I just listened to the two Carrie Underwood pieces and then went back to George Duke. They're as different as night and day.

For the Carrie/Vince piece, it's all message and the superior guitar work of Vince. Inversions and chord substitutions don't come into play here. Vince does some very tasty variations on the lead line.

The George/Eric/Bloomburg pieces are all improvisation. You can just see that genius mind of Duke planning what he's going to do on the next pass.

Of course, Vince could step right in and trade fours with George. But, they both stick with what they know and love.

Little Carrie seams like a sweet little lady, but, in my opinion, at least, not much in the pure vocal talent department.

We're not talking "apples to apples" here.

It's similar to the entertainer vs. musician issue.

Please note, I'm making no comment about the religious content of the Carrie Underwood pieces, but concentrating on just the structure and possibilities of using the substitution/inversion ideas we are talking about.

Russ