I first came across Quincy Jones at the movies. The first was IN COLD BLOOD, a true story about the murder of a family and which must have been the most complex instrumental soundtracks to write (for such a horrific and emotional event). It remains my favourite Quincy movie soundtrack (of which there were many). The second movie was IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT which is my second-favourite Quincy soundtrack. His influence om modern music is unmatched in my view, and his use of a variety of genres in creating strongly melodic music is quite unique. He covered most genres including R&B, Blues, Jazz, Pop and more. He achieved enormous popular music success but always maintained the highest creative and musical quality. He is unmatched. His music lives on.

Biography

Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 - November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. Over the course of his career he received several accolades including 28 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Tony Award as well as nominations for seven Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards.

Jones came to prominence in the 1950s as a jazz arranger and conductor before producing pop hit records for Lesley Gore in the early 1960s (including ‘It’s My Party’) and serving as an arranger and conductor for several collaborations between the jazz artists Frank Sinatra and Count Basie. Jones produced three of the most successful albums by pop star Michael Jackson: OFF THE WALL (1979), THRILLER (1982), and BAD(1987). In 1985, Jones produced and conducted the charity song ‘We Are the World’, which raised funds for victims of famine in Ethiopia.

Jones composed numerous films scores including for The Pawnbroker (1965), In the Heat of the Night (1967), In Cold Blood (1967), The Italian Job (1969), The Wiz (1978), and The Color Purple (1985). He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for the miniseries Roots (1977). He received a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical as a producer for the revival of The Color Purple (2016).

Throughout career he was the recipient of numerous honorary awards including the Grammy Legend Award in 1992, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1995, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001, the National Medal of the Arts in 2011, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2014, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2024. He was named one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century by Time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy_Jones