Quincy Jones And His Previous Reincarnation

Quincy Jones

Strike Up The Band - 1959-1961

Renowned musician, performer, writer, arranger and producer, Quincy Jones is one of American music's greatest multi- talented artists.

Here we have four of his classic jazz albums in one package for the first time ever, featuring such greats as Zoot Sims, Clark Terry, Lee Morgan, Art Farmer and others.

Quincy Jones is a man who can boast a career that has spanned six decades and is also one of America's greatest multi-talented artists.
Full recording session details and extensive liner notes in this deluxe package.

QUINCY JONES – STRIKE UP THE BAND 1959 - 1961

Quincy Jones last CD was released late in 2011 and entitled “Soul Bossa Nostra”. It featured
new versions of several of the classic recordings he has made over the past 60 years. The 25
plus guest stars, mostly from the world of Hip Hop, like LL Cool J, Ludicras, Q Tip and
Snoop Dogg were joined by singers like Mary J. Blige, Usher, Amy Winehouse and Jennifer
Hudson and made it clear that this was not a CD for those who might have enjoyed Quincy
Jones between 1959 and 1961 when these four albums were originally released. It did though
illustrate just how wide reaching and influential he has always been, as a trumpeter, arranger,
conducter, producer and talent spotter, embracing all of the many tributaries of Black music
and pop throughout his career. “Soul Bossa Nostra” contained no biographical details
confirming that most music fans know exactly who he is, if only for his production work on
the best selling album of all-time, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”.
It is impossible to do justice to Quincy Jones career in a few hundred words in a CD booklet
but nevertheless here briefly are the salient points.
Quincy was born in Chicago on March 14th 1933 and raised in Seattle from the early 40s. At
the age of 14 he began trumpet lessons and by the age of 16 had befriended, Ray Charles,
then a Nat King Cole and Charles Brown imitator, who had recently moved to Seattle. In
1951 he won a scholarship to what would become the prestigious, Berklee School Of Music
and by the end of the year had accepted an invitation to join the band of Lionel Hampton,
where he remained until 1953. Recording and touring the world with Hampton honed his
skills as an arranger becoming much in-demand for these talents amongst jazz musicians. In
1954 he played trumpet in Dizzy Gillespie’s Orchestra and arranged dates for Sonny Stitt and
Art Farmer. In 1956 he became musical director, arranger, composer for Dizzy Gillespie’s
big band and toured the Middle East with them. On his return he signed to ABC Records as
an artist recording two well received albums. In May 1957 he settled in Paris studying and
working for Barclay Records. On his return in 1958 and worked for Count Basie at Roulette
and did some arranging for his old friend Ray Charles on the classic “The Genius Of Ray
Charles” album. And then he signed to Mercury Records where our four albums begin. The
liner notes by Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie neatly exemplify his career to this point and
are reproduced below. Special note should also be made of the vast array of talented jazz
musicians present on these dates many of whom were recording stars in their own right.
His career at Mercury eventually involved general A&R duties, as a vice president, where he
handled the careers of artists like Roland Kirk and in 1963 broadened his horizons by
producing a string of pop smashes for Lesley Gore, which began with the No. 1 hit “It’s My
Party”. For the rest of the 60s he concentrated on scoring and composing for movies and TV
before joining A&M Records in the 70s as an executive and an artist. Here he began his
involvement with the then current sounds of soul, jazz and R&B producing a string of
jazz/soul bestsellers. On into the 80s his production work, with artists like The Brothers
Johnson, George Benson and of course Michael Jackson made him a household name.
It is arguably the period that our collection covers that was his most creative and his work on
these four albums set the scene for all that followed.