Quincy Jones, the great architect of the Music of the century

If there was a Great Architect of music in the West, for over sixty years, it had to be Him: Quincy Delight Jones, born during the Great Depression in Chicago and died at 91 in Los Angeles last weekend. A genius, dubbed as such by music teacher Nadia Boulanger, who said she had known two (the other was Stravinsky). Above all, Quincy had heart and ears. This was the music of the century, in eight legendary albums.

The most jazz: “Quintessence”, 1961

The man is not yet 30 years old, and has extricated himself from the tragedies of the South Side of Chicago, on the verge of making him a gangster, to find a family in jazz: the trumpet, a little, but above all the arrangement, production, composition, direction. At the end of the fifties, his first big band project did not work and brought him to the brink of suicide. He responds with “Quintessence”, with a stunning cast (Phil Woods, Clark Terry, Oliver Nelson, Thad Jones…). An exit from above, a weightless record, soft and modern, swinging and mysterious, one of the peaks in the history of big bands. It hasn’t aged a bit.

Most delicious: “Big Band Bossa Nova,” 1962

Six months later, we do it again with the copper version of music from Brazil. A masterpiece on the border of pop, of dance, between worlds, for everyone. Put this album on at home tonight, this vintage thing, this strength, this warmth, this virtuosity of the arrangements: getting drunk in Rio, that’s it, with Jim Hall or Paul Gonsalves, Lalo Schifrin or Roland Kirk. And then there is “Soul Bossa Nova”, sampled by all the rappers on earth: eternal.

The most beautiful: “Sinatra at the Sands”, 1966

It would take a lifetime to tell this record. It’s the greatest of all time because it says the Holy Trinity: Sinatra is at the top, Count Basie’s orchestra is at the top, Quincy Jones arranges and directs the affair in his gin nights in Vegas. They are there, free as ever, tipsy surely, they have the world and women at their feet, and a Sistine Chapel balance is created, miraculous, wild, animal, sumptuous: “Fly Me to the Moon”, Frank, Count and Q, since that’s what Sinatra and the world now call him: here is the G3 of music history.

Le plus pop: «Mellow Madness», 1975

During the seventies, Q turned to pop, with “crossover” records, as they called it then, which made him hated by some purists, but reflected his sure taste for the music of the moment. He leads a thousand projects at the same time, an equally turbulent private life (5 wives, 7 children), it ends in 1974 with a ruptured aneurysm: the doctors predict that he has a one in a hundred chance of getting through it. “Mellow Madness” is the record of his resurrection, it is not for nothing that he has his head on the cover. On the program: the funky Brothers Johnson, and especially the Watts Prophets, poetic pioneers of hip-hop: Q sees far.

Best-selling: “Thriller,” 1982

Michael Jackson had to impose Quincy Jones, considered “too jazz”, to produce “Off the Wall” three years earlier. Big success and the duo reforms for the “Thriller” project. The record sold 32 million copies in one year, it was the best-selling album of all time. “Thriller”, “Bille Jean”, “Beat It”, “Human Nature”, swaying r’n’b, jazz and brass stuff transcended by synths or the hard rock guitar of Eddie Van Halen, etc. All this leaves you speechless and sweaty: Q and MJ didn’t make a splash, they redefined global pop for 50 years. Because yes, again: all of this hasn’t aged a bit.

The most symphonic: “The Color Purple”, 1989

Never forget the harmony, the melody, the counterpoint: its classic, elegant, but blues-inspired art. The soundtrack that Q composed for Spielberg’s film is a masterpiece of strength, of melancholy, with eyes fixed to the sky. Nothing pompous, nothing easy: just an emotion carried by orchestra and strings, somewhere on a podium between Morricone and Debussy. Are you crying while listening to this? It’s normal.

Le plus casting de fou: «Back on the Block», 1989

One might think that the production, in 1985, of the charity “We Are the World”, with 45 stars on the clock, would have cured Quincy Jones of the “total record” fantasy. But no: “Back on the Block”, from be-bop to hip-hop, brings together the craziest cast in history: Ella Fitzgerald, Ice-T, Big Daddy Kane, Al Jarreau, Ray Charles, Barry White, Dionne Warwick, Chaka Khan, Joe Zawinul, George Benson… Ah yes. Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie are in the trumpet section, for that matter. Grammy Album of the Year. The Godfather of Music is Q.

The most historic: “Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux”, 1993

In 1991, with Claude Nobs, Quincy convinced Miles to follow this madness: to replay in live and in front of a double big band the fifties arrangements of his records with Gil Evans. Miles was borderline, on the verge of death, but we don’t care. What’s happening is love and pure emotion. I saw with my own eyes guys burst into tears during this concert. It’s tense and sublime, because you wonder if The Chief will hold out. At the end, Nobs is heard yelling, “Miles Davis, Quincy Jones!!! Miles Davis, Quincy Jones!!!…” This morning, they are together again.

Christophe Passerborn in Fribourg, has worked at Le Matin Dimanche since 2014, after having worked in particular at Le Nouveau Quotidien and L’Illustré. More info

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