Reach For It
This is my biggest selling solo record. When it went Gold, I nearly had a heart attack! Jazz musicians just didn't sell those kinds of numbers, and this record was basically an instrumental record. It has a vibe because we really were a band. We recorded right after returning home from a long tour, and had developed a style that I really loved. It was progressive while being still accessible. I finally had found how to put this diversity together.
There were some real funny moments during this period. I can clearly remember my cohorts Stanley Clarke and Herbie Hancock asking me how I was able to tour with ladies in my band. They were referring to the "wife" dilemma. I explained that this was business and I had a lot of respect for the girls. Besides, I knew that my audience would dig seeing these ladies on the stage. Having three background singers gave me flexibility, particularly because with my voice added to theirs, I could stretch the chord voicings out a bit. This was still an instrumental group, so the singers were icing to an already slammin' cake.
"Reach For It" became the hit from this record. It broke out of Washington DC and Detroit before the rest of the nation. We were on tour when the record hit, and were amazed at seeing the record moving to the top of the R&B chart.
The tune came about as a result of a gig at The Cellar Door in Washington DC. Ndugu had played a drum solo, and started playing this beat. I began to play this bass line and motioned for Byron Miller to play a solo. The audience went completely nuts. I knew that we had something!
Back in Los Angeles when we were in the studio recording (I waited until after dinner and wine), I asked the band if they remembered that groove we had come up with at the club in DC. They said they did, so we recorded it. I told the engineer to put on a reel of tape and just let it roll. I would pick out what I wanted later. It turns out that I made two tunes out of that session, "Reach For It" and "Son Of Reach For It"
(Dream On LP)
The band consisted of:
George Duke - Keyboards
Leon "Ndugu" Chancler - Drums
Byron Miller - Bass
Charles Icarus Johnson - Guitar
Deborah Thomas - Vocal
Dee Henrichs - Vocal
Sybil Thomas - Vocal
Additional musicians include Stanley Clarke on Watch Out Baby, Manolo Badrena - perc (Weather Report), Raul de Souza-trombone (His was the first artist I produced in the USA for Capitol Records), and Mike Sembello - additional guitar. Many people don't know it, but Flora Purim and Jean Carn sang on Reach For It. I couldn't use their names due to contractual obligations, but their contributions are duly felt!
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