Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Quincy Jones, the music producer extraordinaire, has died at the age of 91.
00:04A musician in his own right, Jones forged a reputation as the man who made the greats
00:08even greater. His musical mouse and acumen helped hone the talents of Michael Jackson,
00:13for instance, for his Thriller album in 1982 and even Frank Sinatra from 1958 onwards.
00:19Jones also had hits on the silver screen, notably The Color Purple, but also scored movies such as
00:25The Italian Job, The Porn Broker and In the Heat of the Night to name but three
00:30in a long, long, long list.
00:36Lionel Richie, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon and Tina Turner.
00:42It was Quincy Jones who got them all in the same studio for this historic track,
00:47recorded to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia in 1985.
00:52The producer, composer and musician was also a friend to these, the biggest names in pop music.
00:59Born on Chicago's gritty South Side, the young Quincy Jones dreamed of being a gangster when
01:05he was older, but music stopped him in his tracks, starting with a neighbour's piano.
01:11He quickly moved on to the trumpet, playing big band jazz and embracing a new family of musicians.
01:18I didn't have a mother when I was young. My mother was put in a middle home
01:23when I was seven years old, but she had dementia precox.
01:27And I've said if I don't have a mother, I'll let music be my mother.
01:33Frank Sinatra gave him the surname Q after working together,
01:37then Jones made a name for himself with his Latino-style jazz.
01:42A detour through Bossa Nova, on his way to revolutionise disco and funk.
01:52The success of the Brothers Johnson in the 70s saw Jones hone his craft as a hit maker.
02:11At the middle and the end of the 1970s, Quincy Jones left the world of pure jazz
02:20and opened up to more mainstream material, more pop and funk. And that's how he started
02:25working with Rufus, the Brothers Johnson, George Benson and of course Michael Jackson.
02:32Blown away by his precocious talent, Quincy Jones encouraged the singer to break away
02:38from the Jackson 5 and develop the sound that saw Michael Jackson crowned king of pop.
02:44And Jones himself became a superstar producer.
02:49It's definitely thanks to Michael Jackson that he became the king of funk.
02:53Their collaboration was so notorious, so visible in the albums Off the Wall, Thriller, All Bad.
03:00The arranger and composer also worked with French talents,
03:04Henri Salvador, Nana Mouskouri and Charles Aznavour,
03:08more recently lending his touch to the songs of jazz singer Zaz.
03:23There was so much joy in the studio, it was almost childlike. In fact, I think Quincy is a big kid.
03:30He's always having fun, he has this great energy,
03:33he's always looking to share things, to do stuff together, to make music.
03:39300 albums, 2,900 songs and 28 Grammy Awards,
03:44Quincy Jones' signature is all over modern music, be it pop, funk or jazz.
03:50Quincy Jones, the life, the legend. Let's bring in Mark Rotso from Vanity Fair Magazine,
03:54where he is the contributing editor, to give us more on the man who is Quincy Jones.
04:00The music, he said, was his mother. What a remarkable man. What are your thoughts at his passing?
04:07Well, one thought that I have instantly in the passing of Quincy Jones,
04:12who really is a true titan of music and the entertainment industry,
04:17going back amazingly to the mid-20th century now,
04:22is that there's a truism that everybody knows the name of Quincy Jones,
04:27but maybe they don't exactly know what Quincy Jones did. I think the reason for that is that
04:33for decade after decade after decade, Quincy Jones was everything, everywhere, all the time,
04:40and so it was impossible to pin down. He was so many things. He was a producer, he was a composer,
04:47he was an arranger, he was a mentor to so many musicians, he was an impresario,
04:53he founded a magazine called Vibe, he was a record label executive. In fact, he was the very first
05:01black vice president of a white-owned record label, that being Mercury Records, that goes back
05:06to the 1960s. And, you know, he's the father of celebrity children, most notably Rashida Jones,
05:12the quite brilliant actor, producer, and director. So, in some ways, the Jones family
05:18is something of a modern-day American entertainment dynasty. So, Quincy Jones was typically
05:26not the guy who was center stage in the spotlight, but he shaped so much of what contemporary music
05:32has been for decades, and had a hand in shaping the trajectories of, you know, genres like jazz,
05:41R&B, pop, easy listening, and the careers of some true titans of recorded music, including, of
05:47course, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and Michael Jackson. As you've given us your insight, Mark,
05:53we're seeing him hugging Snoop Dogg. You've mentioned just two other people that he worked
05:58with who are absolute giants of music. And like you say, Quincy Jones, always there or thereabouts,
06:04the kind of, that little sort of like secret ingredient that makes it all come together.
06:08Yeah, secret ingredient is a great way of putting it. You know, Quincy Jones is also a very
06:13accomplished home cook. He said that, you know, he made a gumbo that would make you want to slap
06:18your grandmother. And similarly, in the studio, he worked a certain magic with like, you know,
06:24putting a dash of this, a dash of that, the right amount of spice, the right amount of heat,
06:30the right amount of sweetness, to create, you know, a feast for the ears really, in record
06:39after record after record. It's, you know, I'm practically speechless at how incredible the
06:45career of Quincy Jones is and how the music that he made or helped to make has touched so many
06:52people who listen to so many different kinds of music, as you point out, all over the world.
06:57My own daughter studies jazz. She's a singer. She has extolled how wonderful Quincy Jones is.
07:03There you go, evidence that, you know, another generation influenced by him. Who was the star,
07:08do you think, who he most helped to hone the talent, you know, sort of really sort of fine tune?
07:15That's, wow, that's really hard to say. I mean, it's really hard to say.
07:20I, there are two, the two, the two big artists that he worked with, and it would be hard to
07:26take away anything from them as artists as much as Quincy Jones is obviously a brilliant producer and
07:34really so talented at getting performance out of the artists and giving them the right framework
07:41in order to express themselves. But of course, the big relationships are with Frank Sinatra,
07:45which, as you mentioned, went back to 1958 and extended until Frank Sinatra's death in 1998.
07:52For Quincy Jones, Sinatra was this larger life character, the greatest jazz singer,
07:57an impeccable musician, a fabulous human. I mean, their bond was almost instant and it was enduring.
08:05And Quincy Jones liked to say that he always kept Frank Sinatra's ring on his finger,
08:10a ring that Frank Sinatra gave him. And, you know, it's quite possible that Quincy Jones,
08:18you know, left this world with Frank Sinatra's ring on his finger. So strong was their connection
08:24musically and personally. And then there's Michael Jackson, who, you know, Quincy Jones made that trio
08:31of albums off the wall, Thriller and Bad, that cemented Michael Jackson as the reigning pop
08:37superstar of the 1980s and really made his reputation. That relationship was a lot trickier
08:44than the one with Sinatra insofar as eventually Quincy Jones came to sue Michael Jackson for
08:52$9.4 million in unpaid royalties. And Quincy Jones would say things like, well, you know,
08:58take Thriller. You know, I had to sit down and listen to 800 songs before we found the ones to
09:02put on that album, thereby suggesting that even an artist at the level of Michael Jackson
09:10might not really be anywhere if it weren't for songs and dot, dot, dot, a great producer,
09:15dot, dot, dot, i.e. Quincy Jones. So there was a little, you know, maybe I don't want to say there
09:22was a feud there, but that relationship, as exalted as it is, and we all know about it,
09:28was maybe not as easy going as his relationship with Sinatra.
09:33Mark Rotzo of Vanity Fair, thank you very much for joining us and sharing your analysis with us.
09:37It's been great to find out that little bit more. And there always seems to be something more to
09:42find out about Quincy Jones. Thank you, sir. Very much indeed. Great to see you. Thank you.
09:46Thanks for having me.
09:48Mark Rotzo, his analysis of Quincy Jones, who will be remembered by so many people in so many
09:53different ways. A good producer is priceless in our business, whether it's music, whether it's
09:58television. My producer, Fanny Dassey, thank you for always being there. Do stay with us. We've got