''Feel'' is the fourth studio album by the American

keyboard player A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instru ...

George Duke George Martin Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as ...

, released on October 28, 1974, by

MPS Records MPS Records was a German jazz record company and label founded in 1968 by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer. MPS stands for "Musik Produktion Schwarzwald" (Music Production Black Forest). History Originally based in Villingen, MPS was founded as the suc ...

. The album reached No. 17 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Top Jazz Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart.

Overview

Duke began experimenting with synthesizer orchestration on this album, which is considered the beginning of his unique style. The album has contributions from

Flora Purim Flora Purim (born March 6, 1942) is a Brazilian jazz singer known primarily for her work in the jazz fusion style. She became prominent for her part in Return to Forever with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke. She has recorded and performed with ...

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

, John Heard,

Airto Moreira Airto Guimorvan Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer, composer and percussionist. He is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. Coming to prominence in the late 1960s as a membe ...

and

Leon "Ndugu" Chancler Leon "Ndugu" Chancler ( ; July 1, 1952 – February 3, 2018) was an American pop, funk, and jazz drummer. He was also a composer, producer, and university professor. Biography Early life Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on July 1, 1952, Leon Cha ...

Critical reception

Jason Elias of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

found, "Although this would be the third album under his name, Feel's eclectic mix of fusion and rock is his debut in the genre of which he'd later become a leader...Feel proves that, even at this relatively early stage, Duke's intelligent ear for melodies and his keyboard prowess set him apart from his contemporaries."

Track listing

Personnel

– keyboards,

bass synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

(1, 5, 9), vocals (2, 4, 10) * Obdewl'l X (aka

) – guitar (2, 6) * John Heard –

acoustic bass The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than, a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar an ...

and electric bass (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) *

– drums, percussion (3) *

– percussion (2, 3, 4, 8, 10) *

– vocals (2, 8)

Production

* Baldhard G. Falk – producer, back cover photography * Kerry McNabb – recording, mixing * Wilfried "Sätty" Podriech – cover art

Charts

References

External links

*
George Duke's 1970s discography on his website
at Globalia {{Authority control 1974 albums George Duke albums BASF (record label) albums MPS Records albums