Quincy Jones Talks to Crowd

Jones and talk of the rock, pop and be-bop of musician Quincy Jones centertained an enthusiastic crowd of about 250 yesterday in the Science Center.

In a conversation with has trumpet-playing friend Jerold S. Karden '75, Jones retlected on his career as a composer arranger-producer in the record and movie score business.

"Melody is king, it comes from God," Jones said. "It's beautiful what you can do with an orchestra, the moods you can create."

Even today's rappers are starting to discover the importance of melody and harmony, Jones said. "It's starting to happen."

Singers like Frank Sinatra have endured so long because "in those days, they were trained like instrumentalists," Jones said.

In those days, and through the 1950's and beyond, racial prejudice often ruined the harmony of the music world, Jones said.

"Black bands had to have white bus-drivers so they could eat," Jones said, recalling his band's travels through the South during the 1950's.

Hollywood was not always open to Blacks, Jones said "I was so frustrated--it didn't seem like there was a way to get into movies."

His production of "The color Purple" in the 1980s was an effort to dispel biases about Black movie making.

"[After The Color Purple,] nobody in Hollywood ever again said Black stories don't work," he said to cheers from the audience.

Diverse Accomplishments

Jones' musical accomplishments are diverse. Though his initial love was for be-bop, he played with big-bands, and has worked with the likes of Frank Sinatra ("I've Got You Under My Skin,") pop-star Leslie Gore ("It's My Party,") and Michael Jackson ("Thriller" and other albums).

His musical credits in television and movie scores include the theme from "Sanford and Son" and "The Color Purple".

Jones said he began his musical career at an early age, as he met Ray Charles when be was 14.

By the time he was 15, Jones was feeding arrangements to jazz great Count Bassie, "He was like a father, like a brother a mentor for me," Jones said.

At age 16, Jones was performing in Seattle's nightclubs, which were filled with soldiers waiting for passage to World War It's Pacific The-ater.

After his time at the Berkeley School of Music, he joined Lionel Hampton's big-band in New York. "It was like wonderland," Jones said. Jones told the audience that he and his friends often appeared at the back doors of big-name concerts with their leather trumpet cases in hand, to get in free.

That was also a time of musical experimentation for Jones. "We were so hip," he said. "We didn't want to hear anything that would please the audience."