Farewell to Quincy Jones, who passed away yesterday at the age of ninety-one. Jones did so much stuff in his long life, his Wikipedia page takes about an hour to read. It is legitimately ridiculous how much stuff he did over the past seven decades. And he was hugely successful in each decade, as well, making his accomplishments even more impressive.
The basic details of Jones’s story are well known: he was an amazing jazz trumpeter; he produced records by Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, and Lesley Gore; he became a leading film composer, one of the best in the business in the late 1960s; he was the first African American composer to be nominated for an Academy award.
He went on to produce three platinum albums for Michael Jackson, including Thriller. He did lots of philanthropic work, like the “We Are the World” project. Quite honestly, listing all the things that he did could go on and on and on. The dude did a LOT of amazing stuff.
He also composed and produced the song “Streetbeater,” known to most of us as the theme song from the Sanford and Son TV show in the 1970s. I still marvel at this recording, not only the melody and the arrangement, but also the incredibly funky recording. This song slaps! Undoubtedly, this was the first place where a lot of white America heard funk music for the first time. It still holds up today. It’s just a phenomenal piece of music.
Safe travels, Quincy, and thanks for all the music you left behind.
