Quincy Jones, the musical polymath who contributed to remarkable albums in jazz, soul, and funk as well as several of the biggest pop LPs of the century โ most notably producing Michael Jacksonโs Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad albums โ died at his home in Bel Air, California, on Sunday, Nov. 3. He was 91 years old. โ
โ
โTonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jonesโ passing,โ the family said in a statement, via the Associated Press. โAnd although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him.โโ
โ
Jones was at home in nearly every branch of popular music: During a career that spanned seven decades and included work as a trumpet player, composer, arranger, producer, conductor and scorer, his work touched on big-band jazz, bebop, gospel, blues, soul, funk, Quiet Storm R&B, disco, rock, and rap. He is best known for his involvement with Jackson, which brought an unparalleled level of musical dexterity to several of the most popular albums of all time and helped redefine what it meant to be a pop star.โ
โ
But by the time Jones got to Jackson, he had already carved a path through jazz and early Sixties bubblegum pop and numerous film scores, studied with the famous classical composition teacher Nadia Boulanger, arranged records for Ray Charles and conducted Frank Sinatraโs band. Few musicians in history have enjoyed such a richly varied career and success in as many arenas. Speaking with Rolling Stone in 2017, Jones presented his creative restlessness as part of a life-long commitment to learning as much about music as he possibly could. โYou gotta hope you can make all the mistakes you can so you learn,โ he said. โI made all the mistakes. All of โem.โ
