AOL Host:
If you were to remove the work of Quincy Jones from the history books, contemporary music would not be the same. He was born in 1933. He grew up in Seattle, where he discovered the piano. His first important job was with Lionel Hampton, playing trumpet, arranging. That was the early 1950s. He later freelanced as an arranger, writing charts for Count Basie and Diana Washington, among others. He would impact all styles of music in virtually every medium. He created scores from more than 30 films, including The Pawn Broker, In Cold Blood --
Quincy Jones:
Heat of the Night.
AOL Host:
TV shows like Cosby. He's received nearly 80 Grammy nominations, won more than 30. He holds the distinction of producing the biggest-selling single of all time, We Are the World, and the biggest-selling album of all time, Michael Jackson's Thriller. Many of his best-loved recordings are part of a compilation box set. It's called Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones. And his life story, Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones. It's a really compelling read. I enjoyed that. Please welcome to AOL Live Quincy Jones. Welcome.
Quincy Jones:
Good to see you.
AOL Host:
Good to see you. Why now? Why stop and take the look back now?
Quincy Jones:
Two or three reasons. I got roped into it over a period of time, between Swifty Lazar and Alex Haley, who was going to write the book. Number one, because you have to avoid senior moments. Do you have any senior moments yet?
AOL Host:
Senior moments?
Quincy Jones:
Right. When it's on the tip of your tongue, but you can't put your finger on it, and it's your best friend. That happen to you yet?
AOL Host:
I'm afraid not.
Quincy Jones:
That's a senior moment. I know your name, my darling. Don't tell me, don't tell me. But no, you have so much recall that you have to deal with in a situation like this. I had no idea that the process was -- it's the longest thing I've ever done, of anything -- movies, TV or records. It's amazing. You have to be honest. You have to be real honest. I'm looking at three chapters written in my book by my brother, who is no longer with us. You owe it to the spirit -- I owe it to his spirit to use all the integrity I can and to be honest without ragging on a lot of people, because we know too much, in a way.
AOL Host:
Plus you're still working with them.
Quincy Jones:
That's right. Not even that. It's just -- we won't go there. It's after you get through all of the hills and valleys of the process, it's very cleansing and very cathartic. Clarity is to so many things. And I'm glad I did it now. Blesses my children.
AOL Host:
I would imagine. We're going to member questions. HBattleJR says: What's the best tune when warming up?
Quincy Jones:
Warming up? Oh, my God. I'd go with Ella Fitzgerald and I'm Beginning to See the Light. There's a lot of them in there, but Ellas Beginning to See the Light with Count Basie. I remember the day of the session. It was just electricity in the studio.
AOL Host:
Do you think when you put the band together and trying to get things moving, you're just like warming up? I don't know.
Quincy Jones:
I don't know. Best to use when warming up... Well, on the road we use Manteca or Golden Boy.
AOL Host:
Dizzy Gillespie?
Quincy Jones:
Yes. He was into his love affair with Cuban music in the 1940s. That's how powerful Cuban music is. Buena Vista Social Club -- it's still the most powerful music. Great, great music.
AOL Host:
Here's somebody who checked out the box set. LiveStacie: Quincy, I loved the box set. Why did you decide to do that? We already answered that.
Quincy Jones:
Right, we did.
AOL Host:
One of the real turning points I remember in reading the biography was the moment you discovered a piano. This is growing up in Seattle.
Quincy Jones:
It was in Bremington, Washington.
AOL Host:
Is that near Seattle?
Quincy Jones:
Right across the street. In World War II they had a Navy shipyard, and my father drove us from Chicago to the Northwest to work in the shipyard in World War II. We were thugs, then, let's get real. We had just come from Chicago during the Depression, the biggest ghetto in America, and where you're witnessing the biggest gangsters on the planet being groomed, so to speak... Al Capone, Dillinger, the Jones boys, who my father worked for. He was a carpenter, but he worked for him. As kids, we saw a lot of that. That's all we saw.
Quincy Jones:
When we came to Bremington, we decided to continue that tradition in Bremington for a while. We broke into a recreation center, which was an armory. We ate all the pie and ice cream we could, then started to roam around individually, and I broke into one room and I almost closed the door because I saw a little piano in the corner. I thank God something told me to go back into that room. I walked over to the piano at 11 years old and it changed my life forever. That's been -- I guess inside I was really trying to find a mother. My mother was put in a mental home when we were 5 and 6. So I guess this was the way of finding a mother. Duke Ellington said it was his mistress. I guess it was my mother too. It turned me upside down. I dug in and played all the brass instruments and put pressure to play French horn, trombone, flugelhorn and everything. Every time I started to play, I heard French horns in my head, so I knew I was hooked on writing right then, 13, 12 years old. So it's good.
AOL Host:
I know you first started working with Michael Jackson for The Wiz and ended up moving to produce his records at that time. SkateforJesus wants to know: Have you worked for Michael Jackson recently?
Quincy Jones:
I did, two days before Sept. 11. I worked in New York City at the Madison Square Garden. If I couldn't remember that, that's a real senior moment, because it's something I know real well, but I got it out. Madison Square Garden. We closed -- I conducted the We Are the World at the end of the show. That was Sept. 8, and Sept. 10 was a Monday -- he did another concert. After that, that's when everything happened. It was very fortuitous, because Michael and I worked together down at the Trade Center when we did all the -- shot all the scenes for Emerald City for The Wiz, the World Trade Center. Remember "I thought it over, the color red, from here on in, the color gold" -- all that is the World Trade Center. It was really chilling, the words.
AOL Host:
That must have been right after they finished building it, right? Was that in the 1980s?
Quincy Jones:
1978.
AOL Host:
That was after.
Quincy Jones:
Exactly. Exactly.
AOL Host:
I'm not sure how to pronounce this -- is there something you'd like to do in your life yet you've never done before?
Quincy Jones:
Yes, very much so. I'd like to spend really good quality time with my children -- that I never did when I was beginning, because I didn't know that that's what nurturing meant. I didn't know what nurturing meant in those days. I'd -- my son is going to have a grandson next month. Looking forward to that. My other daughter, Rachel, has a daughter. Jessica, Eric, Donovan -- this is my fifth grandson. God, he's 27 years old.
AOL Host:
The book goes into explaining why you wouldn't understand nurturing when you had your first kids, because --
Quincy Jones:
They have to show you, right? If you don't get a hug, you don't recognize a hug. You know, you have to take the cards that life deals you and roll with it, and I guess coming out of this one-to-one thing, it may be very clear that there are people that have the nurturing, validation, and guidance and tough love and everything from a male and female caretaker before 9 years old. It doesn't matter if it's a mother or father, it's the ones that play that role, that are there for you and support you. The ones that don't get that before 9, they have a hole to fill out for the rest of their lives. I know a lot on both sides. It's a serious challenge, and it's interesting to see the ones that take the challenge and try to take something negative and develop it into something positive. That's the way to go. It's the only option, really, to have a good life.
AOL Host:
You've said a lot that you're the master of that, taking bad news, deflecting it or turning it into something --
Quincy Jones:
That's true.
AOL Host:
Something with more positive --
Quincy Jones:
I don't think you have any choice, you know. And fortunately, after having a skill as an arranger, composer and orchestrator, that prepares me for -- the discipline, understanding and structure and everything else of how to execute music and everything else, help me to understand the same thing, whether it be television, magazines or movies, whatever. It's all a process, a learning process. If -- I think the best way to learn -- to live to be -- a long time is never finish and keep swimming in the water. It might be a little too deep; you're not sure if you can swim. I don't mean the Peter Principle, now. That stuff is what takes the imagination to judge which one is -- with the Peter Principle -- which is growth.
AOL Host:
Go for the growth.
Quincy Jones:
Got to go for the growth. And empty your cup every time; it will come back twice as full. That one I really follow. Give it all up.
AOL Host:
Tivehsb says: Do you feel that who you are and what you have done in the music industry has paved the way for so many artists like the late Aaliyah and Babyface?
Quincy Jones:
When I met Babyface, I was on tour with the Budweiser tour in the early 1980s. Babyface was working with the deal, and I first met him, and we talked backstage for two hours. So I kind of cherish our relationship a lot. It's supposed to work like that, if you do it right. You know, it's going to make it easier. Aaliyah was like my daughter. She went on Christmas trips with us to Fiji. I'll never forget her as long as I live. When leaving Fiji, they told us we had to leave right away because the typhoon was coming through. We were supposed to catch a plane. As we were leaving Fiji, we became almost like a family. We said, we're going to miss you so much. Aaliyah, she got out of the car and went and held the plane to sing Amazing Grace to the kids. She sang to us the day before in the church. She was an incredible spirit. She had an amazing future. A lot of things we think about doing now, we'd like to dedicate to her, because she was the personification of a great human being first. She had a great career on the way too, with Matrix 2 coming. She was a very dear friend.
AOL Host:
Hawaiianson003 asks: What age did you start singing? The gospel stuff, I guess.
Quincy Jones:
We first came through 11, 12 years old singing gospel. Later with the band, with Charlie Taylor's band, we sang a lot of Louie Jordan things. After you work with Ray Charles, Diana, Ella, Sarah, Sinatra, you don't even think about going there.
AOL Host:
I don't think I've ever heard you sing.
Quincy Jones:
You're lucky. We had a lot of courage when we were young. It was during the war, and we had nothing to lose because jazz musicians didn't make any money anyway, so we did whatever we felt.
AOL Host:
La La 51587 asks: I want to congratulate you on all of your work in the past year. You have really accomplished most of your goals, and I'm sure you have many more to come. I guess there's no question.
Quincy Jones:
Thank you. That's so sweet, honey. I appreciate it. I do.
AOL Host:
I recall another real turning point for you was meeting Ray Charles, because you actually met in the town you grew up in, Bremington.
Quincy Jones:
At 14 years old. He had just come from Florida. Legend has it that Ray said, I want to get out of here so bad, out of Florida, that he had a friend -- because he had sight until he was 5. He asked to take a string and stretch it to the farthest destination from Florida. In 1948 we met in Seattle, Washington.
AOL Host:
Next question: Hey, Q, I was wondering, how did you first discover that music was your thing?
Quincy Jones:
That day in the armory. That's the first time. I've probably been around it. I was never consciously aware of it being in me or being a part of me, and that moment it permeated me, my whole soul.
AOL Host:
How old were you at that time?
Quincy Jones:
Eleven years old.
AOL Host:
Eleven years old, finding that piano. You'd go back there every day?
Quincy Jones:
Every day. After a while, there was a sweet lady with gray hair and glasses there named Mrs. Ayers. Sweet lady, beautiful too. She said, honey, you don't have to break in here anymore. Here's the key. You can use the door. A ton of players used to come by. They'd come by and play sax. From there on in, I was hooked.
AOL Host:
Who haven't you worked with yet that you would like to? I'm sure you've thought about that for a long time, right?
Quincy Jones:
Yes. One was -- one is Whitney. We haven't really worked together. I've known about Whitney since she was 16 and always admired her work and love her work. Marvin Gaye was the one that was a painful one, because we knew each other for 17 years, and we worked live performances together... my orchestra and him singing in San Francisco and places like that. But the album we always dreamed about, we never got to it. I have no way of knowing that; he left here before I did. I love Marvin. Donnie Hathaway too. We did work together.
AOL Host:
Marvin was [at a] tribute for you, at one point.
Quincy Jones:
That's right. You did read the book.
AOL Host:
I did.
Quincy Jones:
Thank you.
AOL Host:
Another question: Hey again. I was wondering what your favorite instrument is.
Quincy Jones:
Because of being an orchestrator and arranger, my favorite instrument is the orchestra. I consider the orchestra my instrument. Violins, synthesizers, trombones, whatever. A mixture of building sounds or whatever is what the art of orchestration is about. So that's a long way for a short answer.
AOL Host:
I wonder where this question is coming from: Do you believe in true love?
Quincy Jones:
Yes, I do. Absolutely. And I've been searching for a long time. But I think at a certain age you get wise enough to realize that true love has to come when you love yourself first. Instead of looking for Mrs. Right, you have to first recover Mr. Right. That's hard for guys to realize.
AOL Host:
I'm still looking on that one. You're not married now? Are you married?
Quincy Jones:
No. But I have a beautiful relationship going with a lady I've been with five years.
AOL Host:
A nice picture of you there.
Quincy Jones:
Yes. Yes. She's incredible.
AOL Host:
She's quite beautiful. I think I saw a question popping up -- I'll wait for it to come back. One of the interesting things, to pursue that question about Ray Charles, was the moment where you looked at this guy who's blind and caring for himself -- cooking, washing his clothes, taking care of everything --
Quincy Jones:
Everything.
AOL Host:
Thinking, if this guy can do it, I can do it.
Quincy Jones:
Absolutely. Absolutely. That's what's so amazing, because Ray had super power when he was young. He had an ability to go with no dogs, no escorts, no canes or anything, across stop lights, go shopping at the produce stores or supermarkets, whatever, fix his own record player -- glass tubes in those days -- everything. The only time I've ever seen Ray actually blind is when theres a pretty girl in the room, and he starts walking into the walls to get her to come and help him, you know. Stevie is the same way, in a way.
AOL Host:
Really?
Quincy Jones:
Stevie is the same way.
AOL Host:
They know it works with the girls?
Quincy Jones:
Oh, please. You have to get up early in the morning to get past those two.
AOL Host:
Not that you needed to, but you could put on the dark glasses yourself and start --
Quincy Jones:
Ray brought me into his world. We did a show the other day together. It's one of the most cherished relationships in my life. And I realize at that time he brought me into his world, many a time when he took -- when I saw him do all these incredible, miraculous things with no sight... We were on radio then. There was no TV. That was Ray's world too. That was another connection. We'd turn the lights out at night and listen to radio. That's all we had. So you know Blondie and Amos and Andy were white. You use your imagination to make the Shadow, Green Hornet, everybody else black. We had nobody to identify with. There weren't that many African-Americans in northwestern... so -- whatever.
AOL Host:
Someone's asking what is your favorite song in the box set.
Quincy Jones:
Oh, that's hard. That's really hard. I mean, there's two emotional moments on there that just take me away -- I can't get past without crying. That's My Buddy, the Ray Charles song, and it was on the original Genius of Ray Charles that was supposed to make it, but he played it in 1991 in Montreal and dedicated it to me. It surprised me and blew my mind. Also Aretha doing Somewhere. Songs all over the place that blow me away. Hard to -- Bossa Nova, I wrote that in 1962. That's the theme for Austin Powers.
AOL Host:
EAMusician is asking: What is the highlight of your career, in your estimation?
Quincy Jones:
Whatever I do next year.
AOL Host:
Really?
Quincy Jones:
Yes. I always look forward, and I treasure all of the highlights that have been there. I cherish the valleys too, because they help you get a real, true perspective on what's going on. You have to learn how to cherish the mistakes and misfires. Why is somebody surprised when a record is number one? What is the surprise? Everybody in the world goes into a studio to make a number one record. I never heard somebody say I want to make a number 11 record, a number 30 record. Everywhere in the world, they're making a number one record. That doesn't surprise me -- works that intention from the beginning. What bothers me is when I'm sure it's going to work and it feels good and I've used it to -- the only test is, I still get goose bumps. That's it. Because if you don't get touched, nobody else will. If that happens, I'll feel OK.
AOL Host:
One more question from La La 51587, asking: How did you feel when you got your first Grammy?
Quincy Jones:
It was heaven. La La, believe me, it was beautiful.
AOL Host:
This is for...?
Quincy Jones:
I Can't Stop Loving You.
AOL Host:
For Ray Charles?
Quincy Jones:
No, no. Ray Charles had a hit on a country-western record, and I wrote an instrumental version for Basie. It was a big hit for Basie. I have this great picture at home where I guess I had just turned 30, and Barbra Streisand, it was her first -- Barbra Streisand, Basie, Tony Bennett, Steve and Edie. That's going way back.
AOL Host:
That was the first you won?
Quincy Jones:
Yes.
AOL Host:
I was confusing it.
Quincy Jones:
That was The Genius of Ray Charles.
AOL Host:
Do you ever long for a time that was simpler?
Quincy Jones:
Yes. In fact, I'm aiming at that right now. The book helped me clarify and go through the catharsis and everything else and understand that it's the time to pare down. It is. It really is. I welcome that. I'm very happy about my conviction to do that. It feels nice. I'll take and try things that I can't resist, and I've been -- they keep saying, you don't know how to say no. Ray says that to me all the time, but I do know how to say no. I say no 99 percent of the time, but the 1 percent is difficult. I have to cut it down to 1 percent of 1 percent.
AOL Host:
When you pare it down, what do you think will be your focus?
Quincy Jones:
Writing things, like some street operas that I'd like to write. There's a project with Cirque de Soleil. The people with Stomp, I love. A lot of young kids. A kid name Katero. Savion Glover. My daughter. I want to work with Rashida, Quincy -- I haven't spent time around them professionally like that. I look forward to that. Jolie, Tina, the babies, Rachel and the dogs. I want to sit there and just savor my family.
AOL Host:
There's another chapter to come?
Quincy Jones:
Two or three more. The thing about writing a book, you can't get it all in one book. Forget it. Especially with witness chapters, you have to say, I'll do it two or three more times.
AOL Host:
Thank you so much for joining us. There's not enough time to cover it all.
Quincy Jones:
Thank you for inviting me. This is like home, AOL, with Bob Pittman, all the great, great people. This process -- it's a family -- Kathy.
AOL Host:
Goes back a long way. "Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones" is currently out, and the musical companion piece, a box set. Both are available now. Thank you so much, Quincy Jones.
Quincy Jones:
Thank you. Good to see you.
AOL Host:
Good to see you too. Thank you for joining us tonight. Good night.
