Quincy Jones Dead At 91

Music-world legend Quincy Jones, arguably the greatest producer in all of pop history, has died. Jones is obviously most famous as Michael Jackson’s chief collaborator in the era when Jackson took pop stardom to unseen heights, and that alone would earn mythic status for Jones. But Jones’ legacy runs much deeper than that, and his figure casts a vast shadow over decades of jazz, soul, pop, and film-score music. The Associated Press reports that Jones passed away at home on Sunday, surrounded by family. No cause of death has been reported. Jones was 91.

Quincy Delight Jones Jr., the grandson of a slave, grew up on Chicago’s South Side and later in Seattle. Jones learned piano from his next-door neighbor, and he studied jazz trumpet and joined a National Reserve band in high school. Jones met Ray Charles in the late ’40s, when both of them were teenagers, and they went on to collaborate years later. After a year as a scholarship student at Seattle University, Jones transferred to Berklee College Of Music, and he dropped out to serve as bandleader and multi-instrumentalist for jazz great Lionel Hampton. After moving to New York, Jones arranged songs for Hampton, Charles, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie, among others.

That was only the beginning of a wild career that took Jones around the world many times. He played trumpet in the studio band of Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey’s CBS show, backing up Elvis Presley during his first TV performances. He served as Dizzy Gillespie’s music director when Gillespie toured through the Middle East and South America. He lived in Paris, touring Europe with different jazz bands and releasing his debut solo album Jazz Abroad in 1955. In 1964, a time when Black musicians almost never held positions of power in the music business, the 28-year-old Jones became vice president of Mercury Records.

Quincy Jones earned his first production credits in the ’50s, working on records from jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Eckstine, as well as Little Richard’s 1962 album The King Of The Gospel Singers. In 1963, Jones broke into the pop world, producing the teenage singer Lesley Gore’s huge hits “It’s My Party,” “Judy’s Turn To Cry,” “She’s A Fool,” and “You Don’t Own Me.” A year later, Sidney Lumet invited Jones to score his drama The Pawnbroker. That led to an extensive film-score career for Jones. He also composed music for films like In Cold Blood, In The Heat Of The Night, The Italian Job, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, and The Getaway, as well as themes for TV shows like Sanford & Son. He did arrangements for Frank Sinatra and Count Basie’s 1966 album Sinatra At The Sands. All the while, Jones continued to release his own records; his 1962 song “Soul Bossa Nova” later became the theme for the Austin Powers movies.

Jones continued to work as an arranger in the ’60s and ’70s, collaborating with artists like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Peggy Lee. In 1975, he founded his own Qwest Productions company, and he produced movies like Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple and TV shows like The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. He also scored The Color Purple. In the ’70s, Jones also produced albums for soul greats like Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin, and the Brothers Johnson.

In 1978, Jones produced the soundtrack for Sidney Lumet’s film The Wiz. There, he met young Michael Jackson, who was just emerging from child stardom. Jackson asked Jones to suggest a producer for his next solo album, and Jones suggested himself. Together, Jackson and Jones made 1979’s Off The Wall, a lush soul-pop masterpiece that sold millions and established Jackson as a superstar. Jones and Jackson developed a layered, sophisticated, ebullient sound that drew on traditions of soul, pop, jazz, and disco, among other things. The arrangements were busy and complicated, but they were also propulsive, and they drove Jackson to new heights. Jones put together the bands of ace session musicians, including members of groups like Toto and the Brothers Johnson, who fleshed out Jackson’s sound into something of undeniable blockbuster scope. He also co-wrote many of Jackson’s best songs, and he supplied ideas for others.

Quincy Jones produced Michael Jackson’s 1982 LP Thriller, which became the biggest-selling album in history around the world. Jones and Jackson did wild, innovative work together in the studio. Jones got Jackson to sing through a long cardboard tube when he recorded “Billie Jean,” and Jackson wrote “Beat It” when Jones assigned him to write a rock song, something like the Knack’s “My Sharona.” Jones went on to produce Jackson’s 1987 album Bad, another dominant blockbuster, and the huge 1985 all-star single “We Are The World.” Nobody else in the pop-music world had the clout and gravitas to wrangle all those megastars, but Quincy Jones did.

During his time working with Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones also released the huge 1981 solo album The Dude. He discovered James Ingram and produced big records for Ingram, Patti Austin, George Benson, Rufus with Chaka Khan, and Donna Summer, among others. Jones worked with Miles Davis to record the 1993 live LP Miles & Quincy Live At Montreaux, which became Davis’ final record. Jones also continued to release solo albums. His last solo album was 2010’s Q Soul Bossa Nostra.

Jones kept an open ear, applying his voice to the different sounds that bubbled up in popular music. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, he even tried his hand at hip-hop, working with artists like Young MC and Big Daddy Kane. Those collaborations never really resonated, but Jones still became hugely important to rap history thanks to all the classic records — the Pharcyde’s “Passin’ Me By,” Mobb Deep’s “Shook Ones Part II,” 2Pac’s “How Do U Want It” — built on Quincy Jones samples. Dr. Dre has said that he landed on his sound because he wanted to make rap records that made people feel the way Jones’ productions did. Jones became close with Tupac Shakur, who was engaged to Jones’ daughter Kidada at the time of his death.

Along with all his music and Hollywood credits, Quincy Jones was also famous as a legendary raconteur, partier, and lothario. He married three times and had seven children with five women. His kids include movie star Rashida Jones, one of the daughters that he had with Mod Squad star Peggy Lipton. In an absolutely wild 2018 Vulture interview with David Marchese — perhaps the best and most entertainingly trashy celebrity interview ever conducted — Jones claimed, among many other things, that he’d once dated Ivanka Trump. (He later apologized, but he shouldn’t have.) Even more than his mind-boggling resume, that interview tells the story of one of the great American lives.

Quincy Jones was nominated for 80 Grammys, and he won 23 of them, which puts him at #3 on the all-time list. In 1992, he become one of only 15 people to receive a Grammy Legend Award. He got Kennedy Center honors in 2001, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s Ahmet Ertegun Award in 2013, and the Presidential Medal Of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2011, among many other honors. He was set to receive an honorary Oscar later this month.

Below, check out a small sampling of Quincy Jones’ work.