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Quincy Jones Interview

Now this is the sh*%...

http://www.vulture.com/2018/02/quincy-jones-in-conversation.html
gareneau
wolf_garcia
6,723 posts
 
I was at a party in the early 70s after working on a Delaney and Bonnie show in Honolulu. Delaney wound up sitting next to me and we talked for a long time about stuff…amazing guy…he said he thought Ringo was the best rock and roll drummer in music, period, and he'd recently been hanging around with the English dudes. I thought that was pretty cool, although hey…those sort of statements are taken with a grain of salt of course, but to say that the Beatles weren't good musicians is ridiculous…I've been a professional musician for 50 years and remain astonished by Beatles music, and I mix live concerts with the best musicians on the planet. John wrote songs that still resonate everywhere and although he couldn't play like John Scofield or Joe Pass, who cares really? Get the Hollywood Bowl concert recording re-mix and ask yourself if they play well during incessant screaming (did they have monitors? I wonder)…they did play beautifully, utterly kick ass, and that's sort of what defined them in the early years. Jazz geniuses often perform Beatles stuff because it's simply great music, and if people don't agree with that I don't think it matters.
statman's avatar
statman
285 posts
 
Okay regarding Jimi Hendrix being scared or afraid I have to laugh, that isn’t true and that is not what happened. Quincy FAILED to mention that Miles Davis loved Jimi’s playing and wanted to play with him. Miles when asked about Jimi Hendrix was quoted "That mothefucking Machine Gun"! The issue was that Miles wanted $50,000.00 up front to play. Guess what, it didn’t happen. You have to remember that Jimi’s manger Mike Jeffrey didn’t want any group except for the original Jimi Hendrix Experience with Noel redding on bass. Rumor has it that he Jeffrey broke up the Band of Gypsys with Buddy Miles on drums. Many Jazz musicians were barely making it and saw how much Jimi was making as an performer. There was no afraid in the story. Also remember that Miles attended Jimi’s funeral which says a lot right there. Where was Quincy jones then? Chasing Peggy Lipton around the room most likely! Jimi did play with various musicians including John McLaughlin who we know became famous later on. Jimi had a scheduled jam with the Grateful Dead but blew them off that evening after meeting up with a girl. Quincy is a great producer but is spinning tales of BS now. 
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Late to the party; just went and read the interview.  That is some crazy s@#t.  He may be a first class producer but he's also a first class narcissist. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,881 posts
 

John Lennon was a very good rhythm guitarist (Don Everly was a FANTASTIC one!). Is Quincy Jones even aware of the function rhythm guitar plays in Rock ’n’ Roll music? I doubt it. That is just one example of what makes his opinion of The Beatles as musicians irrelevant. The fact that playing rhythm guitar does not take a lot of technique does not mean it is easy to do well, or that it does not require skills of a particular sort. Technique is a matter of the body being trained to perform physical acts, and is only one element of musicianship. Part of superior musicianship is knowing what NOT to play (a non-technique skill), and that is a major element in the playing of rhythm guitar. Rock ’n’ Roll music greatly benefits from superior rhythm guitar parts. That’s why Jeff Lynne’s production of Tom Petty was so successful; there are acoustic rhythm guitar parts all over that album, and Petty’s music is the better for it.

The thing is, Jazz guys don’t respect Rock ’n Roll as a music, and don’t understand the principles involved that make one practitioner of it superior to another. The skill set involved in R & R music are very different from that in Jazz. As Keith Moon replied when asked if he could play in The Buddy Rich Big Band: "No, and Buddy Rich couldn’t play in The Who."

frogman
7,475 posts
 
“The only justification for looking down on anyone, is that you're going to stop and pick them up” - Quincy Jones

“I tell my kids and I tell proteges, always have humility when you create and grace when you succeed, because it's not about you” - Quincy Jones

“I was the most subtle person in the world” - Quincy Jones 

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