Legendary producer Quincy Jones celebrated his 82nd birthday on March 14th and among the many things he talked about when discussing a career that goes back to the days he was a rookie trumpet player with some of the greatest band-leaders in jazz, was his relationship with Michael Jackson.
The pair had met when Jackson was the precocious 12-year-old lead singer with the Jackson 5, but only worked together for the first time on the movie version of the Broadway musical ‘The Wiz’, a contemporary musical re-imagining of the 1939 classic ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (itself an update of a silent movie of L Frank Baum’s novel). In the 1978 movie, Diana Ross played Dorothy and Jackson played Scarecrow. The movie flopped, with many citing the inappropriate casting of a by then 33-year-old Ross, who had shoe-horned herself into the role of Dorothy, usurping the then-20-year-old incumbent on Broadway, Stephanie Mills.
Jones went on to become the man behind Jackson at the height of his popularity as a solo act, producing ‘Off The Wall’, ‘Thriller’ and ‘Bad’ as well as charity single ‘We Are The World’.
Jones, who has been nominated for 79, yes seventy-nine Grammys, was a jazz musician, arranger and conductor before he ever ventured into producing pop music. His first foray was with Lesley Gore, an early 1960s teen idol of the ilk foisted upon American youth as an antidote to the devil’s music, rock ‘n’ roll. Her ‘It’s My Party’, ‘It’s Judy’s Turn To Cry’ and ‘Maybe I Know’ became massive hits and launched Quincy Jones the producer into the consciousness of the mainstream.
And who can forget the theme music that will forever be associated with Mike Myers’ creation Austin Powers? Well, unlike Mr Powers, ‘Soul Bossa Nova’, to give it its proper title, was authentic 1960s and was written (in less than half an hour), arranged and performed by Quincy Jones (and his orchestra).
The Chicago native has provided the musical score to more movies than can reasonably be mentioned here. Suffice it to say that even if one excludes his Michael Jackson collaborations, few will not have heard Jones’s work; seventy-nine Grammy nominations with a better than 1 in 3 success rate kind of ensures that.
Jones also spoke about the moment he found out Michael Jackson had died. He was in London and had only just learned of the death of actress Farrah Fawcett and comedian Ed McMahon and said of Jackson: “I freaked out. You know, I couldn’t believe it. No, it was heavy. Really heavy. Because, boy, the relationship with a producer and an artist is really special. And there’s no room for BS at all. It’s got to be pure. It’s got to be love and respect and amazing mutual respect for each other because that’s what makes a good record. When they trust each other, and you tell them to jump without a net, boy, you better know what you’re talking about.”
