10 unforgettable tracks from Quincy Jones’ 70-year career

If you listed all the figures who have embodied post-World War II American popular music, Quincy Jones, who passed this week at 91, could easily sit at the top.

We all know his work as producer of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the best-selling album of all time, but that’s merely the jewel in the crown. Jones’ vast gifts – as trumpeter, arranger, composer, producer and music executive – encompassed jazz, rock-and-roll, R&B, funk, disco, film, hip-hop and even country.

How do you select the most illustrative tracks in his 70-year discography? Not easily. These tracks are merely the finest examples of a gilded life in music.

Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra, Kingfish (1951)

Jones’ big break came when he joined the Lionel Hampton Orchestra as a trumpeter and arranger in the early 1950s. It was the charts he wrote, rather than the parts he played, for the big band that knocked everyone out. Kingfish was his first original arrangement, and it features him in a rare (and impressive) trumpet solo. The magic, though, is in the mixture of lushness and sheer, powerful excitement he concocts in the ensemble passages – not to mention the unstoppable swing.

Ray Charles, Let the Good Times Roll (1959)

Let the Good Times Roll had been a hit in 1946 from proto-rocker Louis Jordan. For Charles, Jones cooked up a version that somehow managed to amp up both the elegance and the intensity. This orchestra (featuring an all-star lineup of jazz musicians) is impossibly tight and pitch-perfect, but when Charles gets going on this tune, he threatens to burn the whole thing down.

Lesley Gore, She’s a Fool (1963)

Seventeen-year-old Gore was a pet project for Jones; her debut single, It’s My Party, was the first No. 1 record for both of them. She’s a Fool, their third record together, reached only No. 5 on the Billboard chart, but it’s the superior production. There’s real urgency in what we hear up-front: Gore’s voice, the drum-and-handclap percussion, the strings, the male backing voices. Then there’s the subtle touches: timpani, low saxophones, female backing vocals and the rolling piano line that give this song an operatic oomph.

Frank Sinatra with Count Basie, Come Fly With Me (1966)

Becoming a pop tycoon didn’t mean Jones forgot how to swing. Indeed, both Sinatra and Basie – the gold standards of swing – were frequent clients and collaborators. When they came together at the Sands in Las Vegas in 1966, Jones took them to new heights. Come Fly With Me showcases his ability to give the band room to project its blast-furnace charisma while also underlining Sinatra’s. Only Quincy Jones could achieve such a perfect balance.

Quincy Jones, Walking in Space (1969)

By the late ‘60s, the vanguard of jazz was merging the genre with the electrified sounds of rock. Miles Davis gets most of the credit, but Jones was right there with him, as this masterpiece (which won him a Grammy in 1970) demonstrates. The rhythm swings, funks and rocks all at the same time; guitarist Eric Gale brings the acid-rock seasoning, and the trumpets, in particular, do extraordinary background work. The stars, though, are electric pianist Bob James and vocalist Valerie Simpson, who give this song the verve it needs but also the hypnotic, spacey atmosphere it radiates.

Sanford and Son Theme (The Streetbeater) (1972)

Sanford and Son isn’t Jones’ most acclaimed soundtrack work; he was nominated for seven Oscars for his film scores (and served as musical director and conductor at the Oscars ceremony itself) and won an Emmy in 1977 for the miniseries Roots. But Sanford and Son is almost certainly his most iconic. It also provides a fascinating answer to a question: How much musical information can one fit into 50 seconds? Sanford and Son is densely textured, full of twists and turns, and impossible to forget.

Quincy Jones, One Track Mind (1974)

Another of Jones’ uncanny abilities was to always have his finger on the pulse: He immediately understood and assimilated the latest trends in pop music. One Track Mind, from his hit 1974 album Body Heat, harnesses an Earth, Wind & Fire-style groove and sonic elements that borrow from the Stevie Wonder and Sly & the Family Stone playbooks, then throws in jazz harmonies and dub-reggae production touches. What comes out of that math? An irresistible dance floor mover.

Michael Jackson, Human Nature (1982)

No overview of Quincy Jones’ career can omit the album Thriller. Billie Jean was the breakout hit, but from Jones’ perspective, Human Nature was the delicately and impeccably produced highlight. Everything from the synthesizers to the beautiful, African-tinged guitar and hand percussion to Jackson’s own multilayered backing vocals adds a special colour to the singer’s exquisite lead delivery. Every new listen reveals new details in this timeless classic.

USA for Africa, We Are The World (1985)

Yes, with 40 years’ hindsight, it’s both schmaltzy and kitschy. Yes, it seems to be in love with its own good intentions. Still, ask yourself this: Who else could have corralled 44 of the biggest names in the entertainment industry – and that’s just counting the vocalists – and got them to check their egos in service to something bigger than themselves? Who else could have got Bob Dylan, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Loggins and Cyndi Lauper into the studio together … and made it work?

Quincy Jones feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg, Get the Funk Out of My Face (2010)

In case you weren’t convinced that Jones couldn’t do it all, Get the Funk Out of My Face married his unerring instincts for the zeitgeist with collaborators and concepts from his entire career. Jazz musicians (including future star Kamasi Washington), members of the soul band the Dap-Kings, R&B and pop session greats and technical wizards come together with Jones and co-producer Terrace Martin to produce this fun banger with Snoop.

- Written by Michael J. West for the Washington Post and republished here via NZ Herald with permission