Quincy Jones died Sunday, November 3, at his dwelling in California, The New York Instances studies. The legendary musician, composer, producer, and leisure big was 91 years outdated. No trigger was disclosed.
Jones was one of the vital nominated artists in Grammy historical past, incomes 80 nominations and 28 awards over the course of his profession. The completed jazz musician and arranger distinguished himself from his contemporaries along with his willingness to span genres, leaping between R&B, pop, jazz, and rap within the Nineteen Eighties alone. With manufacturing work for legends resembling Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Lesley Gore, and Donna Summer time, his impression on modern music is sort of unmatched.
Born in Chicago in 1933, Jones took up the trumpet in class at age 10. A number of years into his coaching, he shaped a band with fellow pupil Ray Charles. After attending Berklee Faculty of Music in Boston, he began a life as a touring musician, serving as Dizzy Gillespie’s musical director within the ’50s. That decade, he additionally led his personal band, releasing a number of jazz albums below his identify, and studied below Nadia Boulanger in Paris, taking in early digital music at occasions curated by Pierre Boulez. Jones went on to rearrange (and typically conduct) songs for Ray Charles, Depend Basie, Dinah Washington, and others earlier than incorporating synthesizers into his personal observe.
Within the ’60s, Jones started work as Mercury Information’ vice chairman. He focused on music for the small and massive display, ultimately scoring almost 40 movies and tons of of TV exhibits; his first, in 1964, was for Sidney Lumet’s The Pawnbroker. From the late ’60s into the early ’80s, Jones was a prolific performer and producer, releasing solo albums like Physique Warmth and The Dude whereas working with illustrious different artists. And in 1977, he was tapped to move music supervision for the Lumet-directed musical The Wiz, which launched him to a younger Michael Jackson.
Jones would go on to helm Jackson’s three best-known albums: Off the Wall, Thriller, and Unhealthy. Thriller was arguably the largest cultural second of the ’80s, inflicting worldwide hysteria and turning Jackson into the largest star of the late twentieth century. In addition to his work in music, Jones was additionally a philanthropist and activist, channeling his energy into all-star charity singles like 1985’s “We Are The World,” which raised cash to battle famine in Africa. That yr, he started to increase his affect as a tradition business mogul, producing the Steven Spielberg–directed adaptation of The Coloration Purple (which launched Oprah Winfrey to the world).
