Based in Chicago, saxophonist Steve Duke draws from jazz, new music, and technology. Alan Kozinn of the New York Times described Steve Duke’s playing as “… a gorgeous tone and moved easily between, say, the Coltranesque leaps and the supple fluidity of the Hodges pastiche.”
Duke’s jazz work includes performances with Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams, Zoot Sims, Clark Terry, Charles McPherson, Victor Lewis and many others.
He has collaborated on over 20 solo works with composers including Larry Austin, Kurt Stallmann, Elainie Lillios, William O. Smith, Dexter Morrill, Jan Bach, Rodney Waschka III, Cort Lippe and James Phelps.
Widely recognized in computer music performance, Duke’s commission and premiere of BluesAx by Larry Austin and Veiled Resonance by Elaine Lillios received the Magisterium and 1st Prize awards from the prestigious Concours Internationale de Bourges. He has been a featured soloist at numerous international festivals including the International Computer Music Conference, Bourge Synthese Festival (France).
Solo recordings include jazz solo album Monk by 2 (Sony/Columbia) and computer/acoustic album Saint Ambrose (Capstone). His newest album Passing Through with pianist and composer Kurt Stallmann was released 2019. Duke’s soloing can be hear on Ty Cooper’s CD I’m All For You, which received Best Jazz CD at the 2018 New Mexico Music Awards. Other solo recordings can be heard on Centaur, SEAMUS, Equilibrium, GMEB/UNESCO/CIME and EMF. Steve Duke’s current projects include the Stallmann Duke Duo.