George Duke
The Aura Will Prevail

In 1974 when this brilliant keyboardist was on tour with Frank Zappa, he found time to compose some of the material for this solo album and to rearrange some "old" pieces from his repertoire with Zappa and Jean Luc Ponty.

This resulted in a very beautiful album, with an exceptional lineup: George Duke on vocals and keyboards, Alphonso Johnson on bass, Leon Chandler on drums, and Airto Moreira on percussion. As we can see, there is no guitar, but they manage perfectly well without it. The album opens with the instrumental notes of "Dawn," a very evocative piece in which Duke brings forth the tranquil image of sunset. Even better is the soulful "For Love I Come Your Friend," the first sung track of the album.
There's no denying it, Duke truly has a great voice and on this track, Chandler's drumming stands out particularly. Another vocal piece is the beautiful "Fools," a fairly slow track that George has defined as his favorite on the album. "Malibu" has vocals, but it’s an instrumental where Duke and two session (wo)man backing vocalists improvise in scat, on a beautiful, lively base with almost African rhythms.

However, my favorites are "Foosh" and "Floop De Loop," both instrumentals. "Foosh" is a new arrangement of a track he played with Ponty (though written by Duke), where George plays beautifully: some notes are played at very low volumes, others at very high volumes, all surrounded by a splendid synth melody. The second is a frenzied track with a hypnotic bass line, a wonderful melody, and extraordinary solos. Particularly beautiful is the bass solo by Alphonso Johnson.
The album also includes two covers of Zappa: "Uncle Remus" and "Echidna's Arf," each rearranged. "Uncle Remus" is sung, and while the original (on "Apostrophe (')", 1974) was cheerful, this version is more soulful and slow. Certainly, it's less beautiful than the original (already co-composed by Duke/Zappa), but still interesting to listen to, with an excellent vocal performance by George Duke. On the other hand, I did not like the arrangement of "Echidna's Arf" (on "Roxy & Elsewhere," 1974), the only remaining part of the track is the final section, which is now moved to the beginning. Then it becomes a new and boring thing, practically only synths playing elongated notes.
The album closes with an interesting African-style interlude titled "The Aura".

In summary, it is a great album, unfortunately not easy to find, but of great interest. A must-have! One last thing before closing, there's a demo circulating with three songs where Zappa also appears on guitar, along with two backing vocalists and an unidentified saxophonist. The tracks on this demo are: "For Love I Come Your Friend," an instrumental not present on the album and unknown, and "Uncle Remus" instrumental in its original arrangement.