Quincy Jones died last night, departing a world he has greatly impacted leaving behind a musical legacy few can ever match. To say Jones was a jazzman or a producer feels almost like calling Michael Jackson just a singer—both true but woefully incomplete.
Quincy was music’s orchestrator, the ultimate tastemaker, and a studio wizard, crafting sounds that have influenced the pulse of pop music for more than seven decades. From Frank Sinatra’s jazzy crescendos to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” beats, he left fingerprints on the industry’s most iconic moments.
Quincy wasn’t just in the music industry —he was there laying the early blocks of with his sweat and talents. There is hardly any phase of the American music industry that was not influenced by Jones in one way or the other. He was friends with Ray Charles as a teen, directed Dizzy Gillespie’s band, arranged for Ella Fitzgerald, and even pulled Miles Davis into one last explosive performance.
Quincy’s style was more than music notes on a page; it was storytelling, legacy-building, and above all, boundary-breaking. Whether it was jazz, pop, or hip-hop, he seemed to have a sixth sense of what was going to be the next big thing.
Quincy Jones’ love for the piano, musical
Growing up on Chicago’s South Side wasn’t easy, but hardship only honed Jones’ spirit. By age 11, he’d seen enough tough guys to want to be one. That is until he found the piano. It became his “other mother,” he said, setting him on a path that would lead to the musical stardom he once only saw on street corners.
He moved through jazz clubs like a local legend, composing tunes and playing gigs around Seattle with a kid named Ray Charles, later earning a spot with Lionel Hampton’s band and eventually studying in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, one of music’s great mentors.
Quincy made his way to New York and became a young arranger in demand, working with icons like Duke Ellington and Count Basie. It was the ‘50s, a time when musical talent and a famous name didn’t mean financial stability.
Facing mounting debts, he joined Mercury Records, making history as the first Black vice president at a major label. He’d seen enough of the business side to know what it lacked—and he made it his mission to open doors.
Hollywood, Sinatra, Will Smith, and Micheal Jackson
Quincy Jones made scoring movies look easy and cool, creating classics like the infectious “Soul Bossa Nova”. By the time he linked up with Sinatra, he was one of the most versatile music minds in the business. Sinatra’s famous “Fly Me to the Moon” arrangement? Pure Quincy.
But it was his partnership with Michael Jackson that cemented his place as a pop architect. After working together on The Wiz, Jones produced Jackson’s “Thriller”—an album that needs no introduction and broke records that still stand today. “You can’t explain something like that, you can’t aim at it,” he once said, adding that he always left “space for God to walk into the room.”
Jones’ musical talent was matched only by his unending energy. He wasn’t just about the music but about making a mark. He created The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a hit show that introduced the world to Will Smith.
He also gave Oprah Winfrey her big-screen debut, producing The Color Purple, which earned her an Oscar nomination. And when famine hit Ethiopia, he rallied superstars for We Are the World, raising millions to aid relief efforts.
Not one to shy away from the spotlight, Jones was a regular on the party scene, mingling with everyone who was anyone. Once, he narrowly missed a dinner party with actress Sharon Tate—the same night The Manson Family struck. “Life is a trip,” he’d later say, marvelling at his lucky escape.
He lived a legendary, full, and adventurous life
Quincy Jones’s personal life had its own roller-coaster twists. A self-proclaimed “dog all my life,” he fathered seven kids with five different women and was unapologetically open about his adventures, claiming 22 girlfriends at 84. He survived numerous health scares, including a brain aneurysm and diabetic coma, yet each setback only added fuel to his legendary life.
For his artistry, Quincy Jones amassed a staggering 28 Grammy Awards, an Emmy, a Tony, and an honorary Oscar, alongside countless other honours.
His daughter Rashida once asked how he stayed humble amid so much success. “You have to dream so big that you can’t get an ego,” he told her. He also mused about life’s fleeting nature: “You only live 26,000 days.” By all accounts, he made every single one count.
Quincy Jones might have left us, but his legacy plays on, an eternal soundtrack to the last century’s greatest musical moments.
