Musical giant Quincy Jones has died at 91. You could read about it here or here.
But for those of you who don't want to read such long articles (because I'll admit that I don't have the time to read them in their entirety myself right now) I'll just say a few words. Quincy Jones played a wide variety of roles in a wide variety of musical genres. Perhaps he's best known for producing Michael Jackson's most successful albums, although he also worked a lot in film and television. But my favorite Quincy Jones work is his album Big Band Bossa Nova. Some of you may know the first track in that album - "Soul Bossa Nova" - as the theme to the Austin Powers movies. (I also kind of liked his song "Call Me Mister Tibbs".)
He's also responsible for the themes for SANFORD AND SON and IRONSIDE. Among others. If you grew up in the 70's and 80's it was impossible to not be aware of at least something this man had touched.
He's also primarily responsible for the 1985 version of THE COLOR PURPLE coming to the big screen at a time when we still weren't seeing a lot of african-american stories that weren't violent exploitation or low brow comedies.
He's also responsible for what is my favorite MJ album, OFF THE WALL. Not was popular as THRILLER which made MJ a worldwide superstar but there's so much pure soul in OFF THE WALL than there is in THRILLER.
You will be missed Quincy Jones...
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This broke my heart... As a black person who is very attached to film music, having majored in Film Music Composition at Oberlin Conservatory, I'd looked up to Quincy Jones since I was a child. He was an inspiration to musicians everywhere, especially ones who grew up underprivileged like me.. I saw somewhere, though I can't find where again, that Joe Hisaishi paid his respects as well, which is significant because he chose his moniker as a nod to Quincy himself. His music will forever be remembered and continue to inspire. Rest in Power, Mr. Jones.