NEA Jazz Master and music legend Quincy Jones died Sunday, November 3, 2024 at the age of 91.
His death was confirmed by his publicist in a statement to NPR that did not mention the cause of death. The statement said that Jones died peacefully at his home in Bel Air, California, surrounded by his family.
Jones’ decorated music career ran from the early 1950s through the best-known works of Michael Jackson and beyond.
In the 1980s, Jones helped oversee some of music’s biggest and most widely loved moments: He produced or co-produced three of Michael Jackson’s best-selling albums, including 1982’s record-setting Thriller, and was heavily involved in crafting USA for Africa’s 1985 charity single “We Are the World.” But his career extended for decades in each direction. Jones long held the record for most Grammy nominations with 80, before Jay-Z and Beyoncé surpassed the total earlier this decade.
Born Quincy Delight Jones in 1933, Jones got his start in jazz — at 19, he played trumpet in Lionel Hampton’s band — and soon performed on stages with some of the world’s best-known stars: Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.
The conversation took place at the International Association for Jazz Education Conference, held that year in Toronto. Jones had just been named an NEA Jazz Master, and they begin by talking about that honor — one of many that the producer has received over the course of a long and distinguished career. “This is the Holy Grail, as far as I’m concerned” he said.
Jones’ career began in his native Chicago, where he performed in jazz clubs at the age of ten. Studied at the prestigious music school in Boston, toured with Lionel Hampton. In the 1950s, he signed a contract with ABC Records, which opened the doors of the music world to him.
He first created his own group, then the Jones boys big band and began to conquer the musical Olympus. In total, he won 27 “Grammys”, as well as the Grammy Legend Award. His music has been featured in more than fifty movies, including Austin Powers, McKinley’s Gold, The New Centurions, Kill Billy.
