The Late Great Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones, the legendary record producer, composer, and songwriter who worked with artists from Count Basie to James Ingram, died on October 31 2024 at the age of 91.

Quincy Jones was born in Chicago on March 14 1933. His mother was committed to a mental hospital when he was 7 years old. His father later divorced his mother and remarried. It was in 1943 that his father moved the family from Chicago to Bremerton, Washington, They later moved to Seattle, where Quincy Jones attended Garfield High School. It was while he was in high school that he honed his skills as a trumpeter and took an interest in music composition and arrangement. Quincy Jones attended Seattle University for a semester before transferring to Berklee College of Music in Boston on a scholarship.

Quincy Jones left college to play trumpet with Lionel Hampton. He left Mr. Hampton in 1954 and moved to New York City. It was in 1956 that he signed with ABC Paramount Records In the Fifties he played as a sideman for such artists as Clifford Brown, Dizzie Gillespie, and Art Farmer. His first album, recorded with drummer Roy Haynes, Jazz Abroad was released in 1955. During his career he released 36 albums, the last being Q Soul Bossa Nostra.

The first album on which Quincy Jones served as a composer was Standards by Ray Anthony in 1954. The first album he produced was Helen Merrill's self-titled debut album in 1955. Over the years he produced albums by such artists as Art Farmer, Billy Eckstine, Dizzie Gillespie, Little Richard, Leslie Gore, Sarah Vaughn, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Patti Austin, and Frank Sinatra. He produced such hits as "It's My Party" by Lesley Gore and Michael Jackson's album Thriller. He served as an arranger for many artists, including Big Maybelle, Dinah Washington, Diahann Carroll, Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Andy Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, and Lena Horne.

During his career Quincy Jones composed themes for such television shows as Ironside, The NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie, Sanford and Son ("The Street Beater"), and Now You See It. He also composed the soundtrack for the mini-series Roots .He composed the soundtracks for such movies as The Pawnbroker (1964), Mirage (1965), The Slender Thread (1965), Walk Don't Run (1966), The Deadly Affair (1967), Enter Laughing (1967), In the Heat of the Night (1967),  In Cold Blood (1967), Mackenna's Gold (1969), The Italian Job (1969), Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), Cactus Flower (1969), The Anderson Tapes (1971), The Getwaay (1972), and The Wiz (1978).

Beyond his music career, Quincy Jones served as a producer on such movies as The Color Purple (1985), Stalingrad (1990), Steel (1997), and The Color Purple (2023). He produced such TV shows as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, In the House, and MADtv.

Quincy Jones did nearly everything in music. He played music. He arranged music. He produced records. He scored movies. Beginning his career as a remarkable trumpeter, he became a remarkable producer, arranger, and composer. Many of his compositions remain iconic, including the song "In the Heat of the Night" and the Sanford and Son theme "The Streetbeater." He produced some huge hits, from "It's My Party" by Lesley Gore to "Beat It" by Michael Jackson. Quincy Jones had an enormous impact on music that is still being felt.