Quincy Jones

From Wikipedia:

Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received many accolades including 28 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Tony Award as well as nominations for seven Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards.

Jones came to prominence in the 1950s as a jazz arranger and conductor before producing pop hit records for Lesley Gore in the early 1960s (including “It’s My Party”) and serving as an arranger and conductor for several collaborations between Frank Sinatra and the jazz artist Count Basie. Jones produced three of the most successful albums by pop star Michael Jackson: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), and Bad (1987). In 1985, Jones produced and conducted the charity song “We Are the World”, which raised funds for victims of famine in Ethiopia.

Jones composed numerous films scores including for The Pawnbroker (1965), In the Heat of the Night (1967), In Cold Blood (1967), The Italian Job (1969), The Wiz (1978), and The Color Purple (1985). He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for the miniseries Roots (1977). He received a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical as a producer for the revival of The Color Purple (2016).

Throughout his career he was the recipient of numerous honorary awards including the Grammy Legend Award in 1992, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1995, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001, the National Medal of the Arts in 2011, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2014, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2024. He was named one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century by Time. […]

The songs Paul chose for Kisses on the Bottom are songs I’ve heard and loved since I was a kid. I sat with Paul backstage at the first concert of his recent tour and had the privilege of listening to the entire record. These are some of the best songs ever written, and it takes a very special talent to bring them to light. Paul didn’t bring 1/8th notes with him to these songs; he knows how to swing like the old school or Sinatra used to say, “he’s in the pocket.” There is simply no artist today who has the credibility, grace, and depth of character that Paul has. Our 49-year-relationship goes back to before The Beatles came to America and I love that Paul has taken the time to do this album. I’ve heard a lot of records covering these songs, but none of them have the authenticity that Paul’s has.

Quincy Jones, about “Kisses On The Bottom” – From paulmccartney.com, February 1, 2012

Dear Quincy Jones has passed and left those of us who knew him feeling sad.

He was supremely talented, and I felt privileged to have known him for many years. He was friends with George Martin, the Beatles’ producer and, between the two of them, produced some very fine music.

Quincy or ‘Quince’ or ‘Q’, as he was known, always had a twinkle in his eye and had a very positive, loving spirit which infected everyone who knew him. His work with Michael Jackson is, of course, legendary and he had so many other strings to his musical bow.

My main recollections of him were always the private moments that we shared, and I will never stop thanking Nancy for always arranging to visit him when we were in Los Angeles. These visits were fun and inspiring.

His long career stretches back to the early days when he was a trumpet player, then a band leader, then a producer of many great records. But it is as a friend I would like to remember him. We always had fun in his presence and his legend will continue through the years, but it is those private moments we were lucky enough to have with the great man that I will always remember fondly.

We send our love and sympathies to his family and all his many friends.

– Paul

From Paul McCartney | News | Paul on Quincy Jones – November 4, 2024

Albums, EPs & singles which Quincy Jones contributed to