>i ask because George Duke has done tried and done almost
>everything you can think of musically and not to mention as a
>Producer, etc.. and yet i get the sense that only his fan base
>takes his work beyond what the general public thinks and
>feels. now Herbie Hancock has done so many incredible things
>in music, however looking at George Duke and combining the
>sounds and versatility and changes in technilogy over the
>years do you feel George Duke has been as important as Herbie
>Hancock Why or why not?
>
>they have worked with quite a few of the same folks as well.

because Dukey (particularly in his MPS, fresh-outta-Zappaville era) did a lot of things with synthesizer voices Herbie and Chick were not doing, and making some real HARD and challenging music. I keep thinking about his FEEL album and that song "Rashid"; growing up, I knew the "R&B" George Duke. so hearing those records later on opened my ears wide.

George Duke comparatively is "unsung" despite his resume. He's well-known in the music industry, but he doesn't have too many albums like HEADHUNTERS or even FUTURE SHOCK that were such commercial and critical successes w/crossover appeal. if you said the name "Herbie Hancock" someone would probably know who he is even if they couldn't name a song. They'd mention his appearance on Sesame Street, or working with Christina Aguilera, or something like that. George Duke on the other hand not so much. And since Dukey came of particular import in the fusion era, he isn't much known in jazz circles for his acoustic pieces. Herbie's association with some of the GOATs (Miles especially) as a sideman in some very key periods, and his standards will most likely forever set him apart.

and speaking of the two, I think George Duke was much, much better at going outside of the "jazz" box w/r/t making catchy, accessible tunes (which is why he worked so well as a producer). Though I think he went a little too far in sounding like Bootsy and friends on some of his late '70s records, you take a song that is unmistakably Duke like "Searching Again", "Someday", or "Sweet Baby" (w/Stanley Clarke)... and they have all the hallmarks of a pop or R&B standard.

They both took a lot of flak for going outside the box, but I'll say for Duke he was committed once he found his groove. Herbie, for his uncanny ability to stay @ the bleeding edge of popular music at various points in his career, I will say had some stumbling points if he didn't retreat when the critics came closing in w/r/t his R&B period. Though I can't remember if he's ever admitted it (and ?uest once said here that he was shocked that anyone would want to hear a SUNLIGHT revisiting along the lines of what he did with the Headhunters idea in the mid 2000s), I get the idea that he really had visions of going the Quincy Jones route and producing. LITE ME UP is proof of that.