It’s tough to say ‘No’ to Frank Zappa. So when conservatory-schooled pianist George Duke fell into his circle in the early 70’s he persistently nudged his new keyboard player to go electronic. After Duke said no to an Arp 2600, a Minimoog appeared on top of his Fender Rhodes.

“He got a Minimoog for me and said ‘This is a little smaller and maybe you'll bump it and a sound will come out and you'll like it.’

He did, but because of the intricacies that Zappa built into his music, Duke would have to graffiti his Model D with loads of visual cues in order to make sure that he didn’t miss a patch change.

“There were all these little white lines, and if I didn't make those those patches, Frank would be pissed! It was like choreography.”

Once he went solo, Duke found a fair amount of success following the release of his “Reach For It” album in 1977. Duke’s new sound embraced the dance floor, and he suddenly expanded the range of his audience. The following year’s “Don’t Let It Go,” contained the single “Dukey Stick,” a Top 5 hit on the U.S. R&B charts that borrowed from heavily from the Bootsy Collins school of funk. Central to that vibe was Duke’s love of the Model D, which he felt had a thicker sound than the other monophonic synthesizers he had played.

“The oscillator sounded fatter on (the Model D). It's just a fatter different kind of oscillator. Whatever it was that those that Bob Moog did…it just had a fatter sound.”