FROM ME TO YOU

The unimaginative album title suggests a shift from ambitious jazz-driven topics to more down-to-earth approach and it is correct. This is the first LP with a balanced Duke voice/keyboard takes even though we're pleased with an instrumental track, too ("Up on it"). This lengthy 9-minute is full of creative unpretentious playing, you may feel that you've heard parts of it before but still it is very well baked together. Kudos to Duke to produce such a track back in 1977. Just when you think it's over with fusion, you get to another instrumental gem, this time with a proper bass solo, "Seasons", it is less packed and more atmospheric. Despite it being mainly an R&B album, it has solid 15 minutes of fusion to offer to the old Duke fans.