QUINCY JONES (1933 -2024)

Quincy Jones, the legendary producer and musical visionary, has passed away on November 3rd at the age of ninety-one. The Chicago-born artist began his career as a jazz arranger and conductor in the 1950's before moving into producing pop music with his first major hit, "It's My Party" for a then-sixteen year old singer, Lesley Gore which went to number one in 1963.

Throughout his extraordinary career, Jones had worked with many of the greatest musical performers of all time with the most notable being, Michael Jackson who he went on to produce his albums, "Off The Wall", "Thriller" and "Bad" which together sold well over one hundred and twenty-five million albums worldwide. Jones also composed numerous musical scores for film and television ("In Cold Blood", "Roots", "The Wiz", "The Color Purple") and was involved in organizing the artists and co-producing the 1985 US charity single, "We Are The World" to help the victims of famine in Ethiopia, raising more than eighty million dollars for the cause.

Jones helped create so much music during his time that it would be extremely difficult to try and cover even a fraction of the recordings he went on to produce. To pay tribute to this musical genius, I will focus here on the studio albums that Jones would release under his own name over the years. Here is just a tiny playlist of my favorites:

JAMES INGRAM (1952 - 2019)

A gifted r&b vocalist best known as a romantic balladeer, James Ingram was also an award-winning songwriter and producer who has sadly passed away on January 29th at the age of sixty-six. He had been quietly battling brain cancer. He is survived by his wife, Debra and they had been married since 1975.

Born in Akron, Ohio, Ingram sang in his church choir as a child and taught himself how to play the piano. Not long after finishing high school, he made his way to Los Angeles to try his luck as a professional musician. He played keyboards for several bands (including briefly backing for Ray Charles) and worked as a demo singer. It was during the time that Quincy Jones was looking for material for what would become his 1981 album, "The Dude" that would change the course of James Ingram’s career. Jones heard the demo for "Just Once", written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and he became not only interested in the song but also the singer. He used Ingram not only on that track but also "One Hundred Ways". Both songs became top-twenty hits and would help Ingram win his first Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Some other highlights in his musical career includes Ingram performing a duet with Patti Austin, another protégé of Quincy Jones, on the love ballad, "Baby, Come To Me" which became his first number one on the pop chart. The two paired up again for another love song, "How Do You Keep The Music Playing?" for the 1982 film, "Best Friends" which earned a Grammy and Oscar nomination. Ingram became a go-to artist for singing songs on movie soundtracks with his most notable being a duet with Linda Rondstadt with "Somewhere Out There" for the 1986 animated feature, "An American Tail". He was also nominated twice for a Best Original Song Oscar with the songs he co-wrote for the movies, "Beethoven's 2nd" (1993) and "Junior" (1994). And in 1990, Ingram received his second number one pop single and only one as a solo artist with "I Don't Have The Heart".

With a distinctive voice that could effortlessly go from a tender whisper to a passionate growl, James Ingram managed to deliver a heated sensuality to his songs of romance yet always kept it classy. He was a masterful talent whose contributions to music will greatly be missed. Here are a few of my personal favorites by the one and only James Ingram:

RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

To kick this off, here are some hot new tracks I'm digging right now:

"Can't Deny My Love" - Brandon Flowers (2015) mp3

"Worship" - Years & Years (2015) mp3

"Alone" - Selah Sue (2015) mp3

"Pedestrian At Best" - Courtney Barnett (2015) mp3

The recent anniversary of "We Are The World" made me think of some of the other amazing musical accomplishments by Quincy Jones. This incredibly gifted musician, producer and humanitarian is probably best known for his work with Michael Jackson but he had a pretty phenomenal career before the King of Pop was even born.

Jones has made several studio albums under his own name with one of his most popular was "The Dude" in 1981. It featured four amazing singles including "Just Once" and "One Hundred Ways" which introduced the magnificent voice of James Ingram to the world.

"Ai No Corrida" - Quincy Jones (1981) mp3

"Razzamatazz" - Quincy Jones featuring Patti Austin (1981) mp3

"One Hundred Ways" - Quincy Jones featuring James Ingram (1981) mp3

Let's hope Brit-pop star, Natasha Bedingfield will be releasing some new music very soon. I think she's one of the more interesting singers out there now and it's been since 2010 since we last heard from her. In the meanwhile, here are a couple of my favorites:

"These Words (I Love You, I Love You)" - Natasha Bedingfield (2004) mp3

"Piece of My Heart" - Natasha Bedingfield (2007) mp3