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Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones is an NEA Jazz Master

An impresario in the broadest and most creative sense of the word, Quincy Jones’ career has encompassed the roles of composer, record producer, artist, film producer, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, TV producer, record company executive, magazine founder, multi-media entrepreneur and humanitarian. As a master inventor of musical hybrids, he has shuffled pop, soul, hip-hop, jazz, classical, African and Brazilian music into many dazzling fusions, traversing virtually every medium, including records, live performance, movies and television.

Celebrating more than 60 years performing and being involved in music, Quincy’s creative magic has spanned over six decades, beginning with the music of the post-swing era and continuing through today’s high-technology, international multi-media hybrids. In the mid-50’s, he was the first popular conductor-arranger to record with a Fender bass. His theme from the hit TV series Ironside was the first synthesizer- based pop theme song. As the first black composer to be embraced by the Hollywood establishment in the 60’s, he helped refresh movie music with badly needed infusions of jazz and soul. His landmark 1989 album, Back On The Block–named “Album Of The Year” at the 1990 Grammy Awards– brought such legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Miles Davis together with Ice T, Big Daddy Kane and Melle Mel to create the first fusion of the be bop and hip hop musical traditions; while his 1993 recording of the critically acclaimed Miles and Quincy Live At Montreux, featured Quincy conducting Miles Davis’ live performance of the historic Gil Evans arrangements from the Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain sessions, garnered a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance. As producer and conductor of the historic “We Are The World” recording (the best-selling single of all time) and Michael Jackson’s multi-platinum solo albums, Off The Wall, Bad and Thriller (the best selling album of all time, with over 50 million copies sold), Quincy Jones stands as one of the most successful and admired creative artist/executives in the entertainment world.

His 1995 recording, Q’s Jook Joint, again showcased Quincy’s ability to mold the unique talents of an eclectic group of singers and musicians, in what resulted in a retrospective of his broad and diverse career from that of a seasoned Jazz musician, to skilled composer, arranger, and bandleader, to acclaimed record producer.

A reference to the backwoods club houses of rural America in the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s, the platinum selling Q’s Jook Joint featured performances by artists such as Bono, Brandy, Ray Charles, Phil Collins, Coolio, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Gloria Estefan, Rachelle Ferrell, Aaron Hall, Herbie Hancock, Heavy D., Ron Isley, Chaka Khan, R. Kelly, Queen Latifah, Tone Loc, the Luniz, Brian McKnight, Melle Mel, Shaquille O’Neal, Joshua Redman, the Broadway musical troupe Stomp, SWV, Take 6, newcomer Tamia, Toots Thielemans, Mervyn Warren, Barry White, Warren Wiebe, Charlie Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Mr. X, and Yo-Yo, among others, and garnered seven Grammy nominations. His recording, From Q, With Love, featured a collection of 26 love songs that he recorded over the last 32 years of his more than 50 year career in the music business.

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Radio & Podcasts

September Songs - Part 2

Read "September Songs - Part 2" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


September offers an opportunity to refocus on our inner energies and start a new cycle with renewed awareness and intentions--basically back to school and beyond... This segment of the show features more songs inspired by this month, with a special focus on five masterpieces that were recorded during a magical couple of weeks in September 1962. Happy listening! Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Johnnie Taylor “It's September" Super ...

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In Pictures

Umbria Jazz 2018: Part 1-2

Read "Umbria Jazz 2018: Part 1-2" reviewed by Roberto Cifarelli


Photos of several concerts held between July 13 and 15 at the 2018 Umbria Jazz Festival, featuring Quincy Jones, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Patti Austin, Noa, Paolo Fresu, Gianluca Petrella, John Clayton, and Chiara Civello. ...

Live Review

Umbria Jazz 2018 - prima parte

Read "Umbria Jazz 2018 - prima parte" reviewed by Libero Farnè


Umbria Jazz Varie sedi Perugia 13-16.07.2018 Seguire Umbria Jazz significa soprattutto frequentare in tutte le ore della giornata i suoi diversi e caratterizzati spazi; sono loro infatti che, all'aperto o al chiuso, con la loro storia, dimensione, accessibilità, sono commisurati a una programmazione differenziata per generi musicali e forza attrattiva dei protagonisti, destinata a varie fasce di pubblico. Come vedremo, la mappa dei luoghi del jazz perugini, tutti collocati nel centro storico con innumerevoli appuntamenti ...

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Album Review

Quincy Jones And His Orchestra: Live In Ludwigshafen 1961

Read "Live In Ludwigshafen 1961" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Artistic dreams and financial realities are rarely in alignment. That's a sad fact that the great Quincy Jones learned the hard way at the dawn of the '60s. Jones was in Europe at the time, directing a dream orchestra that he put together for the musical Free And Easy. When that show closed in February of 1960, he decided to keep things going. The big band tours that followed--in 1960 and 1961--were, by all accounts, successful in an artistic sense; ...

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Catching Up With

Quincy Jones: An Evening With A Legend

Read "Quincy Jones: An Evening With A Legend" reviewed by Solomon J. LeFlore


I love jazz! I love everything about it... the improvisation, syncopation, the forceful rhythm, and the fact that it is truly America's original art form. Its unique and innovative use of brass and woodwind instruments and the piano is jazz. And, it is as American as apple pie. Ask 100 different people “What is jazz?“ and you're likely to get 100 different answers. Its styles include Dixieland, swing, bebop, and free jazz. Jazz is America's classical music. It ...

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Album Review

Quincy Jones And His Orchestra: The Quintessence

Read "The Quintessence" reviewed by Martin Gladu


As the who's who of the entertainment and humanitarian aid worlds prepares to fete Quincy Jones on his 75th birthday (he was born March 14, 1933), Universal's Impulse! Records also takes part in the celebration with the reissue of The Quintessence.Recorded in late 1961 as an offshoot of the Free and Easy Broadway show, the band features roughly the same big band personnel Jones had assembled in New York for the show's initial European dates. Following the show's ...

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Album Review

Quincy Jones And Bill Cosby: The Original Jam Sessions 1969

Read "The Original Jam Sessions 1969" reviewed by Mark Sabbatini


The phrase “your opinion of this album may depend on what you think of TV theme music" is generally not meant as praise.

But this “long-lost" collection of funk-jazz written by Jones and Cosby bears no resemblance to the syrupy soundtracks of modern shows like “The West Wing" and “Law And Order." Instead it offers up a collaboration of various big-name jazz players in a casual and free-spirited, if uneven, set of studio jams. Most of the time ...

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Video / DVD

Backgrounder: Quincy Jones - Twilight Time

Backgrounder: Quincy Jones - Twilight Time

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Early in March, I posted a Backgrounder on a 1957 album arranged by Quincy Jones in Paris. In the U.S., the LP was released by United Artists and was called Americans in Paris. In France, it came out on Barclay and was known as Et Voila! The album was recorded with Eddie Barclay, the owner of the Barclay label and its music director at the time who hired most of the French musicians in the band. He soon would offer ...

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Video / DVD

Backgrounder: Quincy Jones - Americans in Paris

Backgrounder: Quincy Jones - Americans in Paris

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

In 1957, Quincy Jones moved to Paris to study composition and theory with Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen. In his spare time, the producer, composer, arranger, bandleader and conductor became music director at Barclay, a French record company owned by Eddie Barclay, a composer-arranger and contractor. Barclay also was the licensee for Mercury in France. Jones's first album for the label was Et Voila!, which was released on United Artists in the U.S. as Americans in Paris. In addition to ...

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For Sale

VMP Announces Vinyl Experience Celebrating Quincy Jones

VMP Announces Vinyl Experience  Celebrating Quincy Jones

Source: All About Jazz

Vinyl Me, Please (VMP) today announces VMP Anthology: The Story of Quincy Jones to celebrate the music, film and TV producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, performer and all-around living legend, Quincy Jones. This exclusive, limited-edition vinyl box set takes listeners on an immersive experience through Jones’ nearly seven decades long career working alongside the biggest names and hottest genres—from bebop to pop, rap to jazz, Miles Davis to Michael Jackson, Ray Charles to Frank Sinatra. VMP Anthology: The Story of ...

Video / DVD

Video: Quincy Jones Big Band in France

Video: Quincy Jones Big Band in France

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Quincy Jones had a sterling jazz career in the 1950s arranging and conducting for top jazz recording artists. He also recorded with his own band. By 1959, Jones decided to invest in a touring production of Harold Arlen's jazz musical Free and Easy that used his arrangements for 18 musicians instead of a full orchestra. Free and Easy premiered in Amsterdam on December 7, 1959 and continued pre-opening performances in Brussels, Amsterdam again and Sweden in late 1959 and early ...

TV / Film

BBC Doc: Quincy Jones

BBC Doc: Quincy Jones

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Regardless of what you think about Quincy Jones, The Many Lives of Q will likely change your mind. The BBC documentary from 2008, directed by Deborah Perkin, tracks the composer-arranger's career from the very beginning in the late 1940s and provides an overview of the many music and film projects that bear his touch and textures. From Lionel Hampton to Dinah Washington, from Leslie Gore to Count Basie, from Paris to Hollywood, and from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, Jones ...

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Video / DVD

Quincy Jones in Paris, 1960

Quincy Jones in Paris, 1960

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

In 1957, Quincy Jones moved to Paris. There, he studied with Nadia Boulanger, a French composer who educated numerous expatiate American composers and bandleaders. As Boulanger told Jones, “Your music can never be more or less than you are as a human being." To pay the bills, Jones took a job with Barclay, the French record label, where he produced and arranged sessions for French pop singers and touring American jazz vocalists.  After 19 months, Jones returned to New York. ...

Music Industry

Quincy Jones Joins Jammcard $1M Funding Round To Expand 'LinkedIn For Musicians'

Quincy Jones Joins Jammcard $1M Funding Round To Expand 'LinkedIn For Musicians'

Source: HypeBot

Quincy Jones has led a $1 million seed funding round in music tech startup Jammcard. The music industry professionals network has been called the “LinkedIn for musicians" by Forbes.   Jammcard connects the music community via an invite-only social network for vetted pros and exclusive, members-only events. The app is credited with assembling live bands for Gwen Stefani, Zedd, Maren Morris, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Jason Derulo and Grace VanderWaal. In addition, Jammcard curates a  signature monthly live event called the JammJam, which have ...

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Recording

Quincy Jones Guitar Protege Andreas Varady "The Quest" On Resonance out April 6

Quincy Jones Guitar Protege Andreas Varady "The Quest" On Resonance out April 6

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

The Quest is the long-awaited third album from Andreas Varady, a protégé of the legendary Quincy Jones! Featuring Varady's father, bassist Bandi and brother, drummer Adrian, plus pianist Benito Gonzalez and saxophonist Radovan Tariska CD & Digital Editions Available on April 6, 2018 Resonance Records is proud to announce the release of The Quest, the third recording from twenty-year old guitar virtuoso, Andreas Varady. With the release of Questions (2010) and his eponymous CD in 2014, the native of Slovakia, ...

Music Industry

Producer Quincy Jones Proposes A Music Stock Index Fund

Producer Quincy Jones Proposes A Music Stock Index Fund

Source: HypeBot

While there have long been index funds built around media and tech stocks, there has never been an index fund created specifically around music, something which famed producer Quincy Jones is hoping to change. Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 One way to invest in the stock market reasonably safely is by investing in an index fund, which is a type of mutual fund with a portfolio constructed to match or track a market index, such as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500). ...

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Crowdfunding Campaign

Qwest TV by Quincy Jones: Only 1 day left to fund "The Netflix of Jazz" (Kevin Le Gendre - BBC Radio 3) on Kickstarter

Qwest TV by Quincy Jones:  Only 1 day left to fund "The Netflix of Jazz" (Kevin Le Gendre - BBC Radio 3) on Kickstarter

Source: Michael Ricci

Qwest TV is self-financed. The Kickstarter campaign has to be a success and we need to give birth to Qwest TV. We're approaching our goal on Kickstarter. Now is the time to help get Qwest TV to the finish line! To give everyone unlimited access to the music that helped to shape our cultural foundations: Jazz! Support with us Quincy Jones’ dream, Qwest TV spiritual godfather. Let's build together a service dedicated to jazz and beyond that embraces music lovers ...

Dave Howard
guitar, electric
Mike Rinta
trombone
Milo Mannino
trumpet
Mishko M'ba
bass, electric
Josh Andres
multi-instrumentalist
Jason Holcomb
trombone
Ryan Marquez
piano and vocals
Amber Taylor
lyricist
Zach Green
composer / conductor
Pepito Montes
piano and vocals
Enrico Solazzo
arranger

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