Quincy Jones Quotes
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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.
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Melody is king, and don't you ever forget it. Lyrics appear to be out front, but they're not; they're just an accompanying factor. If they're good, you're really in good shape. Lyrics are written to be rewritten.
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A great song can make a terrible singer sound good, but a good singer - you put a great song on top of that, you're really in great shape!
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My son is a hip-hop producer.
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When you work with Ray Charles, Billy Eckstine and Frank Sinatra, and you tell them to jump without a net, you better know what you're talking about. Thank God I was ready for it.
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Few rappers realize the genre sprang from West African griots through Delta slave songs to jazz poetry and the comedic trash talk of 'the dozens.'
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Some summers my father would take us down to visit our grandmother in Louisville, who was an ex-slave, Susan Jones, and she had a shotgun shack they call it, and no electricity, a well in the back, a coal stove, kerosene lamps.
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I hope that on my tombstone it says 'Born 1933, died 2043.' I hope that's my legacy.
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I only hope that one day, America will recognize what the rest of the world already has known, that our indigenous music - gospel, blues, jazz and R&B - is the heart and soul of all popular music; and that we cannot afford to let this legacy slip into obscurity, I'm telling you.
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Unfortunately, America doesn't have a minister of culture, and I don't understand why. It's really bad for young people.
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I went with Lionel Hampton for three years. Out of that came a trip to Europe.
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I lost my mother when I was 7 and they put her in a mental hospital. My brother and I watched her being taken away in a strait jacket. That's something you never forget. And my stepmother was like in the movie 'Precious.' I couldn't handle it. 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.'
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When I was 14, I would sit up in my room and write till my eyes would bleed.
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My earliest memories are being pinned to a fence with a switchblade.
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Every country can be defined through their food, their music and their language. That's the soul of a country.
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I believe in astrology as much as I do in genetics.
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We stole a box of honey jars one time and went out in the woods and took care of the whole box. I don't think I touched honey again for 20 years. I never wanted to see honey again.
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I've met every freak in the business.
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I didn't understand key signatures or anything, you know. I'd say silly things at the top of a trumpet part like, 'Note, when you play B naturals, make the B naturals a half step lower because they sound funny if they're B naturals.' And some guy said: 'Idiot, just put a flat on the third line and it's a key signature, you know?'
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I look back and say, "This must have been somebody else." I am not going to tell you that when I was 4, I dreamed about all of this.
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I travel like a maniac. I travel more than anyone I know. I love learning the languages.
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I was reading Omar Khayyam, Kahlil Gibran, Rumi, L. Ron Hubbard, all sorts of philosophy. Bebop cats are like that. Curious. I wanted to know about everything.
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I've never been bored in my life, man. I've never been bored or lonely. Are you kidding? No way! I'm an orchestrator, a musician, a producer. I love everything. I've studied languages from Farsi to Greek to French, Swedish, Russian... How can you get bored?
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Playing the game, and unfortunately, playing the gangster game is very profitable.