Quincy Jones had such an impact on the culture that it’s impossible to summarize. His discography is amazing. I feel so lucky to have met him in 2012 when I was much earlier in my career, and he didn’t have any reason to give me time, but he treated everyone as if they were important. We talked a lot about his Count Basie and Frank Sinatra days. If you’re unfamiliar with him, the Quincy documentary on Netflix is a good start. His musical fingerprints are everywhere, including the super-catchy theme songs for Sanford and Sons and Austin Powers.
He passed away last week, on November 3rd. As a tribute, here are ten albums he was involved in from the jazz side that have been big parts of my life. I’ll link to Spotify, but find them wherever you can:
- Sinatra at the Sands, Quincy arranges and directs the Count Basie band. This live album is great to listen to, you also get Frank doing stand-up comedy.
- It Might As Well Be Swing, Frank Sinatra.
- Julian “Cannonball” Adderley.
- Sonny Stitt Plays Arrangements from the Pen of Quincy Jones.
- Ella and Basie.
- The Genius of Ray Charles.
- For Those in Love, Dinah Washington.
- Dizzy and Strings, Dizzy Gillespie.
- Quincy Here We Come, Benny Bailey. (The track Meet Benny Bailey has an excellent tribute on Manhattan Transfer’s Vocalese.)
- Social Call, Betty Carter.
I put all ten into one Spotify playlist if you want to check them all out.
Very touching tribute, Matt.
I’m not surprised he took time to talk with you; that’s the “jazz mentality!” Share ideas and remix them.
Funny you should mention “Benny Bailey.” I’ve been casually transcribing James Moody’s solo for the past couple of months. I can play the first half (1:43-2:08) at 85% tempo. The goal is to have the entire solo nailed by Christmas. 🙂
https://youtu.be/5vQZMqEj_v8?si=cOIczSRQ0xzekfxs
WP-4-Life!
That’s amazing!
Thanks for the motivation and positive vibes, Matt. The second half of the solo is coming along… Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Fantastic, Matt. Thanks for taking the time to create the playlist. I’ll constantly listen to it. ❤️
What a great Quincy starter pack. Sonny Stitt sounds fantastic this morning. Thanks for making the playlist.
Thank you for sharing.
I always knew about the Michael Jackson stuff… But it wasn’t until a couple years ago that I found out before making Thriller, he produced Donna Summers’ self titled album.
You can definitely hear some of the future Thriller influence from her song “If it hurts just a little.”
Around that same time I found out about his work with Sinatra. I believe I watched a video clip of him saying that the ring he would wear was from Sinatra.
https://youtu.be/Ue-NpyR2Nb4?si=ITOYQoQ0eES1ZI16
I’ll add this Netflix Doc to the queue!