As
we prepare to celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month and International Jazz Day in
the month of April, we are excited to feature one of the most celebrated and
influential Jazz musicians of the 20th Century. He is an American record
producer, conductor, arranger, composer, television producer, film producer,
instrumentalist, and Jazz trumpeter. His career spans six decades in the
entertainment industry, and he has a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, and a
Grammy Legend Award given in 1991. His contribution to music and the
entertainment industry is unmatched and his ability as a leader has been proven
and well documented.
He
was born Quincy Delight Jones, Jr on the south side of Chicago in 1933 to
Quincy Delight Jones Sr, and Sarah Frances Jones. His mother was church going
and always sang religious songs at home which captivated the young Quincy and
gave him an introduction to music. They also had a neighbor called Lucy Jackson
who played a stride piano and young Quincy would often listen through the walls
which added to his passion for music. When Jones was ten, his family moved to
Washington State where he attended Garfield High School and became deeply
involved in the School band developing his skills as a trumpet player and music
arranger. By the age of fourteen, he was playing in a Jazz band with another
classmate called Charles Taylor. It was during this time that he met a sixteen
year old musician from Georgia called Ray Charles who became his friend and
served as an inspiration to Quincy. He was impressed by the way Charles
overcame a disability to achieve his musical goals.
In
1951 at the age of nineteen, Jones won a scholarship to the Berklee School of
Music, but would soon leave his studies there in order to play and tour with
bandleader Lionel Hampton. During this period, Jones successfully toured
throughout Europe with a number of Jazz orchestras, and in 1956 he joined
The
Dizzy Gillespie Band on a tour of the Middle Eastand South America. In 1957,
Quincy settled in Paris where he studied composition and theory with Nadia
Boulanger and composer Oliver Messiaen. He also became the French distributor
for Mercury Records. It was during his stay in Paris when he met musician
Harold Arlen and became the musical director of his Jazz band. He would later
form his own band with musicians from that group called The Jones Boys. This
group had eighteen artists and included double bass player Eddie Jones and
fellow trumpeter Reunald Jones. They went on a tour of North America and Europe
which met enthusiastic audiences and sparkling reviews, but the concert
earnings could not support a band of this size. Poor budget planning resulted in
an economic disaster and the band was forced to dissolve leaving Jones in a
financial crisis. He would later say, “We had the best Jazz band on the planet,
and yet we were literally starving. That’s when I discovered that there was
music and there was the music business. If I were to survive, I would have to
learn the difference between the two.” He received a personal loan from the
head of Mercury Records at the time, Irving Green who also offered Jones a new
job as the musical director of the company’s New York division.
In
1964, Jones was promoted to vice-president of Mercury Records becoming the
first African American to hold this executive position. In the same year, he
turned his attention to film scores, another musical arena long closed to
African Americans. He worked with film director Sidney Lumet, and composed the
music for the movie Pawnbroker in 1964 which was the first of his thirty three
major motion picture scores. Following the success of The Pawnbroker, Jones
left Mercury records and moved to Los Angeles where he composed the score for
the movie The Slender Thread, in 1965 starring Sidney Poiter. He was in
constant demand after this and would compose numerous scores for many movies
including In Cold Blood in 1967, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The
Getaway and Cactus Flower all in 1969. He also made scores for television
sitcoms Sanford and Son and The Cosby Show.
In
the 1960’s, Jones worked as an arranger for some of the most important artists
of the era, including Billy Eckstein, Sarah Vaughan, frank Sinatra, Ella
Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee and Dinah Washington. His solo recordings also gained
acclaim, including Walking in Space, Gula Matari, Mellow Madness, Body Heat and
I Heard That. He is also well known for his 1962 tune “Soul Bossa Nova” which
was the theme song for the 1998 World Cup.
In
1975, Jones founded Qwest Productions and produced hugely successful albums for
Frank Sinatra and other major pop figures. In 1978, he composed the soundtrack
for the musical adaptation of The Wizardof Oz, The Wiz, starring Michael
Jackson and Diana Ross. In 1982, he produced Michael Jackson’s all-time
best-selling album Thriller.
In
1981, Jones produced the album The Dude which yielded multiple hit singles,
including “Just Once” and “One Hundred Ways”, featuring James Ingram on lead
vocals and marking Ingram’s first hits. In 1985, he wrote the score for Steven
Spielberg’s adaptation of the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, The ColorPurple, by
Alice Walker. That same year, after the American Music Awards ceremony, Jones
used his influence to draw most of the major American recording artists of the
day into a studio to record the song “We are the World” to raise money for the
victims of Ethiopia’s famine. When asked how he was able to do it, he explained
that all he had to do after getting the artists to commit, was to tape a sign
on the door of the studio saying, “ Check Your Ego At The Door “
In
1988, Quincy Jones Productions joined forces with Warner Communications to
create Quincy Jones Entertainment and signed a ten picture deal with Warner
Brothers, and a two-series deal with NBC Productions. The television show Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air is among many of his successful productions to come out of
this deal, discovering Will Smith as an actor. In the early 1990’s, Jones was
also involved in a project which is still ongoing, called “The Evolution of
Black Music”
Dating
back to the 1970’s, Quincy tried to convince Miles Davis to revive the music he
had recorded on several classic albums of the 60’s, which had been arranged by
Gil Evans. Davis had always refused, citing a desire not to return to the past.
However, in 1991, Davis relented and agreed to perform the music at the
Montreux Jazz Festival. The resulting album from that concert, Miles and Quincy
Live at Montreux was Davis’s last released album. He died several months later
and the release of that album was considered an artistic triumph. In 1993,
Jones collaborated with David Salzman to produce the concert extravaganza, An
American Reunion, a celebration of Bill Clinton’s inauguration as president of
the United States.
While
working on the film The Wiz, Michael Jackson asked Jones to recommend some
producers for his upcoming solo record. Quincy offered some names, but
eventually offered to produce the record. Jackson accepted and the resulting
record, Off The Wall went on to sell 20 million copies. This made Jones the
most powerful record producer in the industry at the time, and the next
collaboration with Jackson, Thriller, sold 110 million copies becoming the highest
selling album of all time. He also worked with Jackson on the album Bad which
sold 45 million copies and that was the last time the pair worked together.
In
a 2007 interview, when asked if he would work with Jackson again, Jones said,
“Man, please! We already did that…..I’ve got too much to do. I’ve got 900
products on my table and I’m 74 years old.”
Quincy
Jones is alive and well still busy in the music business and serving as an
inspiration to all of us. This article is in recognition of Mr. Oko Drammeh’s
contribution to the promotion and production of African Music and Gambian music
in particular over the years.
The
month of April is Jazz Appreciation Day and International Jazz Day is on April
30th 2017. We will be at the Alliance Francais to celebrate.
