Quincy Jones has had a career and a life that just won’t me duplicated.
EGOT. He opened the door for Oprah to go to the next level. He opened the door for Will Smith to go to the next level. Nearly any creative I know would feel like his 90th biggest accomplishment would easily be their 1st.
So it’s impressive that ‘Quincy’ does such a good job of giving an overview for how much he’s done over the years while blending in enough of a personal element to balance the story out.
I could be hear all day talking about Q’s accomplishments, so I’ll just pick a few highlights:
- Sinatra is one of my guys, so the chapter detailing their relationship was riveting for me. How much respect Frank had for him, how Q was right there with Sammy when Sinatra spoke up about really integrating Vegas, the album ‘Sinatra at the Sands’ (a personal favorite). All gems.
- Like Kendrick said, my generation was introduced to Q through MJ. The music nerd in me was equally happy to hear him credit Rod Temperton as one of the great songwriters, but getting behind the scenes footage of their professional bonding over ‘Off the Wall’ and ‘Thriller’ was cool.
- I should have figured as much, but Q produced the concert that opened the Smithsonian African-American Museum. Just seeing him walk through the pop culture exhibit and realize he produced or worked with damn near every person in the music section is another shake your head ridiculous moment; but seeing this man still producing massive events in his 80s is…humbling.
The film is co-directed by his daughter Rashida (side note: I’m far too young to know of a young Peggy Lipton, but seeing her with no context, my first reaction was still, ‘Oh, that’s Rashida Jones’ mom), and it’s well worth the two hour watch if you’re any kind of pop culture nerd.
High recommend.
