1984: Quincy Jones with Michael Jackson at the 1984 Grammy Awards, where they won eight
❚ The cross-cultural pioneer Quincy Jones died this week
aged 91 in Los Angeles. In tribute, we republish Andy Polaris’s appreciation of his genius when he brought a huge
orchestra to London’s O2 arena on 25 Jun 2019…
Excerpt from the review at the Polaris music blog: Quincy Jones Jr is a titan of 20th-century entertainment whose creative talent has spanned decades as composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, arranger, producer and publisher. He has received the most Grammy nominations, a staggering 80, and won 28, plus seven Oscar nominations, and a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award in 1996 amongst other industry accolades. He has worked with superstars from Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie to Michael Jackson. In 2018 a Netflix film Quincy won the Critics Choice Documentary award.
As a teenage prodigy Quincy Jones had been tutored by Ray Charles and mentored by Count Basie, by 19 was touring Europe with Lionel Hampton for three years, at 24 studied at the feet of the godlike Nadia Boulanger in the American School at Fontainebleau, and soon after became a troubleshooting vice-president for Philips Records of Holland.
This week [in 2019] sees the 10th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death and despite the controversy and those clamouring on social media to cancel his music, the audience at this O2 concert showed that, whatever your feelings, it’s nigh on impossible to crush the joyous memories and mood of his repertoire. In addition, we were treated to the formidable playlist of our youth unfolding before our ears thanks to the savvy musicianship of the band and huge orchestra, which even included a harp, all conducted and hosted by Jules Buckley… / Review continued at Apolarisview
➢ Guardian obituary: Quincy Jones was the first black composer to find acceptance in Hollywood and won 28 Grammys
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➢➢ Shapers of the 80s ➣➣ 