I had pages of questions for Quincy Jones when I interviewed him in 2001, during his tour to promote Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones. Didn’t need them all, because Jones — the subject of an all-star tribute at the recent Grammy Awards — was one of those lively intellects who could move fluidly from micro to macro, connecting his thinking about a broad subject like the art of record production to a single impactful memory from his formative years.
This little three-minute excerpt begins as a discussion about Jones’ mindset as a producer in the studio. Then it transitions to a discussion of just one musical element every producer has to get right — tempo. This sends Jones into a story he told several times before, about learning the importance of tempo from pianist and bandleader Count Basie in the early 1950s. (Check Jones singing the first few measures of “Lil’ Darling” at two very different metronome markings….and apologies in advance for the lo-fi cassette audio). From there, he zooms back out to more general thoughts about production, and a decision that proved pivotal during the making of Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall.
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