympic G Read more

Chaka Khan - 59% match to George Duke

Yvette Marie Stevens, 23 March 1953, Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Illinois, USA. Having sung with several Chicago club bands, including Lyfe, Lock And Chains and Baby Huey And The Babysitters, Chaka Khan became acquainted with Ask Rufus, a group formed from the remnants of hit group the American Breed. When Khan replaced original singer Paulette McWilliams, the line-u Read more

The Brecker Brothers - 59% match to George Duke

Randy Brecker (27 November 1945, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) and Michael Brecker (b. 29 March 1949, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 13 January 2007, New York City, New York, USA) were two of the most in-demand studio musicians of the last 35 years, having supplied the horn licks to untold major records. Randy originally attended Indiana University to study under Da Read more

The Crusaders - 59% match to George Duke

This remarkably versatile group was formed in Houston, Texas, as the Swingsters. During the 50s, Wilton Felder (31 August 1940, Houston, Texas, USA; reeds), Wayne Henderson (b. 24 September 1939, Houston, Texas, USA; trombone), Joe Sample (b. 1 February 1939, Houston, Texas, USA; keyboards) and Nesbert ‘Stix’ Hooper (b. 15 August 1938, Houston, Texas, USA; drums), Read more

Stanley Clarke - 57% match to George Duke

30 June 1951, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Clarke started on violin then transferred to cello, double bass and finally the bass guitar. After formal training at school and at the Philadelphia Musical Academy, his first experience was in funk outfits; he then got a taste for playing jazz working with Horace Silver for six months in 1970. He played with tenor saxophonist J Read more

Gerald Albright - 55% match to George Duke

Frank McComb - 53% match to George Duke

15 July 1970, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. McComb began playing piano as a child, studying formally from the age of 12. In his mid-teens he formed his own trio, working locally and developing his technique. He was also attracting attention as a singer. In 1991, he became musical director of the Rude Boys, an R&B band, and the following year toured with Fresh Prince (aka Will Sm Read more

Patti Austin - 52% match to George Duke

10 August 1948, New York City, New York, USA. Austin first sang on stage at the age of three at the famous Apollo Theatre in New York City during Dinah Washington’s set. As a child performer, she appeared on television, including Sammy Davis Jnr.’s programme, and in the theatre. Her stage work included Lost In The Stars and Finian’s Rainbow. At the age of nine Read more

Rufus - 52% match to George Duke

This Chicago-based group evolved from the American Breed when three original members, Al Ciner (guitar), Charles Colbert (bass) and Lee Graziano (drums), were joined by Kevin Murphy (keyboards), Paulette McWilliams (vocals), Ron Stockard and Dennis Belfield. Initially known as Smoke, then Ask Rufus, it was several months before a stable unit evolved. Graziano made way for Andre Read more