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:

RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

Calvin Harris is on fire this year and seems like he's unable to make a wrong move. After some great collaborations with Dua Lipa and Sam Smith, the DJ turned producer has just dropped two new tracks with former Fifth Harmony member, Normani. One is "Checklist" that features WizKid and has a dance hall beat while "Slow Down" is a mid-tempo dance floor banger. They are both great songs and will definitely help give Normani an even bigger profile after her top-ten hit duet with Khalid with "Love Lies":





Here is some Chaka Khan, past and present. First, we go back to 1986 with "Love of a Lifetime", a song written and produced for her by Scritti Politti, a hot British band at the time who was best known for the hit, "Perfect Way". This song was a not a big success but I loved it. In the music video, what I find notable is Chaka's neon-colored hair which was long before it became trendy like today. And we have a new song, "Keep Reachin'", a funky jam for the recent Netflix documentary on Quincy Jones. Mark Ronson produced the track and together with Chaka's soaring vocals, it features the spirit of the legendary music maker.





Here is the newest single, "Money" by the hottest artist in hip-hop/rap right now, Cardi B and a couple of music videos that I find interesting:







Finally, we close with that '80's boy band, Duran Duran, who managed to deliver plenty of style and substance. When this British band first began, they were much closer aligned musically with the new-wave/new romantic scene before the 1982 album "Rio" and the music video for their smash, "Hungry Like The Wolf" helped pushed them in to the mainstream. While I liked their more commercial sound, I really enjoyed their early records. Let's look back on two of my favorite Duran Duran songs, "Planet Earth" and "Girls On Film" from 1981 with both of the music videos featuring adventurous and sensual imagery that would became a staple of the MTV generation:

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

HOT AND FRESH OUT THE KITCHEN

Because of the upcoming holiday season, there is a glut of new music being dumped in to the marketplace, which is great for music lovers but a little tough on our wallets.

Here is a sampling of some hot & fresh stuff:

SHARKIRA - "SALE EL SOL"

Shakira's latest is entitled, "Sale El Sol" or "The Sun Comes Out" in English and it is her third bilingual pop album. She returns to her Latin pop/rock sound after last year's album, "She Wolf" which explored electropop music that is popular right now.

Although there are a few English-language tracks , most of the album is in Spanish. Shakira collaborates with Latin hip-Hop artists, Calle 13 and Pitbull plus the record includes the 2010 World Cup Anthem, "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) (The Official 2010 Fifa World Cup (Tm) Song)".

This song is a remake from the English indie band, The XX:


"Islands" - Shakira

BELLE & SEBASTIAN - "BELLE & SEBASTIAN WRITE ABOUT LOVE"

This alternative rock-pop band from Glasgow, Scotland has not made a huge impact here in the U.S. but they have released their eighth album, "Write About Love".

To be honest, I had never heard their music before this record but I do enjoy their sound. The album has reached number eight on the U.K. pop charts which is their highest charting record there and it is getting some airplay here.

This is the song that I really like:

"I Want The World To Stop" - Belle And Sebastian


CEE-LO GREEN - "THE LADYKILLER"

Born Thomas Callaway in Atlanta, Cee-Lo Green first came to the attention of music audiences as a member of the Hip-Hop act, Goodie Mob and later as a part of a collaboration with DJ Danger Mouse as the group, Gnarls Barkley with their hit song, "Crazy" but he is now back on the charts as a solo artist with his song, "Forget You" or the uncensored version, "F**k You [Explicit]".

He has just put out his third album under his own name, "The Lady Killer [Explicit]" and it features smooth, classic soul mixed with hip-hop all the while sticking to his very unique musical vision. It is great record and one of my favorites of the year.

It was hard to pick one favorite track but this one is it, plus the song features Philip Bailey of Earth Wind & Fire:

"Fool For You" - Cee-Lo Green Ft. Philip Bailey


RIHANNA - "LOUD"

The twenty-two year old singing sensation from Barbados has released an album almost every year since her 2005 debut, "Music Of The Sun" and now comes her fifth CD, "Loud". This record is a slight return to the sunny hip-hop flavored pop sound that she began her career with after last year's much darker edged and more rock influenced, "Rated R" but there are still traces of that sprinkled around on "Loud".

The first single, "Only Girl (In The World)" became her sixteenth song to hit the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

This appears to be her next hit single,"What's My Name?" that features Canadian rapper, Drake:

What's My Name.mp3

QUINCY JONES - "Q : SOUL BOSSA NOSTRA"

Quincy Jones is a legend in the music industry, having produced a wide and diverse group of artists during his long career and now he has released his latest, "Q: Soul Bossa Nostra", his sixteenth studio album under his own name. The record features a variety of contemporary musicians re-interpreting classic songs that Mr. Jones had previously produced with other artists.

While the project is ambitious and features an interesting line-up that includes Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson, Robin Thicke, Mary J. Blige and T-Pain but it just feels unnecessary. None of the tracks are really particularly memorable, different or make you forget about the original version of the song for one moment.

This is a re-make of  "It's My Party", the number one hit Mr Jones produced for Lesley Gore in 1963. Amy Winehouse has resurfaced to record a slurred sounding version of this song:

"Its My Party" - Quincy Jones ft. Amy Winehouse

BRYAN FERRY - "OLYMPIA"
 

Former Roxy Music singer, Bryan Ferry has returned with his thirteenth solo album, "Olympia" which features the glamorous face of Supermodel, Kate Moss on the cover. The record features the lush, moody rock that isn't much of a departure from his work with Roxy Music or even from his previous solo projects.

He gets assistance on this from a fine group of musicians that include The Eurythmics's Dave Stewart, Chic's Nile Rodgers, The Scissor Sisters as well as his Roxy Music band mates.

This the first single from this album:

"You Can Dance" - Bryan Ferry