If there is a chain that connects the music of this century and last century, Quincy Jones is the strongest link in that chain. He might even BE the chain.
The chronology of his career is like a timeline of modern music history, running from Duke Ellington to Ray Charles to Miles Davis to Frank Sinatra to Aretha Franklin to Michael Jackson and beyond. You could probably pick any musical act of the last 120 years and do a six-degrees-of-Quincy connection game. It’s hard to overstate his influence.
Like a lot of people my age, I had two main reasons for knowing Quincy Jones’ name: he was Michael Jackson’s producer, and executive producer of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I remember being about 12 years old, seeing his name in the credits of The Fresh Prince in that iconic spray-paint font, and thinking that a person would have to be pretty important to have his name appear in those credits and in the liner notes to Thriller.
It took a long time for me to seek out and appreciate the rest of his work, but now, as Jones has reached that stage of his life where he’s being showered with lifetime achievement awards, honorary degrees, and Netflix documentaries, I’ve been taking the opportunity to listen to his pre-Thriller catalogue.
There’s lots to love, but if you’re looking for a starting point, you can’t go wrong with this one.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. Quincy Jones knows how to open a song. The opening chords here, played so gently by the horns, build perfectly towards the entrance of the saxophone. Those opening chords don’t reappear anywhere else in the song. This is basically the same thing he did in “Thriller,” with those great opening synth chords that appear only in the initial spooky momentum build.
2. Quincy Jones knows a catchy melody. When the saxophone comes in, it plays the main melodic hook, an eight-note sequence which, in non-instrumental versions, carries the words of the song’s title. Not only is it a memorable, simple melody, but it rises and falls like the sun.
3. Quincy Jones loves to shine the spotlight on others. Here, the spotlight shines on saxophonist Phil Woods, but Woods is just one name in a list several miles long of musicians who have benefitted from Jones’ talent as a producer, arranger, composer, and band-leader. From be-bop through to hip-hop, there are few careers whose ripples have spread in so many directions as that of Quincy Jones.
Recommended listening activity:
Sitting on the roots of the tallest tree you can find, and looking up at its branches.