George Duke

George Duke (01/12/1946, San Rafael, CA) studied the piano at school, and emerged from the San Francisco Conservatory as a Bachelor of Music in 1967. In 1969 he began playing with Jean-Luc Ponty, using electric piano to accompany Ponty's plugged-in violin. He played on "King Kong", an album Frank composed for Ponty. He joined Zappa's group in 1970.

George provided keyboards, synthesizer, and/or vocals for Chunga's Revenge, 200 Motels, Waka/Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo, Over-Nite Sensation, Apostrophe ('), Roxy & Elsewhere, One Size Fits All, Bongo Fury, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt, Them Or Us, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 1, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 2, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 3, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 4, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 6, Playground Psychotics, The Lost Episodes, Läther, Frank Zappa Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa, and Quadiophiliac; and also for the Beat The Boots series disks Freaks & Motherfu*#@%!, Unmitigated Audacity, Piquantique, Disconnected Synapses, Tengo Na Minchia Tanta, & At The Circus. His performance can be seen on Zappa movies "200 Motels", "Baby Snakes", The Dub Room Special, The Amazing Mr. Bickford (background), and The True Story of 200 Motels.