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Posts tagged as “Stanley Clarke”

MUSIC MONDAY: “Dance Jazz” (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Dance Jazz” (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on September 15, 2025

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Music Monday, you all. I hope this missive finds you smiling and well. It’s your friend and selector, Marlon West, back again with a new collection of tasty tracks to enjoy today and all week long.

Not long ago I was chatting with a pal who doesn’t like jazz, because she can’t dance to it. While of course there was and is big band jazz created for dancing. What they were talking about was the kind of grooves that lovers of R&B, Soul, and Funk enjoy so much.

Being always up for a challenge I created this collection of “Dance Jazz”.

It features New Orleans brass bands, remixes of jazz standards, and collaborations with jazz musicians and hip hop artists.

You’ll find genre-bending musicians like Roy Ayers, Stanley Clarke, George Duke, and Herbie Hancock.

There are offerings of “Jukebox Jazz” created by Art Blakey, Lou Donaldson, Dorothy Ashby and others as a response to the more accessible and popular Rhythm and Blues of the 1960s.

Like all these GOOD BLACK NEWS collections, this one has have been fun to make.

Hope you will enjoy these shimmy-inducing jazz tracks. Stay tuned for some Halloween candy-slinging next month.

As always, stay safe, sane, and kind!

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)

Playboy Jazz Festival to Celebrate George Duke; Entire Lineup Announced

By goodblacknews on February 18, 2014

george duke
Singer Al Jarreau and bassist Stanley Clarke will celebrate the legacy of their friend and musical partner George Duke on the opening day of the 36th annual Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, which is presenting the festival for the first time, announced the lineup for the June 14-15 event on Monday, reports the AP. George Benson and fellow smooth jazz guitarist Earl Klugh will headline the closing concert.
Saturday’s concert will pay tribute to Duke, the keyboardist, singer, composer and producer who headlined last year’s Playboy opener and was a frequent participant in the Los Angeles area’s biggest jazz event. Duke, 67, died of leukemia last August shortly after releasing his chart-topping contemporary jazz CD “Dreamweaver,” which included a straight-ahead acoustic jazz track featuring Clarke.
Jarreau first performed with Duke in the house band at San Francisco’s Half Note Club in the late ’60s and the keyboardist was featured on the singer’s 1981 album “Breakin’ Away.” Clarke and Duke recorded three groove-oriented albums together, including 1981′s “Clarke/Duke Project” with the R&B hit single “Sweet Baby.”
Comedian George Lopez said he’s “thrilled” to be hosting the Playboy festival again after taking over from long-time emcee Bill Cosby last year.  “This year’s lineup of talent is unparalleled, and it’s going to be a great weekend of music,” Lopez said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press.  Saturday’s lineup includes singer Dianne Reeves, who featured her cousin Duke on several of her albums; pianist Kenny Barron’s trio with guest saxophonist Ravi Coltrane; trumpeter Arturo Sandoval’s big band and British singer-pianist Jamie Cullum.