Q

Q is gone. And I’m sad.
Q (I believe Sinatra gave him that term of endearment) was, for my money, the most impressive musician around. I mean, we’re talking about an outstanding hurricane of talent working with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, and hundreds of other recording artists.
While I have always been a huge fan of this master’s skills and talents, it was his album “Back On The Block” that I can never forget. It helped me understand rap. (I’m listening to the album as I write this.)
I’m a guy who loves music in many forms and I’ve always wanted to keep up with what’s going on in music. But I have to confess I was somewhat unsure what rap was all about. It was very different from the other musical adventures I had grappled with over the years.
My late son Jamie led the way when I said to him, “Jame, I’m having trouble with rap. I mean, it just doesn’t sound anywhere near the music I understand.” “Hey Dad,” Jamie said, “That’s your problem right there. Rap’s not music. It’s entertainment.”
Wow. Was that a watershed moment!
My understanding of this crucially important form of entertainment took another leap forward with Q’s 1989 album, ”Back on the Block”. Featuring jazzy arrangements spiced with funk and rap, the sophistication of the selections forming this CD is matched only by their good taste. I’ve only recently come to know that Quincy was sold on rap by his son, and he wanted “Back On The Block” to reflect the passing of the flame, from the old to the new. So, he melds rap with gospel, jazz, African, funk, etc., and features musicians and singers from across three generations, including Miles Davis, Luther Vandross, Big Daddy Kane, Chaka Khan, Ray Charles, El DeBarge, George Benson, Ice-T, etc. The album is also the last studio recordings of jazz singers Ella Fitzgerald and Saraah Vaughan. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, “Back On The Block” topped the R&B Albums chart for twelve weeks, and the Contemporary Jazz Albums chart as well. At the 33rd Grammy ”Back on the Block” won seven Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.
            And now, Q (born with the amazing name Quincy Delight Jones Jr.) has died at age 91. He passed at his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by his family. While the cause of death has not been disclosed, Q had been up against ill health for a long time. This is, after all, a man who escaped death in 1974 when he had two brain aneurysms. Q was told then that he had a one-in-a-hundred chance of surviving. "It was scary," he said. "Like somebody blew my brains out. The main artery to your brain explodes, you know." And when he was 82, the man was hospitalized with a blood clot after he started experiencing heart pains and shortness of breath.
            Now, many people would take this as a sign they better slow down. Not Q. I mean, there was Thriller to create (becoming the biggest-selling album of all time and turning Michael Jackson into a global superstar). And the world needed him to produce an all-star choir on "We Are the World" to raise funds for famine relief in Africa. That song, by the way, went on to become the top-selling single of 1985 while winning four Grammys. It also became legendary for Q’s command to the assembled performers — “Check your egos at the door".
            “I know and believe in the power of music to bring people together for the betterment of mankind,” he said about “We Are the World”. That’s why it resonated around the world the way it did.
Quincy Jones was married three times and was a father to seven children. He became the first African American to be Musical Director and Conductor of the Academy Awards. He was also the first African American to receive the academy's Jean Herrsholt Humanitarian Award. He was inducted into the and was named one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century by Time. Q was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for his work on the 1967 film In Cold Blood. And as a film producer, 1985's The Color Purple received 11 Oscar nominations, including one for Jones's score. Oh, and through this film, he’s credited with introducing Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey to world-wide audiences.
            His work with Michael Jackson included producing three of the most successful albums of all time, Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad.
“Frank Sinatra took me to a whole new planet,” he stated. “I worked with him until he passed away in '98. He left me his ring. I never take it off. Now, when I go to Sicily, I don't need a passport. I just flash my ring.”
Imagine: working with Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra. Wow!
No cause of death has been shared when Q' death was announced. "Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones' passing," members of his family said. "And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him."
And what a Delight he was!

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