Quincy Jones, American composer, trumpeter and producer, dies at 91

Among music producers, the name of Quincy Jones, who died on November 3, 2024 in Los Angeles, at the age of 91, is one of the few that is known to the general public. The reason, his collaboration with Michael Jackson (1958-2009), in particular for the album Suspense, released in late November 1982. But when Quincy Jones shared all the honors with Michael Jackson during the Grammy Awards ceremony in February 1984, crowning the worldwide success of Suspense, Musicians and all music professionals know that this then fifty-year-old already has a long career behind him.

The one who started in jazz in the early 1950s, as a trumpeter, conductor, arranger and composer, in particular of several dozen film soundtracks and television program credits, also producer of multiple recording sessions of stars of jazz, variety, soul or. pop. In July 2014, he entrusted Francis Marmande, in the world : “I feel blessed to see the wonderful and fruitful journey that my life has been. Growing up in Depression-era Chicago wasn’t very promising for me. »

Born in Chicago (Illinois) on March 14, 1933, Quincy Delight Jones Jr. lived for the first time, with his youngest son, in the South Side neighborhood. His parents work in a residential building for the African-American lower middle class. In 1941, his mother was hospitalized after a serious attack of schizophrenia; He passed away in 1999 and reappeared in Quincy Jones’s life, between periods of calm and turmoil. The divorce was finalized and, in 1943, the father moved with his two children to Bremerton (Washington state), opposite Seattle. They were soon joined by the father’s new partner, with her son and two daughters. The couple will have three more children.

Revelation

In a town hall, Quincy Jones, then 11 years old, discovered a piano. He played a little during his childhood, listening to and singing the gospel tunes his grandmother and mother loved. There it is a revelation, and beyond, that music, as he writes in his autobiography Quincy by Quincy Jones (2001, French edition in 2003, Robert Laffont), it would be “ [s]we destined, [s]for life.”

At the age of 11 he discovered the piano. There is a revelation, and beyond that, that music, as he writes in his autobiography, would be “ [s]we destined, [s]for life.”

He began to play the piano on his own and then the trumpet. A teacher notices her interest and gives her music theory lessons in exchange for hours of babysitting. In 1947, the family moved to Seattle. Participates in the high school marching band. When pianist Count Basie’s (1904-1984) orchestra arrived in Seattle, Quincy Jones convinced trumpeter Clark Terry (1920-2015) to correct his mistakes. The beginning of a long friendship with Terry and Basie. Quincy Jones was also part of a semi-professional orchestra led by vibraphonist “Bumps” Blackwell (1918-1985). The pianist and singer Ray Charles (1930-2004), soon also a close friend, played with them for a time.

In 1949, this time it was to the orchestra of vibraphonist Lionel Hampton (1908-2002), who was visiting Seattle, that Quincy Jones turned. Still too young to tour, two years later he was hired in Hampton’s horn section. Meanwhile, he obtained a scholarship to be admitted to the Schillinger House in Boston (Massachusetts), which became the prestigious Berklee School of Music in 1954.

From 1951 to 1953, Quincy Jones played in Hampton’s big band and also became one of its arrangers. Its composition royal fish It will be his first recording for the group, in October 1951. This time at Hampton allowed Quincy Jones to progress and become known. From 1954 until the late 1960s, he wrote “hundreds of arrangements”he says in his autobiography. For advertisements, music shows, little-known artists and stars. Among whom, the singers Dinah Washington (1924-1963) – For lovers, in 1955 – and Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990), trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993), Ray Charles (1930-2004), Count Basie (1904-984) – a peak, Basie once againpublished in early 1959, consisting of compositions by Quincy Jones, including To Lena and Lennie, which Claude Nougaro (1929-2004) adapted into French in 1977 under the title My summer record, Frank Sinatra (1915-1998), known in 1958, whom he met on several occasions (including It might as well be swing, in 1964, with Count Basie and his orchestra).

In the summer of 1955, Quincy Jones founded his own big band. A first album, This is how I feel about jazz was published in February 1957 by ABC-Paramount, followed by Go west, man!continuing Basie’s swing style. In April 1957 he moved to Paris, hired by the Barclay phonographic company. For almost two years he supervised, with the internal band, most of the recording sessions. He went several times to the pianist, conductor, composer and teacher Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), to improve his writing for strings, harmony and analysis of classical works.

Returning to the United States in the early 1960s, Quincy Jones was signed by the American company Mercury Records. His first pop success, in 1963, was the production ofIt’s my party, performed by the young singer Lesley Gore (1946-2015), and arranged by Claus Ogerman. Fronting his big band, he recorded in particular Quincy Jones plays the hip hits in 1963 and golden boy in 1964, the year he was named vice president of Mercury Records.

His contract allows him to work for other companies. For Verve he recorded, in 1962, one of his most famous albums, in the bossa style that later extended to jazz, Big Band Bossa Nova, with the tube bossa nova soul. He found his comrade Ray Charles to Genius + Soul = Jazz (Impulse!, 1961). In 1962, it was The girl from Greece sings (Fontana), by Nana Mouskouri, which he produced with an orchestra conducted by Torrie Zito. He won his first Grammy Award in 1964 with the arrangement ofI can’t stop loving you, from the disk This time for Basie, by Count Basie and his orchestra. To date, Quincy Jones has won 27 Grammy Awards, behind conductor Georg Solti (1912-1997) with 31 wins and singer Beyoncé with 32 wins.

In 1961, Quincy Jones composed his first film soundtrack, The boy in the tree, by the Swede Arne Sucksdorff, but it is from 1964 and that for The lender, by Sidney Lumet, who became a frequent composer for film and television. The most interesting: those of Thirty minutes of respite, in 1965, by Sydney Pollack, In the heat of the nightin 1967, by Norman Jewison (Ray Charles sings the main theme In the heat of the night), gold leaves, in 1969, by Peter Collinson, dollars, in 1971, by Richard Brooks and, still in 1971, The Anderson File, by Sidney Lumet. In 1967, the credits theme of the television series. iron side (The iron man) becomes one of his classics.

In 1969, Quincy Jones left Mercury for the phonograph company A & M Records. He remained there until 1981, and his albums were then published by his own company Qwest Records, founded in 1980. It is one of the structures of a group that includes a musical publishing catalog, a production house and investments for the entertainment industry (record company, television , including series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, with Will Smith, cinema, press…). Qwest TV, an on-demand music video platform, launched in December 2017.

At A&M, Quincy Jones will record his most successful albums in his desire to mix his jazz culture with soul, funk and pop. Walking in space in 1969, Gula Matari, in 1970, Jack Smackwater in 1971 and body heat in 1974. That same year, 1974, he suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. He must stop playing the trumpet, touring with his orchestra and the intense pace of writing arrangements and compositions that he has carried out for the last twenty years.

In 1978 he supervised the film’s music. the magician, by Sidney Lumet, a film adaptation of the musical itself inspired by Wizard of Oz. Among the protagonists of the film is Michael Jackson, who is preparing a fifth solo album and asks Quincy Jones to co-produce it. off the wall was released in August 1979. Funk, disco, pop and soul intertwine. Critical success and commercial tidal wave with nearly 15 million copies sold in the months following its publication.

“ myrecord of the year »

The duo hits even harder with Suspense (November 1982), which spawned seven hit singles (The girl is mine, duet with Paul McCartney, Billie Jean, Beat It, Suspense…) on the album’s nine tracks. Stratospheric sales, nearly 40 million albums in the months of its release. A Grammy for “producer of the year” awards Quincy Jones. Third and final stage of the Jackson-Jones collaboration, Bad, in August 1987 and its nine singles (I just can’t stop loving you, bad, the way you make me feel, you soft criminal…) on the album’s eleven tracks.

“Off the Wall” was released in August 1979. Funk, disco, pop and soul intertwine. Critical success and commercial tidal wave with nearly 15 million copies sold in the months following its publication.

In early 1985, while working on the music of The color purple, By Steven Spielberg, singer Harry Belafonte and Ken Kragen, manager of Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers, ask Quincy Jones to participate in an operation by the USA for Africa association to finance the fight against hunger in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia. Quincy Jones will direct the song’s recording sessions. We are the world, written by Michel Jackson and Lionel Richie, featuring Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Ray Charles, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Billy Joel. At the 1986 Grammy Awards, We are the world Quincy Jones won the “Recording of the Year” award.

In 1989, while his previous album dates back to 1981, Quincy Jones still experienced a triumph with his album. Back on the block, which he likes to present as a summary of his approaches, from jazz to hip-hop. His biggest personal triumph at the Grammy Awards, in 1990, with six wins (out of seven nominations), including “album of the year”, “best rap performance”, “best jazz fusion performance” for the version of land of birds, by Joe Zawinul and “producer of the year”.

Starting in the 1990s, Quincy Jones focused primarily on his business. He also puts his reputation and address book at the service of charitable foundations (research on AIDS, cancer, help for victims of sexual assault, etc.) and structures for the education of youth, through his Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation.

On July 8, 1991, he conducted the impressive orchestra at the Montreux Jazz Festival, in his first participation in the famous Swiss festival, that performed the music written by Gil Evans for Miles Davis decades before. This retrospective concert will be one of the last of the trumpeter, who died at the end of September of the same year. Since then, Montreux has regularly invited Quincy Jones. In 2008 he celebrated his 75th birthday there and in 2013 his 80th birthday.