Composer Carlos Simon talks about taking inspiration from legendary composer, arranger and producer Quincy Jones…
A classical background…
People know Quincy Jones for producing three landmark Michael Jackson albums – Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987). What they may not know is that, long before this, Jones studied formally in Paris with the great Nadia Boulanger, who also taught the likes of Daniel Barenboim, Aaron Copland and Philip Glass.
Jones spent a year in Paris with Boulanger, studying classical music. That’s where he really got into orchestration, and in the sixties he started a jazz big band, the Jones Boys. They were so good that when the legendary bandleader Count Basie heard them, he said, ‘Please don’t come to the States! You will put me out of business!’
A multi-talented composer, arranger and producer
Jones then worked as an arranger for the likes of Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. That was the moment when he really came to light as a composer and arranger. It was his arrangement of ‘Fly Me to the Moon’, performed by Sinatra and Basie’s band, that was played on Apollo 11 before the first moon landing. He was also one of the first black Americans to break into film scores, most famously for The Color Purple, on which he was composer and co-producer. So there’s so much fascinating stuff to the Quincy Jones story: the producing, composing, arranging and orchestrating. I love his musical journey.
I first learned about Jones as a teenager. I picked up his autobiography in a bookshop and could not put it down. He inspired me to do music, but there is so much within that. Composing, performing, educating – music can harness the full gamut of who you are as a person.
Carlos Simon: Four Symphonic Works is out on the National Symphony Orchestra label.