Soundtrack

Quincy Jones is credited as the composer.

My late father was a jazz musician who worked with Quincy Jones a number of times over a number of years, particularly on film and television production. (My family still receives small royalty checks from various films that Jones is credited with scoring, INCLUDING "The Pawnbroker.") Quincy Jones has utilized the talents of many, many jazz musicians over the years, so many of our close family friends have also worked with him on various recordings, as well as in live concert settings.

The thing to remember about Mr. Jones is that HE DOES NOT ACTUALLY WRITE MOST OF THE MUSIC WITH WHICH HE IS CREDITED. It is called "ghost writing" in the business. Everyone I've ever known in the professional music world agrees that his great talent is that of a PRODUCER of music projects...but he is NOT A MUSICIAN. He does not sit at a keyboard with score paper and scribble notes as do most composers/songwriters of his generation. Even when he played trumpet (very briefly) on Lionel Hampton's band, long before he became well-known, his musical skills were decidedly sub-par by all accounts (including HIS OWN, if you ever catch the documentary "Listen Up: The Lives Of Quincy Jones").

He hires superior musicians, who have no interest in "the spotlight," to do the actual writing/scoring of his various projects, pays them handsomely, uses them time and again, and lists himself as the composer (or co-composer), and often copyrights the work under one of his own publiching entities.

Jones is a MASTERFUL and insightful producer, an outstanding "politician" in entertainment circles, who came about at the right time in history, met all the right people, and negotiated the ever-changing world of comercial music with skill and savvy, while maintaining an unmistakable aura charisma and charm...but any critique of "his" musical compositions is purely academic, and therefore meaningless.