A Legend Departs
By NICK DAZANG
Two days to the consequential American presidential election that witnessed Donald Trump’s comeback, Quincy Delight Jones Jnr. passed on at the age of 91.
Though the presidential campaigns were reaching their crescendo, especially in the so-called swing States, and they overshadowed this passing, they did not completely eclipse it. For the record, and for his nearly unsurpassed contributions to culture and edification, we celebrate an authentic and urbane legend.
Composer, producer, arranger, conductor, band leader and trumpeter par excellence, Quincy Jones was born on March 14, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois. He died on Sunday, November 3, 2024, in Los Angeles, California.
Jones’s music straddled and cut across genres: big band; soul; jazz; and rhythm and blues.
Quincy Jones came into musical reckoning in the 1950s as a jazz arranger and conductor. By the 1960s, he had collaborations with such maestros as Frank Sinatra(a.k.a. “Blue Eyes”), Dean Martin and jazz artist, Count Bassie.
His early tours of Europe and the Middle East widened his vistas. He saw the world beyond the narrow confines of race. His cosmology was significantly broadened by these exposures.
These exposures, in turn, facilitated his seeing the world through different prisms. They also fostered his collaborations across racial divide.
Apart from broadening his horizons, his early financial setback, which occasioned the collapse of his big band, instructed him. He learned, painfully, that talent was not enough. He learned that to survive, an artiste, or any enterprise for that matter, needed to pay keen attention on the bottom line, namely, to its finances.
In addition to his collaboration with Sinatra and Co., Jones literally facilitated the stardom of Michael Jackson. He produced three of Jackson’s most successful albums, namely: OFF THE WALL(1979); THRILLER(1982); and BAD(1987). The three albums sold 20 million, 65 million and 45 million, respectively. THRILLER remains the highest selling album in music history.
Apart from the aforesaid albums, Jones, in 1985, produced WE ARE THE WORLD, which raised not less than $60 million for victims of famine in Ethiopia. A reviewer called that music, rendered by a bevy of stars, “an anthem in compassion”.
Quincy Jones composed many film scores. They include: THE PAWNBROKER(1965); IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT(1967); IN COLD BLOOD(1967); THE ITALIAN JOB(1969); THE WIZ(1978); ROOTS(1977) and THE COLOR PURPLE(1985).
The genius of multi-talented Jones was his ability to identify, pick and nurture a talent and to put it on the path of stardom. In this exalted direction, he put many artistes such as Michael Jackson, Peggy Lee, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Frank Sinatra, James Ingram, Louis Armstrong, Billy Preston, Aretha Franklin and Will Smith. Only Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records, rivaled him in this department.
Beyond the musical front, Jones introduced Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey to film.
For his onerous exertions and genius, awards have come falling, like leaves off a tree in autumn, on Quincy Jones. He was recipient of these honors, amongst others: THE GRAMMY LEGEND(1992); JEAN HERSHOLD HUMANITARIAN AWARD(1995); KENNEDY CENTER HONORS(2001); NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE ARTS(2011); ORDRES DES ARTS ET DES LETTRES(2014); and ACADEMY HONORARY AWARD(2024).
Named as one of the most influential jazz musicians of the twentieth century by TIME magazine, not a few prominent connoisseurs of the arts have canvassed that if ever America was to have a Culture Secretary, Quincy Jones deserved to be the first.
In spite of these honours and his deep insights into the peculiar world of artistes, Jones stood out for his unmatched humility. In a tribute to Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009, he remarked: “To this day, the music we created together, OFF THE WALL, THRILLER and BAD, is played in every corner of the world, and the reason for that is because he had it all…talent, grace, professionalism, and dedication. He was a consummate entertainer, and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever”.
Jones could have been showering the above encomiums on himself. Or he could rightly have been authoring his own epitaph. The world is a better place because the Almighty God used Jones to enable many talents. He also used Jones to make such talents to flower, to bloom and to soothe our frayed nerves. He deserves our gratitude.
Dazang, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Abuja.
