Quincy Jones's brilliance explained in 10 songs

"Music is ineffable to me," Quincy Jones erstwhile said. "Melody is God's voice."

He surely had the divine touch.

Jones, who had died astatine the property of 91, was the right-hand antheral to some Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson, and helped to signifier the dependable of jazz and popular implicit much than 60 years.

His recordings revolutionised euphony by crossing genres, promoting improbable collaborations and shaping modern accumulation techniques.

Here are 10 songs that showcase his versatility and brilliance successful the studio, and his quality to gully the champion retired of the musicians helium worked with.

Michael Jackson met Quincy Jones connected the acceptable of the 1978 movie The Wiz, and asked him to nutrient his adjacent album. That grounds was Off The Wall - a disco extravaganza that established Jackson arsenic a solo star.

They teamed up again for 1982's Thriller, which arguably remade the popular business. Not lone did it nutrient 7 apical 10 singles; but it crossed radical barriers, appealing arsenic to achromatic and achromatic audiences.

Key to the occurrence was Billie Jean, a acheronian communicative astir the groupies Jackson met portion touring with his brothers. As a producer, Jones wasn't keen connected the way astatine archetypal - arguing with Jackson astir the agelong instrumental opening.

"I said, ‘Michael we’ve got to chopped that intro,’” helium aboriginal recalled.

"He said, ‘But that’s the jelly! That’s what makes maine privation to dance.' And erstwhile Michael Jackson tells you, 'That’s what makes maine privation to dance,' well, the remainder of america conscionable person to unopen up."

With those words ringing successful his ears, Jones kept the statement thin and funky. He adjacent instructed dependable technologist Bruce Swedien to make a drum dependable with a "sonic personality" that no-one had ever heard before. The effect is 1 of the astir recognisable intros successful the past of pop.

• Listen to Billie Jean

"The relationship was truthful strong. You can't picture it," said Jones of his concern with Frank Sinatra - which extended acold beyond the signaling studio.

“Seven treble Jack Daniels successful an hour... [Sinatra] invented partying."

After establishing their narration connected 1964's It Might As Well Be Swing, Jones helped Sinatra re-arrange his signature songs for a four-week engagement astatine the Copa Room successful The Sands hotel, Las Vegas.

"It was astir apt the astir breathtaking engagement I person ever done successful my life, since I started performing," Sinatra aboriginal recalled.

Accompanied by the Count Basie Orchestra, the prima sounds perfectly astatine ease, breezing astir standards similar I've Got You Under My Skin, Fly Me To The Moon and You Make Me Feel So Young.

But it's Come Fly With Me that astir perfectly captures the vigorous vigor of Jones's caller arrangements. No wonderment that it was chosen arsenic the opening fig - arsenic captured connected the award-winning unrecorded album, Sinatra At The Sands.

• Listen to Come Fly With Me (Live)

Lesley Gore was conscionable a teen erstwhile her vocal demos made their mode into Quincy Jones's hands successful the aboriginal 1960s. Up to that point, he'd been moving with jazz singers similar Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan - but helium heard thing helium liked connected Gore's tape.

"She had a mellow, distinctive dependable and sang successful tune, which a batch of grown up stone ‘n’ rotation singers couldn’t do, truthful I signed her,” helium wrote successful his autobiography.

For their archetypal session, Jones picked It's My Party retired of a heap of 200 demos and got to work. He double-tracked Gore's voice, adding small flourishes of brass and unexpected chord changes that perfectly evoke the song's teen angst.

He past rush-released the single, aft discovering that Phil Spector had plans to grounds the aforesaid opus with the Crystals. It duly topped the US charts and went to fig 9 successful the UK.

• Listen to It's My Party

Recorded by The Lovin' Spoonful, Summer In The City is simply a 1960s stone classic, afloat of ominous organ chords and almighty drum hits that seizure the sticky filth of an oppressive heatwave.

Quincy Jones version, recorded for his 1973 medium You've Got It Bad Girl, is astir unrecognisable arsenic the aforesaid song. Lazily chilled-out, the Hammond organ is played with a featherlight touch, and the drums are mildly brushed.

Most of the lyrics are excised and, erstwhile they get astatine the 2'30" mark, they're sung with astir heavenly serenity by Valerie Simpson (of Ashford and Simpson fame).

Originally released arsenic a b-side, it's go 1 of Jones's astir influential songs. According to WhoSampled.com, it's been sampled connected 87 different songs, including tracks by Massive Attack, Eminem, Nightmares connected Wax and The Roots.

• Listen to Summer In The City

Another illustration of however Jones's accomplishment arsenic an arranger could wholly alteration a song.

Mad About The Boy was written by Sir Noël Coward, for the 1932 revue Words and Music. In the original, it was sung by 4 antithetic women, each expressing their emotion for an unnamed movie prima (rumoured to beryllium Douglas Fairbanks Jr) arsenic they hold successful enactment to spot 1 of his films.

It's comic and quirky and clever - but erstwhile Dinah Washington covered the opus successful 1961, Jones slowed it down and switched the clip signature from 4/4 to 6/8, allowing the vocalist to prowl done the lyrics with a newfound carnality.

Overlooked astatine the time, it gained a caller lease of beingness successful 1992 erstwhile it was utilized to soundtrack a Levis advert and crept into the UK charts for the archetypal time.

• Listen to Mad About The Boy

Written successful conscionable 20 minutes, Soul Bossa Nova was inspired by an early-60s fad for Brazilian music, sparked by the occurrence of João Gilberto and Stan Getz's Desafinado.

Jones is successful his constituent present - with chirruping flutes and large trombone slides that seizure the joie de vivre of the carnival. He besides makes salient usage of a cuíca, the Brazilian drum that produces what sounds similar a precise blessed monkey successful the opening bars.

The bossa-craze whitethorn person been short-lived, but Jones's opus endured, astir memorably successful the opening creation series of Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery.

• Listen to Soul Bossa Nova

From the beginning, Jones and Jackson planned to marque Thriller a blockbuster popular album.

"We went done 800 songs to get to nine," Jones said. "That's not casual."

The enactment was exhausting. At 1 point, they were moving successful 3 studios simultaneously... until the speakers caught fire.

Beat It was important to the task - due to the fact that it was designed to get Jackson played connected US stone radio, an unheard of imaginable successful the heavily-segregated euphony manufacture of the 1980s.

Jones had told Jackson to constitute "a achromatic version" of The Knack's My Sharona - the 1979 deed opus that sold much past 10 cardinal copies. But Jackson was 1 measurement ahead. He had a demo that acceptable the bill, albeit without a hook oregon lyrics.

While Jackson worked connected those elements (you tin perceive his first, wordless effort astatine the melody on his YouTube channel), Jones called connected Eddie Van Halen to execute the guitar solo.

"He came successful and helium stacked up his Gibson [guitars]," Jones aboriginal recalled.

"I said, 'I'm not going to beryllium present and effort to archer you what to play... Let's effort 3 oregon 4 takes. Some of it volition beryllium over-animated, immoderate of it volition beryllium long, and we'll sculpt it.

"And helium played his ass off."

The song, with its West Side Story-inspired video, landed conscionable arsenic MTV took off, making Jackson a imperishable fixture successful surviving rooms crossed America.

But for each the commercialized absorption of the Thriller project, Jones ever maintained that the euphony came first.

"I've never, ever successful my beingness done euphony for wealth oregon fame - due to the fact that that's erstwhile God walks retired of the room," helium said.

• Listen to Beat It

Jones discovered guitarist George Johnson and bassist Louis Johnson erstwhile helium heard them playing connected a demo by Chaka Khan's sister, Taka Boom.

He hired them to play connected the soundtrack for the celebrated TV mini-series Roots, placed them successful his touring band, and helmed their 1976 debut medium Look Out For #1 (including a sublime screen of The Beatles' Come Together).

But the brothers didn't execute mainstream occurrence until 1977, with the merchandise of Strawberry Letter #23.

Originally recorded by Shuggie Otis, Jones's mentation toughens up the production, with a strutting bassline and soaring backing vocals - but George Johnson struggled to recreate Shuggie's archetypal guitar solo, which was afloat of analyzable triplet notes.

Frustrated, Jones called up league instrumentalist Lee Ritenour for help.

"Quincy was walking down the hallway tearing his hairsbreadth out," Ritenour aboriginal recalled. "He said, 'I'm going to lunch, Ritenour. Get it done.'

Released successful the mediate of the punk and disco boom, the song's romanticist psychedelia inactive recovered an assemblage - reaching fig 13 successful the charts. It was aboriginal re-popularised by Quentin Tarantino successful the movie Jackie Brown.

• Listen to Strawberry Letter #23

Early successful his career, Jones was 1 of the astir in-demand arrangers successful jazz, moving with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee.

In 1958, helium recorded an full medium with Sarah Vaughan successful Paris, backed by a 55-piece orchestra. Among the highlights is the lovestruck ballad Misty - primitively recorded by pianist Erroll Garner, and made celebrated by Johnny Mathis.

Unlike their syrupy and sentimental versions, Vaughan and Jones (along with shaper Jack Tracy) springiness the lyrics immoderate pathos. She mightiness beryllium "as helpless arsenic a kitten up a tree", but you're ne'er wholly convinced she's blessed astir the situation.

Jones adds beguiling touches - from the cascading strings erstwhile Vaughan sings "a 1000 violins statesman to play", to the beautifully muted saxophone line, played by Zoot Sims.

When Vaughan died successful 2019, Jones posted a agelong tribute connected his Facebook page, utilizing his favored sanction for her - Sassy.

"Dear saccharine Sassy was each astir sophistication and chord changes and, man, I’m telling you she thought similar a horn and SANG similar a horn!" helium wrote.

"We had rather the travel together, & I volition ne'er hide each infinitesimal we had, due to the fact that each infinitesimal was a peculiar one."

• Listen to Misty

"Check your egos astatine the door," said the hand-written motion that Quincy Jones pinned to the doorway of his signaling workplace successful 1985.

The juncture was the signaling of We Are The World - a star-studded foundation azygous that aimed to rise wealth for famine alleviation successful Ethiopia.

Written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, the grounds featured vocals from Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, Dionne Warwick and Bob Dylan, each recorded successful a azygous night.

Herding the singers was a monolithic headache, arsenic the caller Netflix documentary The Greatest Night In Pop revealed.

At 1 point, Stevie Wonder insisted that immoderate of the lyrics should beryllium rewritten successful Swahili - contempt the information that the radical of Ethiopia, who would beryllium the main beneficiaries of the famine-relief fundraiser, mostly talk different languages.

Jones oversaw the full league with the patience and contented of a shaper who'd seen it all.

The results aren't peculiarly large - the opus is sickly and overlong - but the information that it's coherent astatine each is simply a testament to his accomplishment arsenic a producer, arranger, mentor and referee.

In the end, the opus raised much than $63m ($227m oregon £178m adjusted for inflation); and Jones looked backmost connected it arsenic 1 of his proudest achievements.

“I person ne'er earlier oregon since experienced the joyousness I felt that nighttime moving with this rich, analyzable quality tapestry of love, talent, and grace," helium wrote successful his 2002 autobiography.

• Listen to We Are The World