From Me To You
(1977)
My first record for Epic. I tried to do a lot on this record! For me, the best tunes on this LP are the instrumental tracks. This was the first time I had a decent budget to do a record, so I went a little overboard - but I had grand plans! I wanted to demonstrate that I could orchestrate, write, sing, arrange, play keyboards and be funky, jazzy and heavy, all at the same time.
This was the first time Dianne Reeves and I worked together. We sang a duet on You And Me. Zappa's influence is still felt quite heavily on tracks like "From Me To You" and "What Do They Really Fear."
Because they were giving me so much money (at least it was a lot back then), I felt a lot of pressure to sell records.In order to be perfectly clear, let me say that they never once requested that I record anything other than what I wanted; the pressure was internal Δ it came from me!!
I was signed because Bruce Lundvall took a liking to me and told Ron Alexemburg at Epic about me. Bruce was and still is a great record man. He gave me my first real break at the big time, as a solo artist in this country. He was a VIP at Columbia Records, which was in the same building as Epic. They were sister companies so to speak.
I was still in the same key of making very diverse sounding records, so, this is one of those.
Earth, Wind & Fire also had an influence on me. I thought that a lot of singing was necessary to have a hit. Needless to say, this record was not a hit. That is not to say that there was no good material herein. Quite to the contrary, there are some very special moments here, but the album, as a whole does not make a cohesive statement musically. Anyway, I guess I had to go through this to find where my next level would be.
Stanley Clarke is also featured on several cuts. We had begun working a lot together. He is a special bass player. We were in sync about what music should be, and were willing to take chances. We would change tempo and vibes in a second. As fate would have it, Stanley and I have had a long musical relationship. He is truly the brother I never had. Ndugu is my other brother.
Byron Miller and Ndugu are back with me, and Mike Sembello played guitar. Besides being a great singer and composer, Mike is a fantastic guitarist.
As an aside, I hated the album cover. I tried to change it, but was told it would hold up my release date, and I needed the album to be out because of my touring plans. So, I gave in. Big mistake!! I wouldn't do that now. I learned my lesson.
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George Duke