Wow.
Can you even fathom
what's happening, like...?
You know what I'm saying?
This is so...
fucking crazy.
Quincy Jones' house, man.
Believe it?
So much history in here.
Hey, baby. What a pleasure, man.
Thank you so much
for doing this.
It's The Pharmacy with Dr. Dre,
special edition.
- Yes, it is.
- 'Cause we have the legend of all legends.
Quincy Jones. The legendary Quincy Jones.
Man, y'all making me sound old.
- My ultimate mentor and inspiration.
- Don't even know how to drive.
That's all right.
You're the reason why
I decided to get into production.
- So proud of him, my man.
- Yeah, thank you.
- Thank you so much.
- No, I mean that, man.
So, I really wanted to know
what type of strugglesyou had
and what did you have to go through?
I wasn't born in Bel Air, man.
I'm from the South Side of Chicago, man.
In the '30s, man, during the Depression,
damn, you kidding?
We lost my mother when I was seven,
and my brother and I,we were, like,
we were street rats, you know?
I wanted to be a gangster till I was 11.
Wow.
- You want to be what you see.
- Right.
And that's all we ever saw.
You see that right there?
I went on the wrong street
and they took a switchblade
- and nailed my hand to a fence, man.
- What?
Seven years old.
- See this one here?
- Yeah.
That's an ice pick, man.
Wow.
To know where you came frommakes it
easier for you to get where you're going.
And I learned a long time ago that
your music can never be more or less
than you are as a human being.
And that's very true.
Wow, I... You know what?
I'm sitting here, just,
really tripping the fuck out, man.
You are so...
You are so inspiring, man.
It's like... like, do you know
who you are, man?
It's Quincy Jones!
Mr. Quincy Jones.
The first thing is to be humble
with your creativity
and graceful with yoursuccess.
You can't live without water or music.
You can't live without it.
Between Ray Charles and Sinatra,
I learned how to live.
Sinatra wore it for 40 years himself
and then he left it to me
and I never take it off.
Quincy Jones!
What sign are you?
What sign are you?
What's your birth sign?
Pisces. It's the same, we're both crazy.
Gemini.
Oh, God. Miles Davis and Prince.
I've been in this business 70 years.
It's unbelievable.
Hey, baby.
I got six daughters and one son.
That's why I don't have any hair.
- What a great treat to see you here.
- You too, man.
- How you been, man?
- I've been good, man, yeah.
Great. We've been
doing concerts this year.
You're kickin' ass.
- Life's a motherfucker, isn't it, man?
- Oh, yeah.
Pressure's on. Quincy's here.
Help!
How are you, guys?
I can party all the time.
Never had a problem with that.
- What?
- I can't be like you, I cannot...
hang out all night and then...
No, I can't do that.
Don't try to do what he's done.
- Yeah.
- No, 'cause you'll get your ass killed.
We worked the balls
off a pool table.
- Right, honey?
- Yeah, Dad.
You must be so tired.
- Honey, I'm past tired.
- Oh, Dad.
I couldn't even stand up
for the second number.
They gave us some serious wine, honey.
I know, but six bottles?!
How you gonna get it back?
We're gonna drink it here.
- Are you shooting, honey?
- I am.
I'm just learning. I'm not great
with a camera, I'm just learning how.
- Cute shoes, Dad.
- Thank you, honey.
- Really cute.
- Pimp shoes.
Do you think it's easier
to be up late in LA, to work by yourself?
- Yeah, absolutely.
- 'Cause nobody's up, right?
Absolutely.
Well, nobody's up that late anyway,
so I always wrote at night.
- Right.
- The muses come out then, you know?
- Right.
- Everybody used to say,
"Keep your score paper and pen
right near you,
'cause if you're not up, God will take it
down the street to Mancini."
It's very true, honey.
Haven't been sleeping a lot.
- Been sleeping a lot, or haven't?
- I haven't been sleeping a lot, no.
Too much on my mind, you know.
It's hard to turn it off.
But let me ask you a question. Do you
think you could drink in moderation?
- Do you think you could...
- Yeah, I do.
Or do you think
it's a slippery slope, honestly?
No, no, no,
it's not a slippery slope at all. No.
But I want one badder than ever now.
- You want what?
- A drink.
Dino, get me a bourbon.
Where's Q?
Where's my... Where are ya?
Oh, yeah!
Come on!
Oh, yeah!
The seven of us all together.
We're all family.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you.
- You know the palindromes?
- Mm-hmm.
Just found a good one.
"Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog."
Go... hang... a salami.
I love those.
- These are amazing,did you try these?
- No.
I wonder what's wrong withmy appetite
though. Something's wrong.
Really, Dad?
- 'Cause you know me, I can eat, honey.
- I know, I don't like that.
Yeah, but it's okay.
It's all right. It'll be all right, honey.
No... If you don't feel good,
you gotta take care of it.
I will, I will.
My mother had gone away sick one day.
She kicked and screamed as they threw
a straitjacket on her and carried her out.
And just like that, she was gone.
Daddy was a carpenter for the Jones Boys,
the black gangsters
that ran the ghetto back in Chicago.
We fought, we stole,
we ran with gangs andfrom gangs.
By that time, I was carrying a knife
and doingwhatever
I thought I had to do to survive.
Why not?
My world seemed to be senseless.
If my mother could go crazy,
who couldn't?
Daddy was in over his head
and took us to stay with his mother.
Grandma was a former slave.
She cooked whatever
she could get her handson.
Mustard greens, okra, possums, and rats.
We ate them
because that's all there was to eat.
My mother broke out a couple of times,
and I remember, downstairs,
we heard the glass breaking,
and Daddy said,
"Sit down to the table and don't get up."
He said, "It's your mama."
Kids kept telling me,
"'Cause your mother's really messed up,
and if she gets out,
she's gonna kill you guys," you know?
And so I started to picture her
and associate her with a death threat.
When she got out one time, she came
and wesaw her running to us.
We screamed
and we ran about seven blocks,
we were so afraid, you know?
I said, "I can't depend on a mother
'cause I don't have one,
so I don't need one," you know?
I was happy that Daddy said,
"We're leaving town, we're leaving now.
We're getting on a Trailway bus
and getting out of here."
Do you know the year?
Do you know what year it is?
- What year?
- Yeah. Mm-hmm.
No.
Okay, it will come back. It will.
Okay.
Well, we had the new year,
so it's 2015.
I get it, yeah.
And the seventh
was when you got unconscious,
because it's now the eleventh.
So you lost four days out of your life.
Who is the president?
- What?
- Who's the president of the US?
What's his name?
Do you remember?
Sarah Palin.
I'm glad...
I'm glad some things haven't changed.
Oh.
You have any idea what happened to you?
No.
You were drinking too much.
And when you came in that night,
you were having troublebreathing,
your temperature was 103,
and yoursugar was close to 1,000.
You have to be on a low-sugar diet.
Amazingly tough guy, huh?
- Yeah.
- That's for sure.
You guys are so supportive, baby.
I love them, so that's why
I got my shit together quick.
It was really scary.
I'm grateful to get that wake-up call.
You know, grateful.
After the operation,
in the hospital andeverything,
my mind went to another place, honey.
And you reflect on things
you never thoughtabout before.
Like what?
Vodka.
That ain't gonna be no more.
Nope.
Not going out.
Not yet.
When I go out, I'll be ready.
I'll be ready for it. Yeah.
- Happy birthday, Q.
- Thank you, man. Thanks for coming by.
- Love you.
- Love you too, honey.
- Love you, honey.
- Love you, Daddy.
Me, too.
Love you, Dad.
Smile, Dad. There you go, perfect.
That's a whole lot of love.
Yay!
Thank you guys so much.
I gotta tell you, I wish everybody here...
a long, long, long-ass life...
filled with a whole lot of, um...
tons of...
let's say...
love to share...
health to spare, and friends who care,
'cause that's really all that's important
when you get down to it,
to the bottom of it.
- I love you from the bottom of my heart.
- We love you!
Make a wish.
Daddy found us a little house
in Washington state.
He grabbed the toolbox
and joined the long lineof black folks
marching down the hill
to the naval shipyard.
He was a workaholic.
He tried to do everything he could
to make sure it worked, you know.
I was on shaky waters with identity
as a child anyway,
because, without Mama there,
you're not quite sure what's going down.
At the time, we're talking about the '40s,
in the school books,
black people didn't exist.
We didn't know who we wanted to be like.
There was nobody to see
that you wanted to be like, you know.
One night, I broke into the armory.
In the room,
there was an old upright piano.
I tinkled on it for a moment,
and I knew this was it for me, forever.
I was in heaven.
I took up percussion, trombone,
sousaphone, B-flat baritone horn,
French horn,
but I decided I wantedto play trumpet.
I couldn't get enough.
Just that idea, to see black men
that were dignified and proud.
I said, "That's what I want to be.
I want to be in that family,
I'd do anything to be in that family."
I used to hang backstage
with Count Basie and Clark Terry.
I know I used to bother them to death,
and they were kind enough to stop and say,
"Okay, here's how you do it."
And they helped me.
And I started to play in a band
when we were 14 years old
and worked in the nightclubs.
And after we finished, we used to go off
and jam all night playing bebop.
And that's where everybody
was talking about this guy named R.C.,
and he was 16 years old then.
I was new in town
and this 14-year-old cat comes up to me.
He said, "I'm Quincy Jones
and I play trumpet, and I want to write."
We hit it off right away.
Ray was so wise
when he was 16,
and you know how it is,
when you have an older buddy
that seems to have all the answers
for everything.
He'd say, "Every music
has its own soul,Quincy.
It doesn't matter what style it is,
just be true to it."
He's truly like a brother to me.
In my mind, I sort of adopted him
like my brother.
By then,
I had seriously discovered girls.
I discovered the ladies
not in the same way I discovered music,
but enough to win the heart
of a beautiful girl named Jeri Caldwell
from my high school.
Night after night, as I wandered
in and out of clubs, bars, and juke joints
with my trumpet beneath my arm
and my scores tucked beneath my shirt,
a tiny glint of something new
began toemerge in my life.
Something I'd never had before.
I had no control over where I lived,
no control over my sick mother.
I couldn't control the angry whites
who still called me "nigger"
when they caught me alone on the street.
But music was one thing I could control.
It was the one thing
that offered me myfreedom.
Lionel Hampton was like a god
in those days.
He had the rockin'- est band in America.
When he said, "Young huss,
you wanna join my band?"
I said, "Yes, sir!"
I was in the band!
Lionel Hampton would pass out
an itinerary of our schedule.
Seventy straight nights.
We worked non-stop, not one night off.
At that time, all of the black bands
had white bus drivers
to go in the restaurants to get the food
to bring it back to the band.
We hit some city in Texas,
and in the middle of the city,
there's this small church,
and there was a rope with a black dummy
hanging off of the steeple.
This was everyday stuff then.
You know you just better be careful.
And the best thing
that ever happened to me was traveling.
As soon as we got off the plane,
wherever it was, you know, Paris,
Turkey, Pakistan, Casablanca...
I made it my business
to get right into the lifestyle
of the real people in the country.
Is there some vodka?
No, it's in there.
Why no... why no vodka?
Thank you, baby.
- So sweet.
- I'm nervous about Europe.
I don't... Forget it, honey.
- I don't even want wine.
- Really?
- Nothing wrong with that.
- You're not gonna want...
- It's not gonna be...
- No.
- I don't think so, I think he feels okay.
- It's been five, six months.
It's not even in my body anymore.
- Not even the temptation, honey.
- Good.
The girls are the only temptation.
Give it up for my brother, D'Angelo.
Mary J. Blige!
My brother, Carlos Santana!
- Boo!
- Hey, man, my baby.
- Hey, Herbie.
- Hey, Q.
- How you doin', man?
- Good. Missing you, man.
- You look great.
- I lost 50 pounds.
Congratulations, man!
- Thank you, sir, how...
- You started it.
Bonsoir.
Merci.
I just wanted to say first, tonight,
how much I appreciate
being a part of thisfamily.
Very much so. Thank you.
These next two incredible human beings,
Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock!
Mon frre.
- Hey, Herbie.
- Hey.
- You got it?
- Got it.
All right. All right.
I'm really, really happy
how good you're looking, man.
Thank you, man.
Follow him. He told me a long time ago,
I didn't listen.
He told me to stop drinking.
- I worked on him for a while.
- He did! Ten years ago, man.
I said to Herbie, "You must be crazy."
Man, I've had less hair many times.
- Brain operations and shit.
- Oh, yeah.
- They're not getting you this time!
- Hell, no.
You got a new "get out of jail free" card.
That's right.
- A government pass.
- Yeah!
Oh, amazing city.
It's beautiful how your memories
stick with you, and the cities you love.
- Does it hurt to leave?
- Yeah. It always hurts to leave.
But I know I'll be back, though.
Dad, how do you deal
with your ego and your art?
You know...
you need confidence, sure.
- That's... I'm not denying that.
- Yeah.
But the... an ego is usually just, uh...
overdressed... insecurity.
Mm.
I think you have to dream so big
that you can't get an ego.
'Cause you'll never fulfill
all those dreams.
There's always more to come and learn.
I learned a lot from the old guys, too.
I left the Lionel Hampton Band
and I was off to New York City
to follow my dream
of composing and arranging.
I lived with my wife, Jeri,
and our baby, Jolie.
This music called bebop
was being createdin New York,
and I was dying to getcloser to it.
I'd hang out at Birdland,
or other bars and clubs,
always looking for the next job.
I wrote for anybody who would pay.
I met a singer named Dinah Washington
and she became a great friend to me.
Dinah said, "I want you
to write my next record."
Her label, Mercury Records, said,
"Nope, we want a name."
Dinah said, "Here's a name for your ass.
Dinah Washington,
and Quincy Jones is my arranger."
The record was a big success.
After that, the work started to flow.
I did hundreds
of arrangements and recordings
with the absolute best in the business.
Louis Armstrong,
Count Basie,
Sarah Vaughan,
Clark Terry,
Dizzy Gillespie,
and my buddy, Ray Charles.
To really describe
the true soul in his arrangements,
I can't really put it into words.
It's just a feeling
that you can feel it all down in here,
and beforeyou know it,
you're tapping your toe, you know?
With the work came money,
and with themoney came temptations.
Women and money and work came together
and I embraced them all.
I was at a higher altitude
than I had ever dreamed possible.
But I didn't know what was coming.
My mother had searched for me for years
before finding me.
God knows how she did it.
She was a schizophrenic.
Dementia praecox, they call it.
I remember the first timeI played
in Birdland with my own big band,
and that is really
a serious dream to come true.
My mother came,
and when she walks in the door,
boy, you know, you can't ignore her.
I knew she was gonna raise hell.
So shecame in and people said,
"Sorry, ma'am, but you can't
come in here without a ticket."
She just said, "Get out of the way!"
I'm on the bandstand, trying to look cool,
and it was pitiful.
I was so embarrassed.
She said, "God doesn't like sinners.
Make music for God only
or you'll beredeemed in hell."
I just closed down.
Count Basie was like a father to me.
"Learn to deal with the valleys, Quincy,"
he advised.
"The hills will take care of themselves."
I wanted to write
different kinds of music,
you know, more than just jazz.
Because in those days, in New York,
they wouldn't let the black arrangers
write for strings.
I moved to Paris in 1957
so that I could study
with Nadia Boulanger,
the queen of classical music.
This was a lady
that was Igor Stravinsky's mentor,
and she also taughtLeonard Bernstein.
I said, "I really want to know
everything I can about orchestration."
Her words stick with me a lot.
She said,
"Quincy, there are only 12 notes.
There really are only 12 notes,
and you should really investigate
what everybody did with these 12notes."
And I never forgot that.
In Paris, I did 200 sessions
with huge string sections
and wrote for strings
until it came out of my ears.
France made me feel free as an artist
and as a black man.
- Got so much shit going on.
- Yeah.
That's an understatement, isn't it?
What's next?
Uh, the contracts.
- I shouldn't sign this?
- Um, no, I wouldn't.
- Okay.
- Not yet.
Not until he sends you something
that's even remotely acceptable.
- Great magazine. Jesus.
- Isn't it awesome?
Does it say anything on the Internet?
Who else is involved in that?
It's an understatement to say that.
Put that in there too.
How you doing, honey?
- What you got, some pills?
- Yeah.
- I'll take 'em.
- You have...? Okay.
I'll definitely take 'em.
What else is on the list?
The African-American Museum Smithsonian.
Uh, they want you to produce
a TV special forthe opening.
Oh, the African-American
Smithsonian Institute,
um, right in front
of the Lincoln Memorial.
And they asked me to produce it?
Then I'm gonna produce it.
It's very...
special, though.
Yeah, it's a pretty incredible
honor that you're...
- Yeah, we gotta kill it, man.
- Who do you want for this show?
It should be the top of every... category.
Well, my immediate choice
would be Oprah, Will, and Jazzy Jeff.
- Okay, add Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff.
- Yep.
Mary J. Blige.
John Legend.
- You want Herbie, right?
- Oh, for always.
We should send a "save the date"...
- To all these people
- To all these artists.
Yeah, definitely.
Stevie for sure.
Usher.
My brother, Colin Powell.
Dave Chappelle.
Naturally, we should have the First Lady
and President on there.
So cool, man... So cool!
These are important moments in history
and we're getting to watch
how it goes down.
It's exciting.
Another serious challenge.
God...
I love how I always end upjumping
into all this stuff, I can't believe it.
Because it's not easy.
Daddy got me to do that.
He always said, "Once a... task has
just begun, never leave it till it's done.
Be the labor great or small,
do it well or not at all."
Every day, he told us that.
In 1959, I had assembled
a dream big band
for a show called Free and Easy.
It was the greatest band
I could everdream of.
After six weeks, the show closed.
I couldn't stand it.
So I stood up and told the band,
"Let's stay here and tough it out."
Every single one of them agreed.
But after ten months
of hauling 30 people across Europe,
I started to break down.
We were stuck over there.
I had no money. I didn't know what to do.
It was time to go home.
The band and myself, we'd like to say
auf Wiedersehen, au revoir, and goodbye.
For the first time in my adult life,
I went out and got me a real job.
I was working as an executive
at Mercury Records
trying to get from under the $145,000 debt
from the Free and Easytour.
I said, "Well, pop music is not
that big a deal, you know, to do."
And they just kept saying,"Well, why
don't you do something about it?"
It turned out to be
a little harder thanI thought.
Plowing through piles of demo tapes,
listening to bad songs.
One afternoon,
they tossed a tape down the table.
I said, "I'd like
to take a shot with this."
It was a 16-year-old kid from New Jersey
named LesleyGore.
We cut a single called "It's MyParty".
It went to number one.
We had 18 hits with Lesley.
It was hard
being married to Quincy, you know.
There was so much infidelity
and he had so much ambition,
and that got in the way.
And I always felt he loved me,
but I wasthe wife at home
and he went out,
and hehad a lot ofgood times without me,
and hegrew in ways that I wasn't growing.
That was why we got divorced.
I had messed that marriage up.
Like my daddy before me,
I focused on work.
Man, let's hang.
- Okay.
- I'm serious, man.
- You serious?
- There ain't many of us left!
- Is there?
- You got it.
Miss ya, man.
Q... How you feelin', boss?
- Thank you for the other night, man.
- Oh, any time.
- It was great.
- Any time.
- Hey, baby.
- Hey.
- How old are you now?
- Eighty-nine!
I'm right behind you.
How are you, sweetheart?
- I'm really good.
- You're burning, girl!
- Hey, baby.
- Hey, man.
These cats been dropping
out of here like flies, man.
I don't like it.
Jesus Christ, man, we lost Louis Johnson,
Lesley Gore, Clark Terry.
It don't stop.
George Duke, Joe Sample.
It's fuckin' insane, man.
Insane.
Tonight, we are gathered together
to honor...
and pay tribute to my dear, dear friend
and present him
with this year's humanitarian award.
God bless all of you people
for being here tonight.
You have no idea
what you've done to this...
to make this soul smile tonight.
It's just unbelievable and it's, uh...
I'm only 82, you know, so...
I was very ill
at the beginning of thisyear... and...
they... say that clich, you know,
"I almost died."
Well, I did.
And then I got a...
email from heaven,
and it said, "Brother Jones,
we already gotRay Charles,
Frank Sinatra, Charlie Parker,
Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie,and stuff.
We don't need any more headaches
up here, man.
Stay home.
Keep your black booty home."
I was sitting in my office
one day in NewYork in '64
and the phone rang.
I picked it up.
I heard him say, "This is Frank Sinatra.
I like what you and Basie did together
and I'd like you to arrange and conduct
my next album,
It Might As Well Be Swing.
That call from Frank was a major
turning point in my career and my life.
He tested me in the beginning.
And he said,
"That instrumentation's a little too...
dense in the first eight bars."
I said, "No problem, man."
Well, he'd go ten feet away
where there was a table or a desk,
and he'd fix it in no time.
It always amazed me
that a mancould do that,
change all of thosenotes
that he had written before.
He was shocked,
'cause I was 29, right?
He was used to working with guys
that were 50.
After that, it was total trust, man.
Total trust.
I would like to have you meet a gentleman
who's been doing
these marvelous orchestrations for me,
Mr. Quincy Jones, right there.
Q, Mr. Quincy Jones.
Thank you.
One of the bright young stars
in theorchestrating business.
Q, go ahead.
Frank was just my style.
He was hip, straight-up
and straight-ahead,
and above all, a monster musician.
Quincy's drive
is what made the difference
in the recordings that I beganto do.
The orchestra drove harder
than they did before the days with Quincy.
Frank was at the height
of his powers
and I was running his musical ship,
the greatest band in the world.
We became very fast friends,
forgetting about all the work
we had to do.
Frank led me
into a brand new world...
...a land of dreams and high living,
anything you felt like doing,
whenever you felt like doing it.
And making the music we both loved.
During this time, I was
with some of the finest women in the world
and had a brief affair
with a dancer named Carol.
My second lovely daughter, Rachel,
was born as a result.
It was a mind-boggling time.
The astronauts on Apollo 10 took
a little tape recorder along with them
and they played that tune back to Earth
from about 150,000 miles in space.
This is just so that you guys
don't forget what your job is down there.
We're ready.
Frank called up when they played
that music on the moon, like a little kid.
"Can you believe that, man?" I said,
"No, man, the first music on the moon?
Give me a break, man."
You can't plan that!
Frank was so buzzed about Basie's band
that he took the entire band
to Las Vegasin 1964.
Vegas was mob territory back then.
No black entertainer in their right mind
would wander around
those casino hotelsalone.
It was a trip 'cause Sammy Davis,
or LenaHorne, Belafonte,
they used to work in the big room
as the stars,
but they had to eat in the kitchen.
They couldn't go in the casino
and theyhad to sleep
in the black hotels acrosstown.
Bigotry is a terrible disease,
it's a verybad disease.
I began to make noise about it.
I said, "If they all have to live
on the other side of town,
then you don't need me."
Suddenly, it changed.
And I can't explain to you what happened.
Frank, by himself,
stopped all that.
He said, "We're gonna fix this shit."
And he did.
He took Sammy, Basie, and myself
and changed the whole racial situation.
Working with Basie and Quincy
was the mostexciting engagement
I have ever done in my life
since I'vebeen performing.
Jump, Q, jump!
Quincy had a key to the Basie band...
more than any other orchestrator
that Iknow of.
And I began to realize
that he was a giant.
I loved him, man.
I know he loved me too.
In all the years working together,
just like with Ray Charles,
we never once had a contract...
just ahandshake.
Quincy turned out to be...
one of the finest musicians
that I'veever known.
After my time with Frank,
I wanted tomove out of New York
and get into LA filmscoring.
I didn't see blacks' names on the screens,
you know, as composers.
There weren't any black composers at all.
So I just took that chance.
I said,"I don't know,maybe I won't
make it out there, but I'm goin'."
A friend of mine was doing a movie,
and he said, "They're thinking
about Quincy Jones for a movie."
I said, "Yes, great, great."
He said, "Can black men
write movie music?"
I said, "Of course they can!"
There was a lot of reluctance...
"How can you write for a white star?"
I thought that it was just a dream
that I'dhave to hold on to.
First of all,
thank you very much for being...
- My pleasure, man.
- It's an honor.
I've been with The Post for a long time.
Why do you think it's taken so long
to get this thing done?
'Cause I read that it was like 1905
when they started talking about it.
But it's taken a long time
to keep them from shootin' black kids.
This happens...
Probably last night it happened. Come on.
'Cause the racism has been
buried and hidden, you know.
In the South, it's open, you know
who you're dealing with, but in the North,
it's disguised with all the bullshit,
you know.
- Yeah.
- And that's the problem.
So, this museum...
There are millions of museums here
but why is that museum
so important right now?
Well, young black kids need to know
where they come from.
Bebop, doo-wop, and hip hop, and all
that stuff is all sociological, you know.
Hopefully, the juice that we generate
about the museum is gonna help.
- Yeah.
- They say, "Hey, you gotta be part of this
for the young kids of tomorrow."
- Yeah.
- That's what's important for me.
- What...
- 'Cause it's big, man.
It's something
I've wanted all my life to see.
Can you tell me a little bit
about what's gonna happen?
- No.
- No? It's a total secret?
- Nothing.
- Under wraps?
- Nothing.
- Okay.
It's not a surprise if I tell you.
So I don't get anything,
no Stevie Wonder there or anything?
- Tack s mycket.
- Varsgod.
Lookin' good.
And do it to the camera, yeah.
Can I take one more?
Sitting, exactly like that.
Yeah.
- I'm fine, I'm happy.
- You cool? Good.
I'm tired, man, I'm sorry.
- It's an honor, thank you so much.
- My pleasure. Tack s mycket.
Hmm?
When composers
get started on a film,
I think they spend the roughest parts
of it scraping away...
the bullshit, you know, in their life.
They have to really scrape away
so there's nothing left but truth.
Because I don't think you can write,
can't create anything without...
feeling right with the truth.
You have to find something
to grab a hold of to believe in,
or you can't write.
I can't say, "This'll be good enough,"
or your senses won't react.
You make a desperate escape
to get downinto the subconscious,
which I reallythink
all the goodies come from.
After you finish the quiet moments
of writing,
I just like to groove with my family then,
and enjoy all of it.
My wife, Ulla,
she's from Stockholm originally,
and we have two kids that I just can't
stay away from for two minutes.
My biggest hobby is my family.
It's a complete contrast
to when we go into record.
- Ready with the playback, Quincy.
- Thank you.
It's such a moment of tension
when you're trying to coordinate
so many elements...
when we're involved with technicians,
lots ofmusicians and...
lots of money being spent per hour,
and sothe pace tightens up.
Three and four, a 56.
Everything has to come into play
at that time.
It's just beginning to become
so that itisn't such a sensationalism
to see interracial loverelationships
or even, uh...
uh, the role of where the black man
really plays the role of a man,
rather than just acharacter.
But as my career
began to move forward...
my relationship with Ulla
was starting to show cracks.
I never came close
to being a perfect father.
But I always, always loved my kidsdeeply.
One day, Ulla announced she was
going tovisit her mother in Sweden.
I didn't want her to take the kids along
but there was no arguing.
A week later, Ulla called from Sweden
and adamantly proclaimed
that she was not coming back, period.
She was staying there
and keeping the kids.
My heart fell to my feet.
I couldn't handle it.
- What time do we start?
- Now, sir.
Let's hit it.
- Hur mr du pappa?
- Skit bra.
So, you have an incredible work ethic,
and, I mean, I've never seen
anything like it.
I mean, at no point in my life
have I ever been able
to hang with you 24/7 andI can keep up.
It's... it's crazy.
Where did that come from?
And what is in your water?
It's probably from not having a mother.
You know, really, yeah.
At seven, we were, like, deserted.
They took her away to this mental home.
And mygrandmother
was an ex-slave, you know.
America's just trying to getover
that... that part of their history
'cause it was terrible, terrible, man,
and we experienced it, you know.
Ray Charles and I used to say,
back in the '40s,
"Not one drop of my self-worth
depends on your acceptance of me."
Because you can't be that vulnerable.
Not back then, the '30s and '40s.
The '50s, man?! You kidding?
Oh, hey, look at this, man!
You know I love that.
Mm-hm.
Jesus Christ, I'll take it.
They're killing me!
Sometimes I step in too deep.
Like, look at that.
We go to Georgia,
the Black Sea Festival in Georgia, Russia.
Then we go to Zurich.
Then...
the big one, the Smithsonian.
We produce the Smithsonian,
African-American Museum.
Obama, uh, he cuts the ribbon at noon.
And we come back at night
and do a two-hour special
that's got the whole history, almost,
of black music.
- Wow.
- It's a hard job.
But I mean, my whole life has
been like that, though. I like that.
Look at that architecture. God damn, baby!
Hey!
I want you to give it up
for Alfredo Rodriguez. Alfredo!
Is there a commonality
between these artists you worked with?
Yes. Individuality,
distinctive personalities,
and sounds.
Ray Charles, Count Basie, Clark Terry,
they put me on their shoulders,
so it's an honorfor me
to putthe young people on my shoulders.
It is an honor.
How you doing, man? You doing okay?
Welcome.
Hur mar du.
First time here in the office?
- In the office, yeah.
- Yeah.
- Sweden, 63 years.
- Yeah, I know it.
Oh, man.
You going to save the record business?
- Hopefully, that's what we hope for.
- It needs some saving.
Justin Kauflin, come on. Give it up.
- It's good to see you.
- You guys are bad motherfuckers, man.
- Oh, boy.
- You are the future, brother.
That is the power of music,
to bring thepeople of the world together.
Look at these cars, man. Look at this.
That's just Chicago in the '30s, man.
Mr. Quincy Jones!
I came up in that school of, like,
all kind, every kind of music.
There's just two kinds, bad and good.
I just got back from, uh, Hong Kong
and Abu Dhabi and Dubai,
so I'm a little turned around here,
so bear along with me, okay?
Uh...
Tonight...
is a powerful foray...
into... Jesus!
I'm falling down here.
Glenn!
Jesus Christ.
Glenn!
How's your pain right now?
- I don't have any.
- No pain? Good.
Okay, very good. Okay.
Dad, did they tell you that
there's any way to preventblood clots?
- Did they tell you?
- No.
Exercise.
- Exercise, compression socks.
- Yeah, not sedentary.
- Yeah.
- Sedentary.
- Yeah.
- What socks?
- Compression socks.
- Yes, I know... about that.
Did they say it was
from, yeah, traveling, Dad?
Traveling is worse if you don't exercise.
He's traveling too much.
Can I listen to your lungs
real quick? Just take a second.
You had kind of a close call, you know?
If you've got a big clot like that
that sneaks up through,
it's a clot this long,
I mean, that can be sudden death.
Oh, man.
You got any travel coming up?
I was supposed to go to Washington,
I was supposed to go to Europe.
You gotta be careful, I think,
especially the first few weeks
after something like this, you know.
I want to start exercising too.
I honestly, I thought, 90 percent chance
you come out in a wheelchair.
- Really? No way.
- I... That got me very excited.
- I'm glad to hear that.
- I'm a responder and a survivor.
After my marriage to Ulla
broke up,
I was determined
not to hook up seriously with anyone.
I met Peggy Lipton in 1972.
She was a beautiful star
of a hot TVseries,The Mod Squad,
the first young hip drama on TV.
She was independent, smart,
beautiful, and understanding.
When we met,
the chemistry was so strong.
I just was so drawn to him.
He came into my life and that was it.
It was like I knew.
After we met, it was so instantaneous
that he just moved in.
It was, like, two weeks later, he was in.
Falling in love with Peggy
was like abreath of fresh air.
We said, "We'll do this
as long as we feelgood."
We never even talked of marriage.
We didn't feel that a piece of paper
was necessary to keep us together.
All of her desires, her focus,
she gave to herfamily and to me,
so that I could get onwith my career.
He was working himself like crazy.
He was so determined to take himself
out of only a jazz musician,
to take himself
out of only a movie composer,
and to go the next step with that.
Duke Ellington said,
"I want you to be one of the people
that helpto de-categorize
American music."
He passed the baton down.
In order for music to grow,
the critics must stop categorizing
and let the musicians get involved
in all different facets of music.
We will die if we get stuck
in one area of music.
Tonight, the Academy Awards orchestra
will be conducted by three-time
Oscar nominee Quincy Jones!
One day he just, um...
collapsed.
And I called 9-1-1 right away.
When we took him to the hospital,
he... he wasn't conscious.
And I was just, like,
how could one moment be so perfect
and the next moment
your whole life is falling apart.
It was like a cannon
had blasted through my head.
What happens is the main vessel
to your brain... pops.
They operated for seven and a half hours.
At the end of the operation,
my neurosurgeons came in and said,
"The good newsis you lived.
The bad news is
we found another one on the other side
that could be ready to explode
at anyminute.
In two months,
we have to go back in again."
The first thing that you think about
are all the things that were, like,
things I'mgoing to get around to.
Like my daughter hadn't called me "Daddy".
And all of the things that I hadn't done,
all these crazy, wild things
in your imagination
that youhadn't even started on.
It's nature's way
of getting your attention.
You know, to make you live your life,
you know, really live it and... and...
dig down for the values
that really mean something.
With our baby Kidada
six months old,
and the other operation looming
a few weeks away,
we decided to marry.
You realize, uh...
the true essence of time.
And you tell your friends
you love them... now!
Not tomorrow or next week.
Let them feel your love.
I asked the doctor afterwards,
"What is that...
What was going on at that time?"
And he said, "You were dying, you know."
I had to try to rehabilitate, you know,
go through therapy to be able to write
because it's frightening to see, you know,
those big jagged edges,
when you're trying to write again.
And dropouts in...
memory.
So that's scary, that's frightening.
I mean, people real close to you,
it just disappears.
What's important to you now?
Uh, contributing something...
that you don't really get anything
in return for.
We were grateful.
We were grateful for a lot of things.
And, uh, people were just amazed
at hisrecovery.
And then we had another baby.
Happy anniversary to us.
Happy anniversary to us.
Isn't that wild?
When you come back,
all of the dreams you have, you say,
"You'd better go for it, now," you know?
You can't put that off, you know.
It's not...
I'd rather say, uh, "I'm sorry I did,"
rather than "I wish I had," you know?
Gigi!
- Hi.
- How's my baby?
- Are you hungry?
- A little bit.
So much fun, man.
What's this, love?
It's just something I found
going through one of the boxes.
Oh, my God.
Wow.
I haven't seen this in 50 years.
I got accurate records of everything.
How much I was getting...
Jesus Christ, look at all those!
Nineteen arrangements,
twenty dollars apiece.
Lord have mercy.
- Twenty dollars apiece.
- What year was that?
Twelve dollars! God damn! 1952.
Twelve dollars an arrangement.
Jesus Christ.
But I was happy
'cause I wasn't starving to death.
What else you got?
Wow.
Boy, time is a bitch, man. Look at that.
- Is that you?
- That's my yearbook picture.
Look at that belly, man.
That's a big belly, man.
Wow.
It takes you back, honey.
Look at Daddy.
He was always happy.
Oh, he was a beautiful man.
Oh, my God.
- My mother.
- Yeah.
Oh, Sarah.
Wow.
Heavy.
What the hell is this?
"This is filled with lies."
Who said that?
I have no idea, what is that?
"Everybody spoke well of you
until you scandalized your mother."
This looks like your mother's writing.
- I know.
- Typewriter.
"That is what happens when you listen
to evil communications." That's her.
My mother, she was mad
when she read thisarticle.
I never saw this stuff before.
"The cake is what made you
lose all ofyour teeth.
I insisted on good food. Even so, that's
when I tossed the cake in a garbage can."
Oh, God.
That's sad.
Quincy's mother, Sarah,
was there as a shadow.
As a shadow of...
who he could become.
He worried that maybe he had
that mental illness like her.
She would come back into our lives
through...
you know, wanting to see
the grandchildren.
Quincy just would go
into a full coldsweat around her.
She pushed his buttons in a way
that wecould never understand.
Of the word mother, you know,
it doesn't mean toomuch to me.
I don't know what it is, you know.
I guess trauma gets frozen at the peak.
It was really seriously damaging.
I'm sure that affected my relationship
with a lot of women later, you know.
They're feelings that I'm...
to this day, I'm still wrestling with.
Isn't it astounding, man,
when you look at the reality
of us having the sametwelve notes
for 710 years.
- Everybody.
- Amazing, right?
Brahms, Beethoven, Basie,
Bo Diddley, Bird.
The same fucking 12 notes.
It's heavy, man. Isn't it?
- That's really heavy, right?
- It is heavy, man!
Seven hundred and ten years!
- That... that is quite amazing.
- Shit!
- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
- And then something to do like this one.
Where's that B, where's that B?
Do it again, like this.
- Uh-huh.
- Like that?
We're still dealing
with the climactic part ofthe octaves.
- Those octaves, you can't follow 'em.
- Mm-hmm.
I'm just saying, just let them have
a little bit at a time, you know?
Of course, yeah.
- What do you think?
- I think it's ready for the painting.
- Yeah?
- Ready for some paint.
Richard, the other stuff is very legato
and everything else,
so let's do the contrast and keep it
so it's a little bit more percussive.
Okay.
Yeah!
Yeah.
- Yes!
- Whoo!
I think that he's great.
He's great, man.
- It was a good day, man.
- Yeah.
Good day.
- No bass?
- We'll do the bass separate.
- Okay.
- Do the guitar first
so we can make a decision about it.
"Light Up The Night", take two!
My feeling is always leave
at least20 or30 percent of room
for the Lord to walk throughthe room.
Because, you know,
then you're leaving roomfor themagic
and, uh, records are about
capturing magic,
real magical moments,you know,
at that time, and capturing them on tape,
you know.
I think that's what communicates,
is themagic of the moment.
And... love is the other word, too.
When the loveis in the studio,
because thatcontributesmore to magic
in the studio than anything else.
I guess this is the most exciting period
of my life.
You don't in any way
find it exhausting creatively?
It's the best thing for me
because it gives me a chance
to geteverything out
and, uh, get involved with the whole
eclectic world which I love,
which is black music, period.
And also film scoring
just taps the right parts of me
and makes me feel at ease.
I think with The Wiz,
it was the nextchallenge for Quincy.
And, of course, he put 110 percent in.
Our whole family moved to New York
to bewith him,
and I took his two other children with me,
and it was very difficult
'cause he was away every night.
Okay, we're back
with Michael Jackson,
and you just coming off The Wiz.
It was terrific.
It's something I alwayswanted to do,
and, uh, it was a lot of fun
working with all the greats...
Sidney Lumet, Quincy Jones...
When we were doing The Wiz,
he asked me about,
could I find him a producer?
At the time, we were heavily into the film
and so I didn't pay much attention.
Hey fellas, is today the day
you're gonna help me get down from here?
What I saw is discipline.
He showed up
at five o'clock in the morning
for a four-hour makeup job,
and then he stood around.
He knew everybody's songs,
all of their lines,
lyrics, dance steps, everything!
He just absorbed everything.
And I started to see a maturity in him.
And at that moment, I said,
"You've got a producer, man.
I'd like to take a shot at it."
I felt he had the potential
to go way beyond
the wonderful trademark bubblegum
he'd done on Motown with the Jackson 5.
When he was ready to record,
I got my "Killer Q" posse together.
Rod "Worms" Temperton,
one of the greatest songwriters
who everlived.
Bruce "Svensk" Swedien,
Greg "Mouse" Phillinganes,
Louis "Thunder Thumbs" Johnson,
John "J.R." Robinson,
Paulhino Da Costa,
Jerry Hay,
and many, many others.
We attacked that record.
We tried all kinds of things
I'd learnedover the years
to help him with his artistic growth.
Things like dropping keys
just a minor third
to give him more flexibility
and a more mature range.
He was so shy, sometimes he'd sit down
and sing behind the couch
with his back tome.
Quincy saw that spark in Michael
that would make him a star.
He definitely saw
that there was something in Michael
that was needed in the world.
You have to get something that,
when welook at the end of a day,
and I have goosebumps,
and Michael has goosebumps,
then I think we've got something special,
'cause we're all very hard to please
and not satisfied too easily.
The resulting record,
Off the Wall,
was thebiggest-selling black record
in historyat that time.
Quincy Jones is hard
to put in a musical category.
His most recent production
of Michael Jackson's hit album
Off The Wall
was a smash success.
It sold over eight million copies
and gotaward upon award.
Off The Wall, Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson.
Thank you, Quincy Jones.
Thank you, my mother and father
and allthe beautiful fans
who bought, you know, the record,
and, uh...
God, I really appreciate it. I love it.
Thank you very much.
Well, Quincy
really had to nurture Michael,
and part of their relationship
was that of a mentor and his protg.
But I think Quincy was also
a fatherfigure to him.
In the pocket!
The making of Thriller
in a little more than two months
was like riding a rocket.
Everything about it
was done at hyperspeed.
Rod Temperton, who also co-wrote
several of the album's songs, and I
listened tonearly 600 songs
before picking out adozen we liked.
We all worked ourselves
into a near frenzy.
I called Michael "Smelly"
because when he liked a piece of music
or a certain beat,
instead of calling it funky,
he'd call it "smelly jelly".
- Incredible!
- Yeah?
- Yeah!
- One more, son, one more.
Cut! Once more, right away.
- Here we go!
- Right away.
And re-cue. Let's go, right away.
Okay, here we go, ready, and...
We're working on a... a movie short,
which is like ten minutes,
for theThriller album,
the song "Thriller",
and it's really exciting, what happens.
Michael, I think this is gonna be
the Citizen Kane of the videos.
I really do.
It's going to be the most revolutionary
thing in the history of videos, you know.
The single "Thriller" was
the first 14-minute music video ever made
and wastreated like the premiere
of a feature film around the world.
Michael was splashed all over the globe
visually as well as musically.
Michael, the MTV videos, and the music,
all rode each other to glory.
"Dear Quincy, we are all part
of history in the making."
All right.
I don't think anyone would have
known how far it was gonna go.
Several people in the crowd
of 5,000 fainted.
Police struggled to maintain order.
One fan said, "I thought I was
going to get killed, but it was worth it."
Michael!
And producer of the year is...
Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson!
Yes!
We'd like to thank the people
that makethis work.
My wife...
who chose to take care of me
rather thanpursue her own career...
and our family, and I love her.
And Michael Jackson...
I think one of the greatest entertainers
of the 20th century.
I mean that from all my heart.
Beautiful, beautiful.
Great... great bass sound
on the synths, man.
Love it.
One of my favorite sounds.
One, two, three.
If I don't see you before,
- have a great holidays.
- You too.
- I'll send you some shots, love you.
- I love you back.
Hmm. Quite a history!
- Hi!
- How are you, sweetheart?
- Oh, good to see you, you look great.
- You too, honey.
You've been doing other exercise, too?
No, I haven't done exercise
in six months.
Oh, wow.
So we gotta find a way
to ease back, you know.
- Okay, yeah.
- Take me slowly there.
Definitely.
It's been a long time.
There you go.
Good, that's good.
- Perfect.
- Can't even budge.
- Good. Turn... Be completely relaxed.
- This is hard, man, Jesus Christ.
Take a break.
- The body's not used to it, right?
- Yeah.
Yep.
It's the way to get back like that again.
I'm gonna give you a list right now
of peoplethat I'd like to just get,
and as fast as you get them on the phone,
I have to speak with each one.
No problem.
- Sidney Poitier.
- Mm-hmm.
Stevie Wonder. Michael.
- M.J.
- Streisand. Spielberg's office.
- And I'd like to talk to Alex Haley.
- Mm-hmm.
And Brando.
The new star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
This one honors composer, arranger,
and jazzmusician Quincy Jones.
How did all these people get here?
Jones was there today
with his wife, actress Peggy Lipton,
who was, of course, in The Mod Squad.
Jones headed the list
with eight nominations
including best album of theyear
for The Dude.
You get inspired by so many things
and you never stop, you never stop.
You think you can get it all in
and that's the dangerous part.
There was so much demand on him,
in every way.
Host this, be that, you know,
show up here, do that.
I began to find those things
really wearing on us.
It didn't feel like the old daysanymore.
It felt like things had changed so much.
A group of legendary performers
recorded "We Are the World".
That's good, let's put it on the tape!
They've generated millions
of dollars to help fight famine in Africa.
"The world's number one music man."
One would think that's enough.
What, uh, made you decide
to go and produce a film?
Well, it's been a little secret dream
for years, right?
And it also encompassed
a beautiful era of black music
that was woven and integrated
right into the story.
At first I resisted, you know,
for all the obvious reasons.
And Quincy was saying,
"You know, this is not about race.
This is about humanity."
And he said, "You know, you didn't
have to go to Mars to make E.T."
And that made a lot of sense to me.
You all know the story, right?
Quincy Jones discovered me.
And he was in Chicago,turned...
Tell 'em the story, Quincy.
We were trying to cast
The Color Purple.
I came in on a red-eye
and couldn't sleep
and walked around in the hotel
and turned on the television set,
and herecomes Miss Winfrey,
real, honest, and true,
and it's all over. My baby.
- And I was discovered!
- My baby.
After principal photography
had beencompleted,
I almost forgot
I still had to create a score
in lessthan two months.
- Were you overwhelmed?
- Oh, yes.
And I just panicked, you know?
We already got a drum machine on, man.
We got a drum machine.
We don't need toworry about that, do we?
I know it's a sickness,
in a way.
You can call it "workaholic"
or whatever it is, but it's, uh...
it's the only way I know.
He'd become...
a person
that people just wanted a part of,
and he began to give away, I thought...
pieces of himself.
And by the time The Color Purple was over,
there was nothing left.
He wasn't even of this world.
How are you feeling now?
I mean, are you, like, zombied out?
I'm fried, yes, really. It's...
I've been running around,
and... and I'm just physically
and mentally exhausted, you know?
- From writing all that music?
- Just everything.
It's just the most music
I've ever seen in my life, and it's...
The brain is just tired, you know.
It's twoyears, you know.
Just like...I've been running.
Our relationship was starting to,
you know, look sort of, uh, bleak.
And a lot of it came from my insecurity,
not having him around
as much as I wantedto.
That movie took him away.
He wanted to fix things,
but there wasnothing to fix.
I wasn't that whole... person
that I needed to be.
So...
we broke up.
It was over like that.
Losing my marriage to Peggy
after 14years
was like having my arteries rippedout.
I lost the woman I thought I'd live with
for the rest of my life.
I'd known then
that I was losing my mind...
that I was having a nervous breakdown.
I went back...
inside, deep into myself,
to reassess my essence as a human being.
'Cause I don't want to recreate
any of the old patterns again.
I realized that, from the time
I was a little boy, to that moment,
I was always running...
always trying to fill up
that black holein my soul.
I ran because there was nothing behind me
to hold me up.
I ran because I thought that
that was all there was to do.
I thought that to stay in one place
meant to die.
All I could think about was my kids...
how my success had been
at their expense inso many ways.
Sometimes it's hard, at first,
to talk to him.
- Uh-huh.
- But then, once...
once I say what I want to say, he's fine.
Like, I couldn't reallytalk to him
for a while 'cause I never see him.
Yeah.
It took two or three years
to get everything really in focus,
to reassess
how I want to spend the rest of mylife.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the hardest-working man in showbusiness.
Okay... Okay, did you get it?
Daddy! Daddy!
No! Oh, God...
I thought about my kids because, while
I was doingall this stuff, you know...
uh, it was taking the time from them.
And that's what I kept thinking about,
you know.
And that's my pride and joy,
my children, I'm telling you.
And I'm making up for it now.
This is my one and only number one son.
He loves lots of hip hop
and introducedme to a lot of things
that I didn'tunderstand about it.
And again, yep.
That's good.
And look over there.
That's great.
This shit kinda big, huh?
It's Quincy Jones, boy.
Don't talk to me no more.
Want to make a bad face?
My generation was introduced to Quincy
when Thriller...
You know, that's where...
kids my age can identify him with.
- Where you from, man?
- I'm from Compton.
South Side of Chicago, that was my home.
- Yeah, it's tough. My family's from there.
- Huh?
- My whole family's from there.
- That's amazing.
But it's the same. You know, the hood
is the same everywhere in the world.
- Yeah.
- Then I found a piano, man,
- and that changed my life.
- Yeah.
I would have been dead or in prison
a long time ago.
- Right.
- Chicago, Jesus...
In the '30s?
- Them motherfuckers don't play.
- Yeah.
It's funny, because I was inspired
by Back on the Block without even knowing.
Combining hip hop and jazz,
and you was the first to do it.
- Do you know where rap came from?
- Uhn-uhn.
Where? Where do you think
it came from, the Bronx?
- My generation, we're gonna say the Bronx.
- Shit.
- The Bronx.
- It came from Africa.
The praise-shouters in Africa.
- That's a trip, man.
- It is.
That's where all the rhythms came from.
Huh?
- To know where it really originates.
- Yeah.
- Where the rhythms came from.
- Vibrations, yeah.
When I was in the hospital,
I was looking back on 70 years, man.
- It's been a motherfucker, man.
- Yeah.
Unbelievable.
Each decade is different, you know?
- Each decade.
- Different music.
- Right.
- It's amazing.
I never thought about
that stuff before, you know.
- 'Cause you get back what you give, man.
- Yeah.
- You can count on that.
- Wow.
- Man.
- But you're on the right track, man.
- It's definitely a pleasure. An honor.
- I'm very proud of you, man.
- Thank you.
- And I'm always there for you.
- You got my card, right?
- Yup. Yup.
- Always there.
- Yup.
- I mean that.
- Yup.
- I'm gonna take that to heart.
- Mm-hmm.
I'm gonna take it to heart.
- So, this is Prairie, huh?
- This is it.
Lord, that's it! Lord have mercy!
Just hold, just a second. God damn.
Wow.
God. Boy, this is heavy... Whoo!
That is unbelievable.
God damn!
That's frightening, man.
I can't put it all together.
Man, oh, man.
Look at this, I remember this.
Ooh! I remember this so well.
Yeah, we were back here.
Oh, my God, man.
Wow.
You know what's amazing is how big
everything used to feel. It's so tiny.
Oh boy, it's my... My parents stayed here.
That's where they threw my mother
down on the bed and, uh...
and put her in a straitjacket.
And they took her away.
Jesus Christ.
I'm carrying around the past.
But you can sit
and wallow in thatshit, you know...
and blame, and all the other stuff,
but it's not about that.
At one point, I stopped thinking about
myself and I started to think about her
and... think about the things
she had gonethrough.
And how much she loved us.
And I got it.
It was real late, but I got it, youknow.
You got to let go all of the past,
you know,
bring the good parts forward,
forget aboutthe negative stuff,
and go on.
Because whenever you get hung up
and locked into the past,
you're robbingyourself of the present...
and definitelythe future, you know.
- How old are you?
- Eight.
I was here when I was your age.
You got Michael Jackson in business.
I was working on the show, man.
It's just right around the corner.
- You think you'll be ready, Dad?
- We'll get it.
Boy, oh boy, what history.
Oh, my God.
Boy, the shit they've gone through
in this country.
This has got to be the best
for youngpeople to see, good God.
Look at Marvin over there.
My baby.
Look at this. All the old homies there.
Yeah, these are the kings.
Mm-mm-mm!
Unbelievable.
Here's your girl, Dinah Washington.
Look at Dinah, the Queen.
I started with her when I was 22.
It's heavy, man. This is like a dream.
My brother, man.
Smelly.
Heavy.
Lord have mercy, this is memories.
Memory lane, man.
This is so good for young people,
boy, I can't tell you.
Kids can see what the history is about.
- Exactly, exactly.
- It's beautiful, man. Thank you, brother.
Thank you. Been waiting all my life
to see this, man.
Jesus Christ.
Damn.
All of them gone.
That's frightening.
Hmm.
Beautiful people.
- Am I in tune?
- That's what I was gonna do.
Feels a little high.
- Um, sharp or flat?
- It's a little high.
- A little sharp.
- No shit.
If I had one more shot
to make an album,
it would be an album like this.
Whoa, baby!
- I'm supposed to keep right through?
- That's it.
You did just what you supposed to do.
- You know, it should be your personality.
- I'll try.
Okay? And that's easy for you to be you.
Working with these artists
that people have loved over the years
like EllaFitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan,
and MilesDavis, Dizzy Gillespie,
and Ray Charles...
Now, Q, what do you want...
Okay, guys, where should I go?
Yes, sir!
Did you say, "I'll take you shopping"?
Okay, yeah, I mean...
Along with the rappers,
the new peoplein the family,
like Kool Moe Dee and Ice-T,
and Melle Mel and Big Daddy Kane,
it's just been unbelievable.
You've got a real nice message here,
so try to just make sure all your words
are clear and coming through,
no matter what feeling you put into it.
And there was a kinship.
There was a strong kinship between
hip hop and bebop, I could feel it.
And that's why I tried the fusion
of the two and it was so natural.
Back on theBlock, Quincy Jones,
producer Quincy Jones.
I can't believe this.
I really can't believe this.
I've been in this Academy since 1958.
And this is the first time
I even dare think about having a...
Grammy... under my own name,
and I'm so proud.
I'd like to firstly thank my mother.
To my beautiful children, my family.
I'd like to ask everyone to pray
for peace on Earth,
and when we get peace on Earth,
let's take care of the Earth.
Thank you very much. I'm very happy.
Why did you say that the next decade
is goingto be the most difficult
ten years of your life?
It's when I'll have the energy
to really stand behind all of the things
that I believe about, creatively...
um, socially, politically,
personally, ethically,
morally, and everything.
We came here to announce the formation
of Qwest Broadcasting Company.
Qwest will be one of the largest
minority-controlled broadcasting groups
in theindustry today.
Our first show went on NBC on Monday
nights, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Quincy called me.
He said, "What are you doing?"
I said. "Well, you know, we're touring."
He said, "Okay.
Well, I want to pitch your future to you."
- Hey, Q!
- Hey!
I saw him
from the first time he goton camera,
and I saw this man grow and grow.
Vibe is
the latest thrill for Quincy Jones,
who says his new magazine
will be for the '90s hip hoppers
what Rolling Stone was to '60s rockers.
I realized there's a whole
new music culture
that sits on the scene today
that I think is growing by the minute
and there's no voice for it.
What is it about rap
that scares people?
It's young black urban males
with a lot of energy
and expressing the conditions
of their life in a very poetic way.
It's a very dramatic way,
a very theatrical way,
and it is very powerful stuff.
The two have been
at the center of a battle
between east and west coast rappers.
I don't think they are aware
that they have such a tremendous heritage.
Sometimes they feel like they're alone
out there. But they're not alone.
Fans on both coasts
want the real-lifeviolence to stop.
I think communications can help a lot,
because we're getting ready to lose
two generations of young people.
We had a symposium, uh,
in New York with Suge Knight,
and Dr. Dre, and Puffy,
and all those people,
Public Enemy, and Colin Powell,
you know, totalk about
how do we even this out
so that they don't get blown away
so young.
Let's bring Quincy Jones up
so he can really set it off.
The reason I fell in love with hip hop?
Because it reminded me so much of bebop,
and I feel a kinship there because we went
through a lot of the same stuff.
The philosophy behind bebop
is that you had to be hip,
you wanted to be hip.
And being hip is being aware.
The thing that really provoked me to say
it's time to pay attention now is Tupac.
We finally hooked up,
even though it was, uh...
tension conditions in the beginning,
we finally talked to each other
and hesaid nobody had talked
to him like that before.
And I said I can't take it anymore...
because we no longer
can afford to be non-political,
and I'm talking to the hip hop nation now.
We got to seriously talk about
what you areyou going to... deal with.
They're not playing. There's real bullets
out there, believe me.
I'm not gonna roll on here.
I got so many things to say...
and it's a very emotional... thing.
I want to see you guys live
at least to my age.
I really do.
Rapper Biggie Smalls
was shot to death in Los Angeles.
His death comes almost exactly
six months to the day
that another rapper, Tupac Shakur,
was fatally shot in Las Vegas.
His death is going
to open some eyes most definitely.
To me, I get the feeling thatthere's
already becoming a change inhip hop.
Everybody's moving more
to thepositive vibe.
You know what I mean?
I've seen the power of music as a tool...
to reach the hearts and minds
of millions of people.
And since my voice carries louder
and farther than those of a few others,
I have a special responsibility
to sing a melody...
about poverty eradication,
to end the suffering
caused by extremepoverty.
And I have been hungry.
I know what itfeels like.
And I don't carehow much money I make
or suits I wear,
I never forget that feeling of what
it feels like when you miss the meals
and you can't eat for three days.
When Quincy decided that he wanted to be
more of a citizen with more impact,
not only in the United States,
but around theworld,
he goes after that
the same way he went after music.
Hi, I'm Quincy Jones,
and this is the first official
opening ceremony
leading to the presidentialinauguration.
- Hey, Rash!
- Busy, Dad?
- Who, me?
- Yeah.
He understands
that it's only through politics
that you can address some of theproblems
that he cares a lot about.
Now Jones will gather
many of the world's A-list stars in Rome
for the "We Are the Future" concert.
Ciao, Roma!
The event will launch
a worldwide humanitarian effort
aimed athelping children
in war-ravaged countries.
Pope John Paul II
meets with Quincy Jones today
as part of an effort
to help get rid of Third World debt.
We're raising the funds now
to build 100homes in South Africa
with the Habitatfor Humanity.
My daddy used to do this, man.
I've got a great respect
for Quincy Jones.
For a man with such talents
to regardthe struggle in South Africa...
This takes an exceptional human being.
What's interesting about Quincy
has been,
at each stage in this remarkable career,
he's been the first.
He's been somebody who's walked
through that door before anybody else has,
and that'sgiven people behind him
enormous confidence.
And he's done it with grace.
- You only live 26,000 days.
- That's right.
- And you dead a lot longer than that.
- That's right, honey.
And so, I'm telling you,
I'm gonna wear all of them out.
And if I get to 80, that'll be 29,000.
I'm gonna wear 'em all out, you know?
They're gonna know...
we came through here.
It's from a...
a farm down in South Africa,
and they were going broke
with the produce,
so the owner of the farm
taught all thepeople that worked on it
how to dosculpting.
Isn't that something?
So I was at this art gallery...
with Mancini,
and I saw the dude that said,
"Take me with you, take me home."
You know, he just begged me
to take him home.
That's what inspired the album.
Isn't that something?
That's the dude.
Attitude, isn't it, man?
Is that attitude? Shit...!
Don't mess with that motherfucker,
boy.
And it just talked to me every night.
"Hey, motherfucker, I want to be an album.
I want to be a tune."
Merry Christmas.
This is my grandson.
Love you, man.
- Merry Christmas.
- You too, baby.
I adore you.
Yeah, baby!
Where's my kiss?
Thank you, sweetheart.
Oh!
- I love your class.
- Can you take a picture with us?
Thanks for tonight, Glo.
It was great.
When you almost leave here,
you really treasure a day like today.
Oh, man.
Really treasure it.
Every... every day, friends are dying.
It's really been crazy.
It's hard because, you know what,
you knowthat that telephone
will never beanswered again.
Ray Charles, all those people,
it'll never be answered again,
and that's the hard part.
You've got their numbers,
the Cannonball's and stuff,
Dizzy's and Miles', and Sarah, and Ella,
and all that stuff,
but they're... they're gone, you know.
And it's painful.
Painful, man.
Lesley Gore, and Michael.
It's a killer.
But that's life.
Hey, Quincy.
This is me.
You know what?
Aww, Quincy...
I love you, man. I love you.
Today, as so many generations have before,
we gather on ourNational Mall...
to tell an essential part
of our American story.
One that has, at times, been overlooked.
Quincy is the reason
we're all here.
He suggested
that we all get involved in this.
Thank you.
You know what would be a good idea?
So if you're doing a live
"America the Beautiful",
you ought to playRay Charles'
"America the Beautiful" in there too.
- The combination would be hot.
- Yeah.
As soon as you get the script,
just send it him.
Maybe we'll let him use his own words
about how happy he is to see the museum.
"African-Americans came from Carolinas,
Florida, New Orleans..."
Just cut that out and start,
"A lot of whites came from Downtown."
- We didn't get Colin Powell yet, huh?
- Huh?
- Didn't get Colin Powell?
- Don't think they got him yet.
Okay, I'll call Colin, man, I'll call him.
My brother, Colin, this is Quincy, man.
Yeah.
But we need you, man.
And Tom Hanks will introduce you,
you know,
right after they do the Tuskegee Airmen.
All right, Colin, I love you, man.
Done.
Colin Powell.
We got him.
And Jada.
So, did you hear back from her yet?
Oprah?
- Just from the assistant.
- Okay.
She was passing it along.
Okay, thank you, we'll begin
this rehearsal just as we did before.
Killed it, man. What a beautiful feeling.
Don, would you mind putting Chick Webb
before Ella Fitzgerald?
- Okay, okay.
- Great stuff, baby.
- Got Oprah.
- Okay.
I can't wait to see ya.
You're going to have a ball, honey.
You're gonna have a ball. I love you.
Yeah, baby!
Hell, yeah.
- You guys are so good, honey!
- Thank you!
- Thank you!
- So good, honey!
- Thank you so much!
- Thank you, honey.
- For just being being on this planet.
- No, you!
- God bless you, honey.
- You are so inspirational.
I feel your soul and your minds.
- You guys singing those thirds, I love it.
- Thank you!
- You do your own arrangements?
- Yes.
Go on, girl!
- Love it. Solos and harmony.
- That means so much.
No, honey,I mean it.
I'm too old to be full of it.
So exciting, man.
They're killin' it. Thanks, Don.
That's Quincy Jones!
"Hardcore."
We came all the way
from North Carolina for this!
- Really?
- Thank you!
God bless you.
Me, too.
Love the band!
Tennessee State, man.
They're incredible, man.
Hey, baby. How you doing?
Hi.
I know, Dad, I can't wait.
You look so good, Daddy!
You look so sharp.
Hey, girl!
Hey, Mary. God bless you, honey.
I'm so glad you're here.
- Thanks for having me.
- Thank you.
- We're gonna have a fun show.
- Oh, baby, it's a killer, man. Killer!
- How are you, buddy?
- Good to see you.
- Yeah, you kicked it, man.
- Oh, man.
It was fun last night, wasn't it?
- Hey, Tom. How you doin', brother?
- Good to see you!
- You too, man!
- How you doin', my man?
You're looking fantastic!
- I stopped drinking 19 months ago.
- Did you really?
Well, your life
is totally different, then.
How you sleeping? All good?
- Incredible.
- Beautiful.
- So happy you're here, man.
- I'm here, ready to do the thing.
- You called and I came, man.
- Love you, man.
Hey, baby! How you doing, man?
So proud of you, man.
Whoa!
- All right. I came to play.
- All right.
On my way.
Heads up, five minute warning.
Want to practice once?
"It was the happening place.
We called it the Uptown Getdown."
- That's good.
- That's better.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the President of the United States,
Barack Obama,
and Mrs. Michelle Obama.
Voil!
Now we're talking.
We're here to celebrate, and laugh,
and clap along,
and probably even cry a little
to mark the opening
of the first museum in the country
dedicated to the African-American
experience in America!
A father who always gets
the music started, as he will tonight.
Quincy Jones!
And his daughter, Rashida Jones!
How are y'all?
Yeah!
So, let me just set the scene for you.
Harlem, in the '20s and '30s,
not just an address, but a state of mind.
Ladies and gentlemen,
six survivingmembers
of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Up there is the first black President.
- Great, honey.
- You did great, Dad.
Killer!
Thank you.
God bless you. Y'all are bad, baby.
Yeah.
I have to thank you, man,
from the bottom of my heart,man.
- God bless you, man.
- God bless you.
- What an experience.
- Keep on keepin' on.
- Q!
- Thank you.
You kill me, baby!
What a night.
- God bless.
- God bless.
Thank you.
God bless, honey.
- How was it?
- Oh, I cried, honey.
- Oh, you did?
- Yeah.
God bless, baby.
God damn.
That's big stuff, man.
It's a big... responsibility
in this generation, you know.
"Here's what happened."
It's a journey, coming up in thisfucking
country, man. Chicago...
No joke.
I didn't see anybody white
till I was11 years old.
And the kids, the kids' minds...
most of them...
are not into that shit,
'cause you have to be taught how to hate.
That's not natural,
to hate somebody because of their skin.
You don't have nothing to do with that.
So how people can judge somebody
by the color of their skin
is fucked up, you know?
But I... I have a feeling
that God will prevail,
and... the light will prevail.
You have to think like that.
'Cause we've come a long way,
but we've got a long way to go.
Is there anything you think
you tried to do
that you didn't succeed at?
Marriage.