Photo by: World Economic Forum
Since the death of Michael Jackson there has been a tidal wave of media coverage about the King Of Pop. Thankfully, a wave or two has pointed to his main collaborator, the wonderfully talented Quincy Jones. Quincy and Michael met on the production of the movie “The Wiz” Soon after they were working on Michaels’ breakout album “Off The Wall” The rest is pop history on the grandest scale. I’d like to talk a little about Quincy before he and MJ shook up the world.
Q’s career took off in New York City in the late 50’s, where he made some noise arranging songs for artists like Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa, and Ray Charles.
After signing a contract to arrange and produce for Mercury Records, one of Q’s first brushes with pop music was with 60’s teen idol singer Lesley Gore In 1963 he produced one of her biggest hits, “It’s My Party”. Q then went on to arrange and conduct Frank Sinatra’s album with Count Basie, “It Might as Well Be Swing” (1964). Jones’ arrangement of “Fly Me to the Moon” from the LP literally made it to the moon in 1969 as the first music played for NASA’s lunar landing mission by astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
By the mid 60’s Mr. Jones was in Hollywood, which naturally meant Movie and TV work. Some of Q’s soundtrack work from the 60’s to early 70’s would include:
In the Heat of the Night, Ironside, Sanford and Son, and The Bill Cosby Show. Lots of blues inspired funk workouts here including a killer performance by Ray Charles on the title song from “In The Heat Of The Night”.
In the late 70’s Q was looking to work with something new. Funky but with a dose of pure pop. He found the perfect formula when he teamed with The Brothers Johnson on the glorious “Stomp”. It was a sign of things to come. MJ and Off The Wall were just around the bend.