A Tribute to Quincy Jones

The legendary music producer, composer, and executive Quincy Jones died November 3rd. He was 91. Here is the New York Times obituary , and some memorable quotes:

?When I was about five or seven years old my mother was placed in a mental institution… So I said to myself, “I don’t have a mother. I don’t need one. I’m going to let music be my mother.“

?The truth is, you don’t try to be the best. You try to be the best you can be.

?You make your mistakes to learn how to get to the good stuff.

?You cannot get an A if you’re afraid of getting an F.

?Everybody, no matter what vocation they’re looking at, should add music as an essential to their curriculum. Music can be a very important part of your soul and your growth as a human being. It’s so powerful.

I believe that a hundred years from now, when people look back at the 20th century, they will look at Miles, Bird, Clifford Brown, Ella and Dizzy among elders as our Mozarts, our Chopins, our Bachs and Beethovens.

Without the Fender bass, there’d be no rock n’ roll or no Motown. The electric guitar had been waiting ’round since 1939 for a nice partner to come along. It became an electric rhythm section, and that changed everything.

If architecture is frozen music, then music must be liquid architecture.

?Young people should travel, and they don’t. You can’t know if you don’t go.

?I’ve always thought that a big laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, “Ain’t that the truth.”

From Marshal Memo 1062