[HN Gopher] Quincy Jones has died
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Quincy Jones has died
Author : gfortaine
Score : 263 points
Date : 2024-11-04 08:13 UTC (14 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (apnews.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (apnews.com)
| walthamstow wrote:
| A true titan of all genres of popular music. The documentary made
| by his daughter Rashida Jones is very, very good. I'd recommend
| it to anyone.
| teeray wrote:
| > The documentary made by his daughter Rashida Jones
|
| I just watched Parks and Rec for the first time last month and
| didn't make the connection that she is his daughter.
| drooopy wrote:
| Her mother is Peggy Lipton, aka Julie Barnes from the Mod
| Squad / Norma Jennings from Twin Peaks.
| mastersummoner wrote:
| If you ever listen to Rashida speak, she's one of the most
| incredibly eloquent people I've heard. Pipe dream for me to
| ever be as well-spoken as she is.
| triceratops wrote:
| To be fair Jones is a common family name.
|
| I didn't connect John David Washington to Denzel until I
| looked him up.
| lproven wrote:
| I loved this interview, when he was 84 and clearly DGAF any more.
|
| https://www.gq.com/story/quincy-jones-has-a-story
| ansc wrote:
| He really was a gem. Here's my favorite interview of all time
| with the same vibe: https://www.vulture.com/article/quincy-
| jones-in-conversation...
|
| >Marlon Brandon used to go cha-cha dancing with us. He could
| dance his ass off. He was the most charming motherfucker you
| ever met. He'd fuck anything. Anything! He'd fuck a mailbox.
| James Baldwin. Richard Pryor. Marvin Gaye.
|
| >He slept with them? How do you know that?
|
| >[Frowns.] Come on, man. He did not give a fuck! You like
| Brazilian music?
| racl101 wrote:
| dayum that was weird to learn.
| inferiorhuman wrote:
| Oh yeah, Sergio Mendes died recently.
| MaxPock wrote:
| My favourite
|
| What were your first impressions of the Beatles?
|
| That they were the worst musicians in the world. They were
| no-playing motherfuckers. Paul was the worst bass player I
| ever heard.
|
| And Ringo?
|
| Don't even talk about it. I remember once we were in the
| studio with George Martin, and RingoJones arranged a version
| of "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" for Starr's 1970 solo
| debut album Sentimental Journey, which was produced by the
| Beatles' frequent collaborator George Martin. The song, and
| album, are more than a bit gloopy. had taken three hours for
| a four-bar thing he was trying to fix on a song. He couldn't
| get it. We said, "Mate, why don't you get some lager and
| lime, some shepherd's pie, and take an hour-and-a-half and
| relax a little bit." So he did, and we called Ronnie Verrell,
| a jazz drummer. Ronnie came in for 15 minutes and tore it up.
| Ringo comes back and says, "George, can you play it back for
| me one more time?" So George did, and Ringo says, "That
| didn't sound so bad." And I said, "Yeah, motherfucker because
| it ain't you." Great guy, though.
| lproven wrote:
| You missed out the bit I liked:
|
| > But you know who sings and plays just like Hendrix?
|
| > Who?
|
| > Paul Allen
|
| [The Microsoft co-founder and multibillionaire has a
| collection of yachts and guitars to rival the world's finest,
| both of which he apparently makes good use of...]
|
| > Stop it. The Microsoft guy?
|
| > Yeah, man. I went on a trip on his yacht, and he had David
| Crosby, Joe Walsh, Sean Lennon -- all those crazy
| motherfuckers. Then on the last two days, Stevie Wonder came
| on with his band and made Paul come up and play with him --
| he's good, man.
| drooopy wrote:
| Off The Wall, Thriller, and Bad. What an incredible run for both
| Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson.
| kevin_thibedeau wrote:
| That was his middle stage career. Gems like 'Sinatra at the
| Sands' are worth a listen for his talented arrangements.
| agumonkey wrote:
| It's strange to realize how sophisticated "pop" music was at
| the time. Lots of beautiful harmonies, violins ..
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| I liked pop then and I like pop now, and I liked it the whole
| time in between, and I don't think you can say pop is less
| sophisticated now. The conventions of the genre have shifted
| because of communion with rock, hip hop and electronic dance
| music.
|
| But violins are just an instrument, no more sophisticated or
| less than any other arrangement choice. Now the complexity is
| in the rhythmic interactions, and the timbral palette
| available to producers. The musicality of pop musicians and
| especially studio performers and producers is just unreal
| right now.
| agumonkey wrote:
| Link me some stuff worth listening too, I stopped scanning
| the recent music releases because most of it (except a few
| exceptions) felt like soup.
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| So, not all but quite a few "radio pop" artists actually
| have excellent studio albums, from which the radio
| singles are basically the worst songs. Like ariana grande
| had an incredible three-album run with dangerous woman,
| sweetener, thank u next. Dua Lipa's future nostalgia is
| another one of these, full of popified funk and dancehall
| grooves. Bass players love that album. So don't write off
| bad radio pop without giving the album a listen, there's
| quite a lot of good music hidden in plain sight.
|
| Other than that some of my favorites from the last
| approximate decade in no particular order (in format:
| album - artist) are froot - marina and the diamonds; I
| feel alive - TOPS; shabrang - sevdaliza; unfortunately,
| terror jr - terror jr; take me apart - kelela; somewhere
| in between - verite; dogviolet - laurel; empathogen -
| willow; expectations - hayley kiyoko; once twice melody -
| beach house; the fool - ryn weaver.
|
| Pop is hard to define as a genre, particularly it tends
| to blend into r&b and indie rock so some people might
| categorize some these differently. And most are "indie
| pop" but afaict that's just pop by non-famous musicians.
| That ryn weaver album is probably the best in the list,
| it's a monster masterpiece that deserves to be more
| widely known.
| agumonkey wrote:
| I'll take a peek, but i'm surprised, I stopped caring
| (pun slightly intended) about dua liap around future
| nostalgia. There's some nice bass in it but it's crude.
| The recent willow single was interesting that's true.
| Only people that manage to give me a sense of depth were
| thundercat/knower, benny sings
|
| But I still miss some of the subtle harmonics from edits
| like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVhl896h2NI .
| There are other studio sessions with isolated vocals
| which afaik are not made this way anymore
|
| ps: ryn makes good pop, colorful, but i don't know, maybe
| a different approach to voicings, it's missing something
|
| psedit: fixed link
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| Yeah ryn's raw musicality is unreal but that album is
| underproduced and doesn't do her justice. I still think
| it's a masterpiece but the criticism is legit. I was
| really hoping to hear another from her but I'm not sure
| what it would be like now, the sound has changed a lot
| and I'm not sure what she's been up to.
|
| If you like knower and thundercat there is a ton of great
| music that in that intersection of funk, pop,
| contemporary jazz. I was trying to stick to more
| "straight pop." Anyway with those guys I don't think the
| musicianship or sophistication is remotely in dispute.
| agumonkey wrote:
| But is it wrong to say that Jackson's solo album were
| also pop ?
| chocolatkey wrote:
| I think you posted the wrong youtube link
| agumonkey wrote:
| oh god thanks, different kind of music but not what i
| intended indeed
| dvirsky wrote:
| Dua Lipa has amazing arrangements for example.
|
| There is a great podcast called Switched on Pop, which
| delves into music theory behind pop hits and their
| songwriting and arrangements, and analyzes them to show
| what makes them great. It will give you fresh perspective
| on how much thought and talent goes into some of these
| songs. https://switchedonpop.com/
| treebeard901 wrote:
| I have been thinking about this some lately. The loss of
| complexity in main stream music. One of the most popular
| songs this year is just f# f# g ... f# ...
|
| I am sure someone can figure out which song it is. While the
| music sounds great and sells, my theory is that it comes as a
| result of losing music classes in many public schools. Over
| decades it has led to a loss of complexity.
|
| Then again, I am probably just old.
| linguae wrote:
| As a jazz aficionado, I am very familiar with Quincy Jones'
| immense contributions to music. I am a very big fan of the albums
| he produced, such as "The Dude" and "Back on the Block."
|
| What is less well known is Quincy Jones' involvement with
| computing. At one point he was on the advisory committee for the
| ACM Computers in Entertainment Magazine
| (https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/973801.973803), and if I remember
| correctly, he was on the board of former Xerox PARC researcher
| Alan Kay's Viewpoints Research Institute. I've been wanting to
| know more about Quincy Jones' involvement with computing since I
| first learned about this a few years ago.
|
| Rest in peace. Quincy Jones is a legendary figure.
| sourcepluck wrote:
| I'd never heard this! Would also love to learn more, wow. Agree
| that he was a legend, musically speaking.
| aithrowawaycomm wrote:
| Here is a cool video of Herbie Hancock explaining his
| synthesizer / recording computer setup to Jones:
| https://old.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/sswplq/herbi...
| jancsika wrote:
| > What is less well known is Quincy Jones' involvement with
| computing.
|
| Also, he worked on debt forgiveness in African countries.
|
| Also, he studied music composition with Nadia Boulanger (who
| taught Aaron Copland and many other classical composers) and
| studied harmony with Olivier Messiaen.
|
| Also, he wrote the television theme song to Red Foxx's "Sanford
| and Son," plus a lot of other popular themes.
|
| In fact, every time someone is about to get killed in Kill
| Bill[1], you hear a sample of music written by Quincy Jones.
|
| 1: except for Bill.
| racl101 wrote:
| The funniest use of Ironside theme (Kill Bill excerpt), I've
| seen, was a video on YouTube about Han Solo when Leia tells
| him that Luke is her brother (in ROJ) and he has this crazy
| realization that she kissed him in the mouth earlier (in
| Empire). It's hilarious.
| justin66 wrote:
| > if I remember correctly, he was on the board of former Xerox
| PARC researcher Alan Kay's Viewpoints Research Institute
|
| Alan Kay knew him from before then. On Kay Savetz's podcast,
| one of Alan Kay's researchers at Atari (Donald Dixon) in the
| early eighties recounted meeting Quincy Jones when he was being
| shown around the lab.
|
| https://youtu.be/q3cwZaofB68?t=1236
| theGnuMe wrote:
| Wow! I too would like to know more about his involvement with
| computing. Anyone have any pointers?
| agumonkey wrote:
| I'm just starting digging but here's some to start
|
| - https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/973801.973815
| noblethrasher wrote:
| He was also among a handful of people invited to contribute
| to a book tributing Alan Kay on his 70th birthday.
|
| https://users.cs.duke.edu/~rodger/articles/AlanKay70thpoints.
| ..
| brandall10 wrote:
| His segment is a fantastic read, thanks for sharing.
| grugagag wrote:
| Brilliant guy. Let's hope we haven't killed the elevator to climb
| those heights. We're living strange times, currently it seems to
| me the age of great men is slowly fading only to be replaced
| mediocrity and simulacra. Of course I have no idea how it will
| all play out but hope for the best.
| racl101 wrote:
| Don't worry we still have Mark McGrath from Sugar Ray.
| justin66 wrote:
| I wasn't ready to despair but _now_ I am.
| dk1138 wrote:
| Musically, he's done a lot to encourage and surround himself
| with brilliant younger artists. Jacob Collier had received
| tutelage and consult from Quincy and Jacob is a Mozart-level
| mind of our generation.
| chriscjcj wrote:
| When I was four, I got a record player for Christmas. This one:
|
| https://djcj.website/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/denim_turnta...
|
| My mom had a copy of Ray Charles' greatest hits. My favorite song
| was One Mint Julep. Quincy Jones did the arrangement. You can see
| by the wear on this record how much I listened to that song, as
| well as "Unchain My Heart" and "Hit the Road Jack."
|
| https://djcj.website/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/one-mint-jul...
|
| So much great music. And when you watch interviews with other
| musicians with whom he crossed paths, they all talk about what an
| uplifting and positive influence he had on their lives.
|
| Here's a interview with his longtime collaborator Tom Bahler. He
| has some really beautiful stories about his experiences with
| Quincy.
|
| https://youtu.be/yIkP_XuIDeY?t=5197
|
| And when he got together with Rod Temperton, the magic was next-
| level.
|
| https://www.facebook.com/QuincyJones/posts/ill-never-forget-...
| SoftTalker wrote:
| Oh wow, I had that same Sears record player as a kid, not in
| denim mine had a vinyl covering. Flashback memories!
| wiz21c wrote:
| soul bossa nova !
| bewaretheirs wrote:
| As performed on the David Letterman show:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLQ7xYnyIBQ You can see a few
| shots of the Cuica -- the drum(!) that makes the high-pitched
| squeaky monkey noises.
|
| And for fans of video game music: that song inspired this
| little bit from the 8-bit big band:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6hJvSkVLXs
| kridsdale3 wrote:
| Thank you! I collect variants of the Wii Shop song on various
| platforms, its one of my favorite songs from gaming and
| certainly my favorite dedicated-to-a-single-ui arrangements
| of music in software.
|
| The Wii interface was a high watermark of style. Nintendo was
| clearly riding high aping aspects of Apple style in the 2000s
| but adding all the audio personality made it their own.
| Others were also invested in making something unique for the
| TV as an interface paradigm (Xbox 360 Blades, PS2/3
| "orchestra" themes). Most of that has died away for
| practicality (and maybe accessibility) sake now, to flat
| boxes with minimal animation and no sound.
|
| I looked it up, and all the Wii system audio was done by the
| same composer that did Pikmin, as well as dozens of other
| core (but secondary) Nintendo IP over the decades.
| jakedata wrote:
| He is a man who might be considered the musical godfather to
| perhaps millions of children throughout the years. He sure could
| set a mood.
| sirolimus wrote:
| Who is quincy jones?
| rootusrootus wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy_Jones
| boothby wrote:
| It's funny, in high school, we attended assemblies in the
| Quincy Jones Auditorium. Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Lee attended
| the same high school, which we all knew, but Quincy Jones just
| didn't have the same name recognition. Despite his name being
| _right_ in our faces so frequently.
|
| Over the decades since I graduated, I've taken some time to
| learn about the incredible influence he's had on the arts. Just
| recently, I learned that an actor I've watched in a few shows,
| Rashida Jones, is his daughter.
|
| To briefly answer your question, his occupation was producer,
| arranger, composer and songwriter. Such folks often don't get
| name recognition without extensive self-promotion. You might be
| familiar with his work, without learning his name because he
| wasn't on the headline. But his work went deeper than that --
| he was a community builder; that's work which is hard to
| measure the value of: to anybody that doesn't post here... who
| is Paul Graham?
| _sys49152 wrote:
| Id go with "The Secret Garden" from 1989's Back on the Block
| Album if youre looking for something different. Quintessential
| 'quiet storm' track.
| moomin wrote:
| First African-American to be nominated for Best Song at the
| Oscars (not the first winner, that was Isaac Hayes for the
| obvious.) Guy who made Michael Jackson and Will Smith megastars.
| And a LOT more. He was one of the most talented people of his, or
| frankly any, generation.
| racl101 wrote:
| The closing theme to the Fresh Prince is still one of the best
| musical TV pieces ever.
| mr90210 wrote:
| I got reintroduced to Quincy by The Weeknd and later by the great
| Francis Albert Sinatra a.k.a Frank Sinatra.
| kranke155 wrote:
| *From a strictly musical perspective, what have you done that
| you're most proud of?*
|
| _That anything I can feel, I can notate musically. Not many
| people can do that. I can make a band play like a singer sings.
| That's what arranging is, and it's a great gift. I wouldn't trade
| it for shit._
|
| https://www.vulture.com/article/quincy-jones-in-conversation...
| hn_throwaway_99 wrote:
| I recently watched "The Greatest Night in Pop" about the "We
| Are The World" recording, and I came away with even more huge
| mad props for Quincy Jones. The ability to arrange all these
| superstar musicians with insanely different voices into one
| cohesive, melodic song is amazing. Not to mention that
| corralling all these diva personalities makes cat herding look
| like a cake walk.
| jedberg wrote:
| Second the vote for "The Greatest Night in Pop". An amazing
| documentary.
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| What a fucking flex lol. I have rudimentary arranger skills,
| enough to understand the pain of simply not being capable of
| expressing something I can feel/hear internally. He really
| could do that on a level that very few people ever have been
| able to. Legend.
| JohnBooty wrote:
| What a fucking flex lol
|
| I don't have a link handy but another hilarious thing to look
| up is Quincy talking about the Beatles' (lack of, in his
| opinion) chops
|
| I love the Beatles but it's endlessly hilarious to me
| tarkin2 wrote:
| I looked this up on YouTube. It seems a bit of a non-
| controversy with Quincy criticising Ringo's skills and
| Paul's bass playing. Comparing a virtuoso arranger and a
| band whose main strength was their song writing skills is a
| bit of a non starter honestly.
| fredsmith219 wrote:
| An amazingly talented person.
| sporkland wrote:
| Starla is crushed right now
| jms703 wrote:
| That reference was solid as a rock.
| ethbr1 wrote:
| I had the honor of slipping in the back door of the GA Music Hall
| of Fame's 2006 induction as a then-gf's +1 on some 99X radio
| tickets she'd won.
|
| Quincy Jones (and Russell Simmons) were there to induct Jermaine
| Dupri. https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/28th-annual-georgia-
| music...
|
| Such an amazing guy, who'd done _so_ much, and still obviously
| just loved the craft.
|
| (Gregg Allman was also there, who passed in 2017, but at the time
| was still doing 6 hour live shows with new talent he wanted to
| introduce. Security guard when we showed up to his concert an
| hour late: "Naw, man, Gregg goes until 1 or 2am")
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