picture of Duke Jethro
Duke Jethro
Duke's real name is Jethro Pollard (* 1936 in Meridian, MS). He had college degrees in music and electrical engineering. He was a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, a pilot. When B.B. King discovered him playing in a club in Los Angeles, Duke was working as a musician at night, and engineer by day. He was King's organ player from 1963 to 1968. He played up to 300 shows a year, recorded half a dozen albums.
 
After 5 years, Duke found the road too much. After leaving King's band, he formed his own but gave up music in 1970 and moved to the Bay Area. He worked at Philco, Lockheed, IBM and others as an electrical engineer.
 
Around 1991, he met John DeFrancesco and became interested in playing again. The two played some gigs together and Duke continued to play through 2005. But in 2015, John DeFrancesco, who is a great blues guitar player and singer in his own right, was in Oakland, CA, for a Hammond organ event and he ran into Duke. He convinced Duke that they should record a tribute album to honor B.B.
 
from abc30.com and album notes
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Discography
Blues Is King
Bluesway BL-6001
released 1967
recorded in Chicago, IL/USA
B.B. King, guitar, vocals
Bobby Forte, tenor sax
Kenneth Sands, trumpet
Duke Jethro, organ
Louis Satterfield, bass
Sonny Freeman, drums
His Best (The Electric B.B. King)
Bluesway BLS-6022
released 1968
B.B. King, guitar, vocals
Lawrence Burdine, alto sax
Johnny Board, tenor sax
Bobby Forte, tenor sax
Vernon Slater, tenor sax
Barney Hubert, baritone sax
Pluma Davis, trombone
Carl Adams, trumpet
Henry Boozier, trumpet
John Browning, trumpet
Hobart Dotson, trumpet
McKinley Johnson, trumpet
Billy Butler, guitar
Duke Jethro, organ
Leo Lauchie, bass
Louis Satterfield, bass
Sonny Freeman, drums
Maya Angelou, vocals
Back In The Alley
BluesWay BLS-6050
released 1973
compilation
B.B. King, guitar, piano, vocals
Johnny Pate, conductor
Johnny Board, tenor sax
Bobby Forte, tenor sax
Kenny Sands, trumpet
Irving Ashby, guitar
Maxwell Davis, organ
Lloyd Glenn, piano
Duke Jethro, organ, piano
David "Leather Sax" Allen jr., bass
Leo Lauchie, bass
Louis Satterfield, bass
Sonny Freeman, drums
Jesse Sailes, drums
King Of The Blues
MCA Records MCAD4 10677
released 1992
recorded May 1949 through December 1991
B.B. King, guitar, vocals
Dave Crawford, conductor, keyboards
Maxwell Davis, conductor, tenor sax, organ
Jimmie Haskell, conductor
Quincy Jones, conductor
Johnny Pate, conductor
Leon Russell, conductor, piano
Lawrence Burdine, alto sax
George Coleman, alto sax
Hank Crawford, alto sax
Jewell L. Grant, alto sax
William Green, alto sax
Howard E. Johnson, alto sax
David Sanborn, alto sax
Earl Turbinton, alto sax
Cato Walker, alto sax
Ernie Watts, alto sax
Johnny Board, tenor sax
Arnett Cobb, tenor sax
Adolph Duncan, tenor sax
Wilton Felder, tenor sax
Jimmy Forrest, tenor sax
Bobby Forte, tenor sax, baritone sax
Herb Hardesty, tenor sax, trumpet
Bill Harvey, tenor sax
Bill Havey, tenor sax
Red Holloway, tenor sax
Louis Hubert, tenor sax, baritone sax
Fred Jackson jr., tenor sax, flute
Hilton Joseph, tenor sax
David "Fathead" Newman, tenor sax
Richard Sanders, tenor sax
Vernon Slater, tenor sax
Ronnie Cuber, baritone sax
Barney Hubert, baritone sax
Kim Hutchcroft, baritone sax
Eddie Saxman Synigal, baritone sax
Floyd Turnham, baritone sax
James Walker, baritone sax
Harold Austin, sax
Ben Branch, sax
Mahlon Clark, sax
Quitman Dennis, sax
Brother Gene Dinwiddie, sax
Fred Ford, sax
Lee Gatling, sax
Bill Hood, sax
Bobby Keys, sax
Trevor Lawrence, sax
Dave McMurray, sax
Bumps Myers, sax
Ben Webster, sax
Don Wilkerson, sax
Larry Williams, sax
George Bohannon, horn
Martin Drover, horn
Chuck Finley, horn
Gary Herbig, horn
Wayne Jackson, horn
Andrew Love, horn
Steve Madaio, horn, trumpet
Kurt McGettrick, horn
Frank Mead, horn
The Memphis Horns, horn
Nicky Payne, horn
Nick Pentelow, horn
Garnett Brown, trombone
Joseph Burton, trombone
Pluma Davis, trombone
Charles Fendley, trombone
Jimmy Henderson, trombone
Sammie Jett, trombone
Tom "Bones" Malone, trombone
Dick Noel, trombone
Tommy Pederson, trombone
Benny Powell, trombone
Jim Price, trombone, trumpet, piano
Jack Redmond, trombone
Steve Sherard, trombone
Juan Tizol, trombone
Lloyd Ulyate, trombone
Al Aarons, trumpet
Carl Adams, trumpet
James Bolden, trumpet
Henry Boozier, trumpet
Tom Branch, trumpet
Oscar Brashear, trumpet
John Browning, trumpet
Bobby Bryant, trumpet
Conte Candoli, trumpet
John Willie Cook, trumpet
Hobart Dotson, trumpet
Gary Grant, trumpet
Jerry Hey, trumpet
Lonny Lalanne, trumpet
Ray Linn, trumpet
Charlie Miller, trumpet
Calvin Owens, trumpet
Roy Poper, trumpet
Al Porcino, trumpet
Jake "Vernon" Porter, trumpet
Waymon Reed, trumpet
Edward Rowe, trumpet
Ernie Royal, trumpet
Ken Sands, trumpet
Woody Shaw, trumpet
Patrick Williams, trumpet
Snooky Young, trumpet
Arthur Adams, guitar
Irving Ashby, guitar
Roland Bautista, guitar
Billy Butler, guitar
Bobby Cadwell, guitar
Roland Chambers, guitar
Jesse Daniels, guitar
Jesse Ed Davis, guitar
Cornell Dupree, guitar
Thek Edge, guitar
Julio Ferrer, guitar
Leonard Gill, guitar
Norman Harris, guitar
Al Hendrickson, guitar
Michael Hill, guitar
Milton Hopkins, guitar
Randy Jacobs, guitar
Johnny Jones, guitar
Michael Landau, guitar
Hugh McCracken, guitar
Calvin Newborn, guitar
Ray Parker jr., guitar
Dean Parks, guitar
Mac Rebennack, guitar
Jerome Richardson, guitar
David Spinozza, guitar
Eli Tartarsky, guitar
Jon Tiven, guitar
Sally Tiven, guitar
John Uribe, guitar
Joe Walsh, guitar
Steve Watson, guitar
Johnny Ace, piano
Robert Anderson, piano
Ronnie Barron, organ
Phil Blackman, keyboards
Charles Bowles, organ
Charles Brooks, piano
Sonny Burke, piano
Jim Cook, synthesizer
Lawrence Dermer, synthesizer
Dr. John, keyboards
Tommy Eyre, keyboards
Lloyd Glenn, piano
Paul Griffin, keyboards
Paul Harris, organ, piano
John Hobbs, piano, synthesizer
Duke Jethro, organ
Randy Kerber, synthesizer
Carole King, piano
Al Kooper, piano
Ron Kersey, keyboards
Neil Larsen, keyboards
Millard Lee, piano
Ron Levy, piano
Charles Mann, keyboards
Phineas Newborn jr., piano, drums
Frank Owens, piano
Doctor Ragavoy, piano
Jimmy Rowles, piano
Joe Sample, piano
Willie Smith, organ, piano
James Toney, organ
Dan Willard, piano
Stevie Wonder, keyboards
Gary Wright, piano
Joe Zagarino, piano
Warren Chiasson, vibes
Paul Mullen, vibes
Rudy Aikels, bass
Ron Baker, bass
David "Leather Sax" Allen jr., bass
Wilbur Bascomb jr., bass
Red Callender, bass
Adam Clayton, bass
Bob Daisley, bass
Victor Feldman, bass
Wilbert Freeman, bass
Bryan Garofalo, bass
Johnny B. Gayton, bass
Tuff Green, bass
Ralph Hamilton, bass
Major Holley, bass
James B. Hutchenson, bass
Russell Jackson, bass
Gerald Jemmott, bass
Leo Lauchie, bass
Will Lee, bass
Val Patillo, bass
Robert "Pops" Popwell, bass
Louis Satterfield, bass
Neil Stubenhaus, bass
Big Joe Turner, bass
Louis Villery, bass
Klaus Voormann, bass
"Ready" Freddie Washington, bass
Kenny Aronoff, drums
Will Calhoun, drums
Ted Curry, drums
Luther Dixon, drums
Calep Emphrey, drums
Anton Fig, drums
Earl Forest, drums
Sonny Freeman, drums
James Gadson, drums
Jim Gordon, drums
Ed Greene, drums
Stix Hooper, drums, percussion
Oliver Jackson, drums
Jim Keltner, drums
Russ Kunkel, drums
Herb Lovelle, drums
Jackie Mills, drums
Bob Morin, drums
Larry Mullen jr., drums
Harold Potier, drums
Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, drums
Jesse Sailes, drums
John Starks, drums
Ringo Starr, drums
Graham Walker, drums
Earl Young, drums
Marcus Barnett, percussion
Lenny Castro, percussion
Eddie "Bongo" Brown, congas
Paulinho Da Costa, percussion
Debra Dobkin, percussion
Earl Nash, congas
Naná Vasconcelos, percussion
Larry Washington, congas
Bobby "Blue" Bland, vocals
Bono, vocals
Gary Moore, vocals
Bonnie Raitt, vocals
Duke Ellington Orchestra
Another Generation Of The Blues
Silvertone Records 74321 13949 2
released 1993
recorded in Belmont, CA/USA
Zakiya Hooker, vocals
Bill Ortiz, horn
Marty Wehner, horn
Lloyd Gregory, guitar
Duke Jethro, organ
Ollan Christopher, bass
Kevin Williams, drums
Randie McBride, percussion
John Lee Hooker, vocals
Tribute to B. B. King's Live At The Regal
no label
recorded live at the Regal in Chicago, IL/USA
Johnny DeFrancesco, guitar, vocals
Duke Jethro, Hammond B-3 organ

 
Sound Samples
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Video n/a

 
 

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