OT: Quincy Jones interview out today

[Bobadohshe]

My favorite line...

 

"God walks out of the room when youre thinking about money."

 

I loved that

[ElmerJFudd]

It's amazing how people's life experiences have such a dramatic affect on their attitudes and how they feel about everything. It also explains how much perception of the world around us can be so different. We know what we know, what we've seen, heard, smelled, tasted, read, etc. and not much more. The rest is on faith, hope, wishful thinking. And in Quincy's case his opinions are unique because his life experiences are unique, so tough to relate on some points and yet where we have something in common - understandable. This is true of all of us, so generally it's always good to keep an open mind and look for common ground in music and otherwise.

[Bobadohshe]

I should read the article Bobby posted, because without knowing much about Q, this article made him out to be something of an asshole.

 

Please do, it's much more in depth and puts the Vulture article in context.

[zephonic]

Also, I never heard of that Slonimsky book before. I bet Amazon sales double due to Mr. Jones' mention.

 

Lol, guilty as charged

[Desert Rat]

My favorite line...

 

"God walks out of the room when youre thinking about money."

 

At the risk of being banned, I would say it was perhaps the most on-point statement he made. Very good interview in toto, but between the feigned "secrecy" and a recurring "nothing is good anymore" motif, it was a bit bumpy to read.

[Dave Ferris]

Also, I never heard of that Slonimsky book before. I bet Amazon sales double due to Mr. Jones' mention.

 

Probably the most over rated book in the history of Jazz education. Even the author said he wrote it more as a joke.

 

I, probably like hundreds, if not thousands, of aspiring Jazz musicians bought this book around 1975-76 after reading "Chasin' the Trane" and the excerpt that Trane practiced exclusively out of it.

 

Well guess what ? There's a bazillion patterns but nowhere in the book does it tell how you they apply to chord changes and functional Jazz harmony.

 

For an advanced player like Trane, it probably gave him some harmonic ideas but he was already well grounded in Be-bop. For most kids like me, it was like reading a thesis on brain surgery.

 

My copy though still sits in the bottom of my bookcase , probably unopened in at least 30 years.

 

If one is really serious about studying Jazz, there are so many more resources available today, it would take probably a dozen pages of a thread here to list them all. Besides, if you want to know about Jazz piano, just listen to Bud Powell and Sonny Clark.

 

And Giant Steps is not twelve tone.

[zephonic]

And Giant Steps is not twelve tone.

 

Indeed, I wondered what he meant by that.

[timwat]

Resume and accomplishments are important.

 

So is character.

 

 

[Franz Schiller]

Ha! Indeed!

 

I took most of what Mr. Jones said with lots of grains of salt.

 

Like, I doubt Jimi Hendrix was really too chicken to play with Toots Thielman. I never heard of that guy so I looked him up, turns out he was a harmonica player. No disrespect to Toots, but there's no way Jimi Hendrix was saying, "Naw, I can't measure up to a shredding cat like Toots!"

 

I'm sure Jimi Hendrix just didn't think that those guys were his scene. Moreover, once Jimi Hendrix had some success, I don't think he ever did "guest spots" on other peoples records (though i could be wrong).

 

Reading the Quincy Jones interview reminded me of reading the Miles Davis autobiography. Mostly, that these are guys that talk a great game. Most of what he says is true, but a lot of it is also hype; he seems to veer back and forth. For all we know, maybe as an older man now, he's bitter that Jimi Hendrix died at after a short life, and is now a legend forever. Who knows where his true reasons are? If you ask him the same questions in six months, he might have a different opinion.

 

Either way, there's a lot to learn from the guy, and I think we all realize we don't have to agree with everything he says to still respect him and his amazing life.

[Outkaster]

I also think that he wanted to tell people the Beatles, Hendrix and other people were not what people thought and were human also.

[Jazz+]

What standards did Quincy Jones compose? I cant recall any.

And was he a great singer?

He was a trumpet player, and then an arranger-producer in Hollywood lucky enough to have worked with many big names.

 

[Joe Muscara]

"The only place you find success before work is the dictionary, and that's alphabetical." That's as awesome as the God/money quote.

[cedar]

What standards did Quincy Jones compose? I cant recall any.

And was he a great singer?

He was a trumpet player, and then an arranger-producer in Hollywood lucky enough to have worked with many big names.

 

I'm sure others here can fill in the blanks, but I know Q was a solid trumpet player, and then spent decades arranging for many, many big bands (including Basie) before connecting to the "big names" you are probably referencing. He paid his dues.

[Jazz+]

In defense iof The Beatles, their musical legacy is greater. They changed pop music and left behind a lot of standards.

[ElmerJFudd]

There is definitely animosity for rock musicians that did not come up from the same school as jazz players and have no lineage to the people Q looked up to as a young person. In his musical life there were dues to pay, standards to know, certain skills needed to be respected and noticed by your peers. Rock music broke all that found an enormous fan base creating its own scene and in the process a body of musical styles and skills that define its own genre. Even within the rock scene there are so many segments and the prog rockers look down on the pop and punk players as can't play know nothings. And the classic rockers rejected the glam rockers, etc. etc. In the process the rock fusion thing developed and now there are players that have come up in rock but pushed their musicianship to higher points. And there is enough material in the rock song book to keep players busy for years. Music evolves. And thank goodness it does, or we'd all be bored as heck by now. Quincy's distain for pop that's loop based and not focused on the lyric and melody leading the harmony with more going on is interesting, but yes odd, since Miles is a mentor and Miles pushed the loop thing hard.

 

[Dave Ferris]

You know reading that and seeing that stream of consciousness thought, bouncing all over the place, name dropping every other sentence -- to me it typifies the worst and everything I've always hated about LA. Truly what people outside of here associate with a "Hollywood" kind of vibe.

 

There are so many great, world class people here in all areas and styles --players, vocalists, arrangers, composers - and at various levels of the food chain, that don't come off like that.

 

And then there are the humble ones........not !

[ElmerJFudd]

I can hear that too. You have to at least seem to believe your hype if you are trying to sell your hype - and "god walks out the room" on that as well.

 

Some of this comes from artists insecurities too, I think. Outside of the hype machine where great players mingle daily you don't see this as much. Some of the best I've ever met are kind and humble - let their playing do the talking, enjoy playing with people that challenge them. YouTube and other self publishing platforms should have revealed by now that there are amazing artists all over the world "undiscovered" that will never have corporate backing or become a household name.

[Dave Ferris]

Like, I doubt Jimi Hendrix was really too chicken to play with Toots Thielman. I never heard of that guy so I looked him up, turns out he was a harmonica player. No disrespect to Toots, but there's no way Jimi Hendrix was saying, "Naw, I can't measure up to a shredding cat like Toots!"

 

You know Toots played chromatic harmonica which puts it in a whole other world then what many people are used to associating harp players that pull out an E, A, G or D harp for playing rock blues stuff.

 

An area (of many) that I agree with him, in that Toots was long recognized as one of the all time great lyrical soloists for decades, on any instrument.

 

Stylistically, I can't see Hendrix recording or fitting in with the line up that Q mentioned. Apples and oranges more then I can't cut this.

[marczellm]

And Giant Steps is not twelve tone.

Indeed, I wondered what he meant by that.

Here's the twelve tone example from the Slonimsky book that is basically the second half of Giant Steps (I just googled and found a PDF):

 

[Dave Ferris]

Ok, I guess you could play a 12 tone line on top but the tune when improvising on it is still approached in a diatonic fashion.

 

That is more of an analytical process then a functional way almost any Jazz improviser would approach this tune.

 

It's hard enough to say anything melodic or that sounds like you're not running Coker or Slonimsky patterns as it is. I would go so far to say that that sheets of sound type playing over GS is somewhat dated, of course depending on what musical circle you're in.

 

For most people I play with the approach would be more of a concept that strives for connecting melody over the ever changing harmonic center. Maybe something like this :

 

[video:youtube]

[cedar]

Allow me to pause to derail this thread further:

 

About "Giant steps." Over the last year, I've had a number of people at jam sessions suggest we play it with a Latin feel. Maybe this was always a thing, but it's new to me. Anyway, for some reason I find it much easier to be relatively melodic over the changes with that type of rhythmic feel.

 

Now back to Quincy.....

[tfort]

You know reading that and seeing that stream of consciousness thought, bouncing all over the place, name dropping every other sentence -- to me it typifies the worst and everything I've always hated about LA. Truly what people outside of here associate with a "Hollywood" kind of vibe.

 

Not defending him, but I think both interviews in this thread are likely the "juiciest" quotes pulled from hours of conversation, written to generate headlines and clicks.

[Dave Ferris]

Allow me to pause to derail this thread further:

 

About "Giant steps." Over the last year, I've had a number of people at jam sessions suggest we play it with a Latin feel. Maybe this was always a thing, but it's new to me. Anyway, for some reason I find it much easier to be relatively melodic over the changes with that type of rhythmic feel.

 

Now back to Quincy.....

 

Yeah since Pat recorded it that way, it's become a very popular way doing it. I like it both ways. I don't like it real uptempo swing though -- too much look what I can do. Where Trane recorded it, tempo wise is perfect.

 

Now back to your regularly scheduled program

[video:youtube]

 

You know reading that and seeing that stream of consciousness thought, bouncing all over the place, name dropping every other sentence -- to me it typifies the worst and everything I've always hated about LA. Truly what people outside of here associate with a "Hollywood" kind of vibe.

 

Not defending him, but I think both interviews in this thread are likely the "juiciest" quotes pulled from hours of conversation, written to generate headlines and clicks.

 

You're probably right, I'm looking at all the emotional and conflicting comments these interviews have stirred up, here and on FB.

[Theo Verelst]

Die, spirit of the bean counters...

 

T

[cedar]

Hah, Dave. I hadn't heard the Pat version (and didn't listen to your link of it) when I made that comment about Latin versions. Now I understand why people have been suggesting we do it that way.

[Mitch Towne]

I dont think Quincy Jones was just lucky.

[zephonic]

What standards did Quincy Jones compose? I cant recall any.

And was he a great singer?

He was a trumpet player, and then an arranger-producer in Hollywood lucky enough to have worked with many big names.

 

Wow...

 

 

...just lucky, huh...

[nadroj]

Die, spirit of the bean counters...

 

T

 

Yes.

[zephonic]

There is definitely animosity for rock musicians that did not come up from the same school as jazz players and have no lineage to the people Q looked up to as a young person. In his musical life there were dues to pay, standards to know, certain skills needed to be respected and noticed by your peers. Rock music broke all that found an enormous fan base creating its own scene and in the process a body of musical styles and skills that define its own genre.

 

Interestingly, many Rock guys have an equally dismissive attitude towards Hiphop and EDM. "not real music", "just a bunch of loops", "nobody knows how to play an instrument" etc. etc.

 

I guess at some point everybody turns into their parents and becomes a grumpy old fart.

 

 

Quincy's distain for pop that's loop based and not focused on the lyric and melody leading the harmony with more going on is interesting, but yes odd, since Miles is a mentor and Miles pushed the loop thing hard.

 

This, to me, is puzzling, because he professes to respect and like Hiphop artists, and that genre invented loop-based music.

 

I guess at some point even Q becomes a grumpy old fart.

 

 

 

[zxcvbnm098]

"God walks out of the room when youre thinking about money."

 

 

 

I believe this is a follow up or add on to something he has said over the years regarding record production.

 

I heard an interview with Jim Dickinson where he referenced an old Nashville saying about recording and making magic in a session that "you need to show up and wait for God to walk in the room."

 

He then recounted that Quincy had a better version of that sentiment, which is "you need to leave room for God to walk into the room.." I like Quincy's version....

 

I would add that I had one personal interaction with Quincy about 25 years ago when I was lowly assistant at a record company. He was beyond cool, and giving of his time when he didn't need to be (he was on his way to meet with the president of the label, and chose to chat with me). Super bright, and a real entertainment biz historian. And the conversation was not about him at all....