Legendary music producer has new boxed set, book

'Q' and A: A talk with Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones has been a professional musician since he was a teen-ager.

By Paul Clinton
Special to CNN

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Many people in show business, such as Cher and Madonna, go by just one name. But only one person needs just one letter to identify himself, and that's Q -- otherwise known as Quincy Jones.

A musical prodigy, Jones played backup for Billie Holiday and toured the world with Lionel Hampton before he was out of his teen-age years. He's arranged albums for such legends as Frank Sinatra (who gave him his single-letter nickname), Ray Charles and Sarah Vaughan, and produced one of the biggest-selling albums of all time, Michael Jackson's "Thriller." He also wrote musical scores for films such as "The Pawnbroker" (1965), "In Cold Blood" (1967), and "The Color Purple" (1985), the latter which he also co-produced with Steven Spielberg.

Recently, he was selected a 2001 Kennedy Center Honoree for his lifetime contribution to American culture through the performing arts.

AUDIO 'Soul Bossa Nova,' Quincy Jones & His Orchestra WAV sound (207K) 'My Buddy,' Ray Charles WAV sound (242K)

Jones has just published his autobiography in words and music, a book (published by Doubleday) and CD boxed set (Rhino) both titled "Q." But that doesn't mean his career is over -- at the age of 68, he's just getting started. Just ask him.

CNN: Why a book, and why now?

Jones: Why now? Probably because I've slipped and slided as long as I could, just circling the field, you know. I tried to procrastinate as long as I could because I knew it was going to be painful. I anticipated that this was going to be a difficult thing to do. We made "Color Purple" in five-and-a-half months. We made "Thriller" in two months. This thing has taken five years.

CNN: Did you open up memories that you wish you hadn't?

Jones: Oh, absolutely. And you anticipate that. You know, I never look back. I never have before. But once you get pulled into it -- little by little -- at one point it grabs you by the neck and says, "forget everything else." I've never experienced anything like it in my life.

Jones signs autographs at a Los Angeles-area store.

(It was) more than painful, that's why I didn't want to deal with it. Now, I'm not complaining about my life, because I've had some beautiful things happen to me too. But conversely I've had some rough things happen, too, that I didn't want to confront, things I've totally blanked out.

CNN: What was the hardest period to go back to?

Jones: My childhood. ... We came up in Chicago, during the Depression, the biggest ghetto in America. (Writer) John Bradshaw ... says that before the age of 9 you need caretakers, male and female, that validate you and nurture you, who love you and guide you. And if they do their job right, you're OK. And if they don't you have a hole in you that you try to fill for the rest of your life. ... That was a big revelation for me, the things I blanked out when I was young. It was a defense mechanism, an emotional defense mechanism to keep going.

CNN: Your father moved you and your brothers to Seattle when you were 10 years old, and that's where you discovered music?

Jones: My stepbrother, my brother, and myself, and my cousin, we did everything that was possible to do. We burned down stores, we stole, whatever you had to do. ...

One day we broke into the armory, and we were eating ice cream and started to roam around. I broke into an administration office and there was a piano there. I almost closed the door, and thank God something told me to go inside. I approached the piano and it pulled me all the way in, and that turned me upside down. From that day on, I found a substitute for my mother. I found a way to convert anything negative that happened to me -- I could convert it into something positive.

CNN: To what do you attribute your being in the right place at the right time for so many years, in terms of discovering young talent and new trends?

Jones: I think serendipity has a lot to do with it, and fate and destiny. I also think fate, destiny and good luck are more likely to connect if the opportunity is backed up with preparation. I think the worst thing that can happen to you is having an enormous opportunity and just a little preparation, and I think that's a disaster.

From the time I was 13 years old, all I wanted to do was write, arrange and orchestrate. I wanted to know everything. I wanted to know what it was about. There's 12 notes, and once I had that I was hooked. There wasn't nothing I wouldn't do to get better.

CNN: How did you manage to avoid so many pitfalls in the business that others stumbled into?

Jones: I don't know. My brother and I had to figure it out ourselves because we didn't have parents to say, "Go that way, or go this way." I had mentors like Ray Charles, who was 16 when I was 14. I was lucky, I had people to show me the way.

That's why it comes naturally to me to communicate and connect with young people. I met Michael Jackson when he was 12. I understand, and I feel the growth pattern, and I feel where their souls are. I connect with them.

CNN: Music always takes a role during times of war. What do you think will happen with this war?

Jones: Now more than ever, I think rappers are going to have to reinvestigate and revisit what the essence of their message really is about. I think that's good news. It's a very scary time right now, and we can no longer afford to have any population in the world that has nothing to lose and nothing to live for.