In Memory of Quincy Jones

This week we lost a giant in the world of popular music, Quincy Jones. I first became acquainted with the name Quincy Jones when I started following the works of Frank Sinatra. Jones began as a no-name trumpet player back in the 1940s and early fifties. Later on he was able to work his way into the industry as an arranger. Sinatra used him and referred to him on some of his albums, such as Sinatra at the Sands and It Might as Well Be Swing with Count Basie. If you listen to the famous recording of Fly me to the Moon, Jones can take credit for that arrangement.

You can also see Quincy Jones' name all over pop music, including, famously, his collaboration with Michael Jackson on Thriller, Stevie Wonder, and Donna Summers among many others. He worked on movie scores as well. One thing that brought his ability and fame home to me was the making of the charity song for African famine relief, "We Are the World" in 1985, which brought together a plethora of stars, who stayed up most of the night to record it.

From learning hymns at his mother's knee to his early love of music and his faith, Quincy Jones was helped out of a destructive path of gang violence. He also told the BBC that "God's whispers drew him into music". He credits God for pulling him out of his personal and professional funk in the 1980s and for leading him to produce "We Are the World". He founded the Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation to connect young people with culture, music, and technology. 

If you follow his life, there are a lot of ups and downs, just like in all our lives. In the messiness of this life, God is whispering. May we listen.  MEH