I Love The Blues, She Heard My Cry

The list of heavyweights who join George Duke on 1975's I Love the Blues, She Heard My Cry is impressive, some of the participants include Johnny "Guitar" Watson, singer Flora Purim, percussionist Airto Moreira, guitarist Lee Ritenour, drummer Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, and guitarist George Johnson (of Brothers Johnson fame). It's an outstanding effort that thrives on diversity. The highlights of this album range from raw fusion instrumentals, like That's What She Said, Giant Child Within Us-Ego, and Sister Serene, to the mellow soul ballad Someday and the Jimi Hendrix-like heavy metal/hard rock offering Rokkinrowl, which finds Duke singing lead and contains some of Ritenour's more forceful playing. Meanwhile, Duke and Watson perform a vocal duet on the title song, which is the only 12-bar blues number on the album. In 1975, some jazz fans wished that the artist would stick to instrumental fusion and stay away from R&B and rock singing, but, in fact, it was jazz that Duke would eventually move away from. I Love the Blues, She Heard My Cry isn't recommended to those who only want to hear Duke as an instrumentalist.