Andrew, ‘14

Let me ask you a question. I know a lot of you are either applying to colleges or you have already sent in all of your information, so you’ll probably be able to answer this in a heartbeat.

What does your resume look like?

I’m sure you have stuff like valedictorian, band leader, varsity team captain, class president, class clown, classy guy, etc. That’s awesome. Really.

But what if this was your resume?

Produced music for: Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, The Brothers Johnson, Eddie Van Halen, Dean Martin, 2Pac, Patti Austin, Tevin Campbell, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Will Smith, Trey Song, and hundreds more.

Composed music for movies like: In Cold Blood, In the Heat of the Night, The Italian Job, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Lost Man, Cactus Flower, The Color Purple, and The Getaway.

Produced television shows like: Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (this is awesome enough to stand alone; I’m not going to list any other TV shows)

I don’t blame you for salivating all over your keyboard. By the way, the feats listed above are only the tip of the iceberg for this person. Who is he, you might ask?

None other than Quincy Jones.

I had the pleasure of seeing him give a talk at the Richmond Forum on February 4th. For the die-hard fans who have followed me since I started blogging, this is the same forum that hosted Anderson Cooper last year. The forum is held inside the beautiful Landmark Theater in the heart of VCU, and it is full of beautiful Middle-Eastern architecture and artworks. The venue definitely lives up to its name; it’s a Richmond landmark that has hosted some of the greatest acts in history.

I was sitting in the third row, so I had an excellent view of everything that was going on. The Richmond Public Schools All-City Jazz Band provided some great grooves while we waited for the show to start. Then, the moderator stepped out onto the stage. Guess who he was?

Tim Reid, who was Ray Campbell in the hit show Sister, Sister. Yes, I know there are adults who read this blog, and a lot of y’all didn’t watch Disney Channel in the 1990’s. For all of you baby boomers, Tim Reid was the “philosopher of the airwaves” Venus Flytrap in the late-70’s show WKRP in Cincinnati (I watched a ton of Nick-At-Nite, so I saw this show a lot during my childhood).

Enough nostalgia. When Quincy Jones walked onto the stage, the entire room erupted in cheers and applause. Just for the record (pun intended), I was one of the youngest people in the audience, so a lot of these people grew up listening to “Q” (I’m going to call him Q from now on; it sounds suave). With Tim Reid anchoring the discussion, Q tackled some pretty good questions concerning the music industry and some of his favorite people to work with. He told stories about when he was approached by Frank Sinatra for the first time, hanging out with Ray Charles as kids, and the lessons he’s learned over the years. The pamphlet I received at the door has an excellent quote in it: “A conversation with Quincy Jones is like talking to a jukebox loaded with platinum singles.” As the all-time most-nominated Grammy artist (79 nominations and 27 awards), he definitely had plenty to talk about.

I  learned that, during the making of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Q had to decide on 9 songs out of about 800 in order to create the album. He shared one of his methods for when he has to decide on which tracks make it to the final cut. He takes 12 or 11 songs that he feels are the strongest out of the group, and he immediately gets rid of the four weakest ones. Then, he looks at the seven or eight tracks he has left and looks for four songs from the big group that are stronger than any of those seven or eight songs. That is how P.Y.T. and Beat It were able to get onto the Thriller album; they had originally been left out, but his musical spell-check process found them to be worthy later on. They ended up being singles on the best-selling album of all time.

One of the funniest moments was when Tim Reid asked Q about Lady Gaga. Q just sat there and stared out into the crowd, sipped water, brushed his nose, frowned, etc. He clearly did not care much for her. The crowd erupted in laughter and Tim moved on, exclaiming “Ohhhhkay!”

After a 15-minute intermission, Tim and Q came back onstage to answer some questions the audience had submitted on pieces of paper. Some of them concerned the differences between digital and analog music, whether anyone else in his family was in the music industry, and whether there was any artist (living or dead) that he regrets not working with (Luther Vandross and Bobby McFarren were two names he mentioned; regarding Vandross, Q said he was busy working on Thriller and the E.T. Extra Terrestrial soundtrack, so he simply didn’t have the time). My favorite question was whether he would sign with a label or work independently if he were to enter the music business today. He replied with, “What label? They’ve all been gobbled up.”

One of his responses will always stick with me. The question was: “If music is the language of the world, what is going to happen when the music stops?” Q replied, “I’ve thought about this before. I feel that, if and when the world comes to an end, water and music will be the last things to go. Music is part of our lives; we simply cannot live without it.”

At the end of the show, Q signed one of the portraits behind him for the Richmond Forum. Anderson Cooper did the same thing when I saw him last year, so it must be a tradition. I’d love to see all of those signatures…

It was definitely a night to remember. I got to dress up and go to a formal occasion with residents of the City of Richmond, and I listened to a living legend talk about his life and his experiences. It didn’t hurt that I was less than 20 feet away from him, either.

I’ve included some videos of Quincy Jones and his work. You can’t really understand the impact he’s had on the music industry without seeing and hearing it.

That last track is one of my favorite jazz songs. Anyways, it’s 2:35 a.m. Eastern time, so I definitely need to get some shut-eye.

Stay classy, my friends. And yes, he’s pointing at YOU (ignore that weird lazy-eye thing he’s got going on).