Quincy Jones is a recording studio legend. Some of the most incredible songs and runs of instrumentation came from this legendary producer. Jones produced Michael Jackson’s albums “Off the wall”, “Thriller” and “Bad”. The attention to detail and recording studio techniques used in those albums are sublime. One listen to songs like “Don’t stop till you get enough” and you know that Quincy is a genius of arrangement and getting the best out of the artist. My personal favourite is “Man in the Mirror” off “Bad”. Not only is Jones a master of arrangement, he does the complicated recording studio stuff but also manages to capture incredible emotion. “Man in the Mirror” is especially moving.
Recording Studio: Quincy Jones: Early Life
Quincy Jones was born in 1933, on the South Side of Chicago, to Sarah Frances (née Wells) and Quincy Delight Jones, Sr. His father was a semi-professional baseball player and carpenter from Kentucky; his paternal grandmother was an ex-slave in Louisville.[5] They had gone to Chicago as part of the Great Migration out of the South. Sarah was a bank officer and apartment complex manager. Quincy had a younger brother, Lloyd, later an engineer for the Seattle station, KOMO-TV; he died in 1998. Quincy was introduced to music by his mother, who always sang religious songs, and by his next door neighbor Lucy Jackson. When he was five or six, Jackson played stride piano next door, and he would always listen through the walls. Lucy Jackson recalled that after he heard her that one day, she could not get him off her piano if she tried. Later he had the same passion for the recording studio.
At the age of 14, Jones introduced himself to a 16-year-old musician from Florida Ray Charles after watching him play at the Black Elks Club. Jones cites Ray Charles as an early inspiration for his own music career. He noted that Charles overcame a disability to achieve his musical goals. He has credited his father’s sturdy work ethic with giving him the means to proceed, and his loving strength with holding the family together. Jones has said his father had a saying: “Once a task is just begun, never leave until it’s done. Be the labor great or small, do it well or not at all
