Quincy Jones, Grammy-Winning Producer for Michael Jackson
and Film Composer, Dies at 91
Variety
By Chris Morris
November 4, 2024
Quincy Jones, who distinguished himself over the course
of a 70-year career in music as an artist, bandleader, composer, arranger and
producer, has died. He was 91.
Jones died Sunday night at his home in the Bel Air
neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to a statement shared with Variety by
his rep Arnold Robinson. A cause of death was not disclosed.
“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the
news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing. And although this is an
incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and
know there will never be another like him,” the Jones family said in the
statement. “He is truly one of a kind and we will miss him dearly; we take
comfort and immense pride in knowing that the love and joy, that were the
essence of his being, was shared with the world through all that he created. Through
his music and his boundless love, Quincy Jones’ heart will beat for eternity.”
Jones’ eminence in the entertainment community was so
great that he went by a one-letter handle: “Q.”
Bred in the world of jazz, Jones became one of pop
music’s most formidable figures. He collected six of his 28 Grammy Awards for
his 1990 album “Back on the Block” and was a three-time producer of the year
honoree.
To many, he is probably best known for his production
collaborations with Michael Jackson, which began in 1979 with the singer’s
breakthrough solo album “Off the Wall,” which has sold an estimated 20 million
copies internationally.
Its chart-topping sequel “Thriller” (1982) — for which
Jones took album of the year honors, plus a record of the year trophy for the
track “Billie Jean” — remains the bestselling album of all time, with worldwide
sales estimated in excess of 110 million. Jones went on to work with Jackson on
his No. 1 1987 release “Bad.”
In 1985, Jones made international headlines as the
producer of USA for Africa’s “We Are the World,” the single devoted to African
famine relief; Jackson co-authored the song with Lionel Richie and led its
all-star cast of vocalists.
Jones was the first African American to pen the score for
a major motion picture, 1964’s “The Pawnbroker,” and went on to receive seven
Oscar nominations for best original score and song. In 1995, he received AMPAS’
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, another first for a Black artist.
He made his mark on TV as executive producer of the ’90s
NBC sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” which brought rapper Will “Fresh
Prince” Smith to prominence as an actor. In addition to the 2022 reboot of
“Bel-Air,” he later exec produced the comedy skeins “In the House” and “MadTV”;
the 10-hour 1995 documentary “The History of Rock ‘N’ Roll”; the 2014
documentary “Keep on Keepin’ On”; and the 2023 adaptation of “The Color Purple”
directed by Blitz Bazawule.
Jones received a Tony Award nomination in 2006 as
producer of the musical adaptation of “The Color Purple.”
In the publishing world, he founded the respected hip-hop
magazine Vibe, which spawned a TV spinoff in 1997.
In recognition of the vast array of causes to which he
contributed, Jones was named Variety’s philanthropist of the year in 2014.
He was born Quincy Delight Jones Jr. in Chicago. He took
up the trumpet, his principal instrument, as a boy. At the age of 10, his
family moved to Seattle; there, as a novice musician of 14, he met 17-year-old
Ray Charles.
By 18, after studying at the Berklee School of Music in
Boston, Jones was touring with Lionel Hampton’s big band in a trumpet section
that included Art Farmer and Clifford Brown. In the early ’50s, he honed his
arranging chops by writing charts for trumpeter Clark Terry (an important early
mentor), Count Basie, Dinah Washington and many others. He made his debut as a
leader in 1953 in an octet co-led by drummer Roy Haynes.
After serving as band director for Dizzy Gillespie’s
State Dept.-sponsored big band and doing stints at ABC-Paramount and France’s
Barclay Records, Jones assembled an in-house orchestra at Mercury Records.
Though a subsequent touring group collapsed financially, the association led to
an A&R position at Mercury; by 1964, Jones was a VP at the label, where he
produced pop singer Leslie Gore’s major hits.
In 1959-60, he arranged a pair of Charles’ finest albums,
“The Genius of Ray Charles” and “Genius + Soul Jazz.” He received his first
Grammy in 1964 for his arrangement of “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” Charles’ hit
version of Don Gibson’s country tune.
At the behest of Sidney Lumet, Jones wrote the score for
the director’s 1964 drama “The Pawnbroker.” That assignment — the first for a
Black musician — led to prestige composing jobs on such features as “In Cold
Blood,” “In the Heat of the Night” (which featured a title song by Ray
Charles), “The Italian Job,” “Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice” and “The
Getaway.”
In the mid-’60s, Jones established a working relationship
with Frank Sinatra. He arranged a pair of albums teaming the vocalist with
Count Basie’s orchestra, “It Might as Well Be Swing” (1964) and the live
“Sinatra at the Sands” (1966).
In 1969, Jones began a profitable association as an
artist with A&M Records, for which he recorded nine studio albums. He
reaped three Grammys for his jazz-pop work at the label; in 1974, the A&M
album “Body Heat” became the highest-charting set of his career, peaking at No.
8. In 1977, he released an album of his soundtrack music for the top-rated ABC
miniseries “Roots” on the label; it reached No. 21 on the pop album chart.
While Jones busied himself over the years as a producer
for such artists as Aretha Franklin, the Brothers Johnson, George Benson and
Chaka Khan, it was his work with Michael Jackson that thrust him into the most
rarefied stratum of the music industry.
In 1978, Jones was working as music supervisor on
director Lumet’s film adaptation of the Broadway hit “The Wiz,” featuring
Jackson as the Scarecrow. While the picture was in production, Jackson — then
newly signed as a solo artist to Epic Records — sought Jones’ advice about
potential producers for his upcoming album. After supplying the singer with a
list of prospects, Jones was enlisted by Jackson for the job.
The phenomenal decade-long Jones-Jackson partnership
resulted in three multiplatinum albums (including the unprecedented and still
unequalled worldwide smash “Thriller”), 18 top-10 pop hits (including 10 No. 1
singles) and four Grammy Awards for Jones.
At the apex of Jackson’s popularity in January 1985,
Jones recorded “We Are the World” with a cast of soloists that also included
Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross and Ray
Charles. The benefit single sold an estimated 20 million copies worldwide and
added an additional three Grammys, including one for record of the year, to
Jones’ resume.
In 1980, Jones founded Qwest Records, a joint venture
with Warner Bros. Records. The imprint released the Jones-penned soundtrack for
Steven Spielberg’s “The Color Purple” and signed such artists as George Benson,
Tevin Campbell, New Order and, briefly, Sinatra (whose 1984 album “L.A. Is My
Lady” was arranged by Jones). But its chief executive became its most prominent
act.
Jones’ 1989 Qwest album “Back on the Block” — an all-star
affair pairing Jones with legends like Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah
Vaughan and Ray Charles and young bloods like Ice-T and Big Daddy Kane —
captured a bounty of Grammys and peaked at No. 9 on the U.S. album chart.
In 1993, Warner Bros. released “Miles and Quincy Live at
Montreux,” a 1991 live set by trumpeter Davis and Jones from the titular jazz
festival in Switzerland on which Davis revisited compositions originally
arranged in the ’50s by Gil Evans. It proved to be the jazz legend’s final
recording and received a Grammy in 1994.
Jones’ latter-day solo releases were “Q’s Jook Joint”
(1995) and “Q Soul Bossa Nostra” (2010). The former featured a host of seasoned
R&B and jazz vets, young hip-hop stars and even a guest shot by Marlon
Brando. The latter album, comprising new recordings of material associated with
Jones, included appearances by such diverse artists as Jennifer Hudson, Amy
Winehouse, Usher, Snoop Dogg, Wyclef Jean and Three 6 Mafia. In addition to
appearing on The Weeknd’s 2022 album “Dawn FM” and in the music video for Travis
Scott and Young Thug’s song “Out West,” Jones has only sporadically produced or
performed as an artist. Upon the release of his self-titled 2018 documentary,
Jones collaborated with producer Mark Ronson and vocalist Chaka Khan on the
accompanying single “Keep Reachin’.”
His Global Gumbo Orchestra made appearances at the
Hollywood Bowl in 2011 and at that venue’s Playboy Jazz Festival in 2012. The
group released “Tomorrow,” a charity single featuring stars of several Arab
nations and co-produced by Jones and RedOne, in late 2011. After appearing at
the Hollywood Bowl in 2017 to perform selections from his A&M years, Jones
commemorated his 90th birthday in July 2023 with a two-night celebration at the
venue featuring past and present artists he worked with, from singer Patti
Austin to songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier.
Jones received the Recording Academy’s Legend Award in
1991 and Trustees Award in 1989. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001
and the National Medal of the Arts from President Obama in 2011. He was
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 as the winner of the Ahmet
Ertegun Award together with Lou Adler.
Jones released his autobiography “Q” in 2001; an audio
version of the book received a Grammy as best spoken word album in 2002.
Married and divorced three times, he is survived by a
brother, two sisters, six daughters including actor Rashida Jones, and a son.
JONES, Quincy (Quincy Delight Jones Jr.)
Born: 3/14/1933, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
Died: 11/3/2024, Bel Air, California, U.S.A.
Quincy Jones’ westerns – composer:
Mackenna’s Gold – 1969 [composer, conductor]
Man and Boy – 1971 [music supervisor]
