On November 3, 2024, the American musician, composer and music producer Quincy Jones died in Los Angeles at the age of 91.
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. was born on March 14, 1933 in Chicago. He began his career as a jazz trumpeter in his own combo. In 1951, Lionel Hampton hired him as a trumpeter for a tour. After several successful arrangements for Lionel Hampton’s orchestra, he also wrote arrangements for studio recordings by well-known artists such as Ray Charles, Count Basie, Sarah
Vaughan and Duke Ellington. Dizzy Gillespie hired him as orchestra leader for a tour in 1956 and in 1957 he got a contract with ABC-Paramount for his first own album “This Is How I Feel About Jazz”.
After further studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, he worked as a producer for the Barclay Records label, where he worked with Jacques Brel, Henri Salvador and Charles Aznavour, among others. In 1958 he led the orchestra for a gala concert by Frank Sinatra in Monaco and in 1959/60 he toured Europe with his “Quincy Jones Big Band”. In addition to his own compositions for various film scores, Quincy Jones made a name for himself as an arranger and producer for numerous jazz and pop musicians. The Michael Jackson album “Thriller”, which he produced in 1982, is still the best-selling music album to this day.
Quincy Jones has received 28 Grammys, an Emmy, a Tony Award, and the Polar Music Prize, among others. In 1995, he received an Honorary Oscar and in 2024 another Honorary Oscar for his lifetime achievement.
Quincy Jones live at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1996
