Neat mustache, sharp figure and pleasant smile, Quincy Jones – who died on Sunday November 3 at the age of 91 – is among the most important American musicians of the second half of the 20th century.e century. Famous for having produced Michael Jackson's greatest hits and orchestrating countless Frank Sinatra shows, this outstanding musician has left his mark on the history of jazz, soul and pop with his unwavering elegance.
In 2010, Quincy Jones received the National Medal of Arts from United States President Barack Obama.
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Born in a very poor neighborhood in Chicago, Quincy Jones grew up in Seattle in a dysfunctional blended family. The discovery of music opened the way to a life as an artist from childhood. “When I was 11, I touched a piano for the first time. I played a single note and it changed my life,” he recounted in his memoirs, published in French in 2021. A trumpeter, he toured jazz clubs and met other musicians. He was still a minor when double bassist Oscar Pettiford hired him as an arranger for his compositions, or when Lionel Hampton recruited him to lead his brass section. “We had to play all the variety of the time, rhythm and blues, striptease music, polka… Afterwards, we would get together and play bebop all night long. I was trying to make everything sound bebop and Ray Charles told me 'no, you have to accept the music for its deep soul'. It's been a blessing. »
In Paris, Jones took composition lessons from Nadia Boulanger, met Stravinsky and Messiaen, was entrusted with the artistic direction of Barclay records, collaborated with Henri Salvador and Astor Piazolla…
Like King Midas
In the “All-Stars Band” that he created and directs, the Quincy prodigy brings together Charlie Mingus, Milt Jackson and many others. In the United States, at the age of 28, he became vice-president of Mercury records, and ventured outside of jazz: first under the leadership of his friend Ray Charles, then of Peggy Lee. And puts himself at the service of the most popular singer: Frank Sinatra.
Attached to composing and orchestrating film scores (around forty in total), Quincy Jones, seeming to be possessed by the gift of King Midas, popularizes new artists. Like George Benson, whose song “Give Me The Night” he created.
Following their meeting in 1978 on the set of the film “The Wiz”, a disco adaptation of “The Wizard of Oz”, Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones engaged in the most fruitful collaboration in pop history: “ Off the Wall” (1979) and especially “Thriller” (1982) raised Michael Jackson to the roof of the world. In addition to the talent of the singer, fresh from the Jackson 5, it is the care given to each sound detail of the arrangements and recordings which makes the power of these albums.
The year of the album “Bad” (1985), “Q” brought together – for the charity song “We Are the World” co-signed by Jackson and Lionel Ritchie – all the elite of world show business: Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Diana Ross… At the entrance to the recording studio, Quincy Jones had tacked up a sign: “Please leave your ego at the door! »
