# Quincy Jones has zero fucks to give: his Interview; shades Michael, Jimi, Ringo, Cyndi, etc **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2018, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505 "2018-02-09T10:40:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/142 "2018-02-20T11:25:25Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Yeah, it was in (iirc) a Guitar Player interview with Sonic Youth where Thurston Moore starts talking about making noises with a toy ray gun and Lee interjects to say something to the effect of “No such thing ever happens. I’m tired of talking to a French reporter four years from now and being asked ‘Are you ever going to do more work with zee toy ray gun?’, and having no idea what they’re talking about.” That was when I realized in a firm, clear way that sometimes reporters are just getting their chains yanked. Artists embellish and deceive. To conceal their art, to embellish their image or just to be entertained on a long press tour. One has to listen with that in mind and target general impressions vs. specifics, depending on the storyteller. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/143 "2018-02-20T11:32:47Z")
A storyteller telling a story, perhaps with embellishments - a good way to look at it. I suppose I was just a little let down because Jones has always been so big on integrity and hard work and humility within success and the presence of God all around. “God is in the melody”, etc., So finding out some of this stuff wasn’t true knocked me for a bit of a loop. But like family members are forgiving of those who run afoul of the law, I found my self watching and admiring various interviews on Youtube tonight and finding myself becoming more and more forgiving the more I watched, and I was still watching as your post came in. There was much, much good stuff in those clips that isn’t even in question, and to think of him as a storyteller hits just the right note. Whether he’s talking of things that are obviously and truly part of his past or those that might call for that grain of salt, it’s all the same - a good story told by an intelligent and broadly accomplished guy. A good perspective from you as usual, **WordMan**. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/144 "2018-02-20T11:47:51Z")
Your last post came in as I was composing my last post and I just now saw it. I dabble a bit in art myself and can relate to your comments about deceit, embellishment and concealment. Those elements are all there and perhaps I’d have recognized both them and the reasons for them where Jones is concerned were I more than a dabbler. Thanks again, I appreciate the insight. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/145 "2018-02-20T16:23:51Z")
I have to disagree with you, WordMan. Your sort of saying the truth doesn’t matter. So what if QJ wasn’t really decapitated\*, that he didn’t really die in the Manson murders. He tells a good story. I for one don’t want to live in the “post-fact” world. I like my stories to be true (unless they are obviously “this is a no shit story” tales. _The Adventures of Baron Munchausen_ was a great movie, but the actual baron is the namesake for bullshit stories to this day. And it sounds like perhaps you don’t mind being Munchausened by QJ. \*I know. I’m embellishing my story. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/146 "2018-02-20T18:14:16Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I have to disagree with you, WordMan. Your sort of saying the truth doesn’t matter. So what if QJ wasn’t really decapitated\*, that he didn’t really die in the Manson murders. He tells a good story. > > I for one don’t want to live in the “post-fact” world. I like my stories to be true (unless they are obviously “this is a no shit story” tales. _The Adventures of Baron Munchausen_ was a great movie, but the actual baron is the namesake for bullshit stories to this day. And it sounds like perhaps you don’t mind being Munchausened by QJ. > > \*I know. I’m embellishing my story. 🙂 I hear what you are saying, and I wouldn’t go around restating the specifics of his stories as facts without checking them out, but do I believe Quincy knew those folks and might’ve even planned to be there that night? Sure. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/147 "2018-02-20T22:45:00Z")
It could be that Q’s slipping a bit with age, and that could account for the discrepancy on the timeline re _Bullitt_ and the Manson murders. In [this interview with Khalid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgpFjIPXB2s), Jones learns that Khalid was born in '98 and thus begins musing about what he was doing in '98 and can’t quite come up with it, but while musing over the question he mentions that he did the _Q’s Jook Joint_ album in '97. But I have a very specific recollection of listening to that album in the spring of '96 so I looked it up, and sure enough it was released in Nov. of '95. So if Jones could honestly be off two years on a major award-winning album like _Q’s Jook Joint_ he could certainly be off 6 months or so on when the Tate killings took place and when he watched the preliminary _Bullitt_ screening. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/148 "2018-02-21T09:50:43Z")
Roman Polanski, in his (I think) late 1970s autobio titled (I think) “Roman”, states that no one else was expected at the house on Cielo Drive that day, not even Jerzy Kozinski (who was also an accomplished embellisher). ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/149 "2018-02-21T16:43:40Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > I realize that the Taylor Swift, Marlon Brando, and Michael Jackson comments are getting most of the attention here, but it bears mentioning that [at least one arranger thinks that the whole “Giant Steps” = 12-tone thing is off base](http://blog.danreitz.com/?p=1520). The author (and one of his commenters) leave some room to consider whether or not _Ascension_ is a 12-tone piece, but “Giant Steps” really has very little to do with 12-tone music as it is usually construed. > > I’m wondering if Q was just being provocative to be provocative. We all have a bit of the trickster in us, no? I thought it was in this thread that he was quoted as saying that Giant Steps came from a thesaurus of scales and melodic patterns by Nicolas Slominsky. I would be more interested in whether this was correct, than if he misused the twelve tone term in conversation. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/150 "2018-02-21T17:19:53Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I thought it was in this thread that he was quoted as saying that Giant Steps came from a thesaurus of scales and melodic patterns by Nicolas Slominsky. I would be more interested in whether this was correct, than if he misused the twelve tone term in conversation. There does seem to be a link.. Nothing definitive there, but according to Slominsky, McCoy Tyner said that Coltrane had that book with him frequently and practiced with it daily from ‘57 - ‘59. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/151 "2018-02-21T21:45:23Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There does seem to be a link.. Nothing definitive there, but according to Slominsky, McCoy Tyner said that Coltrane had that book with him frequently and practiced with it daily from ‘57 - ‘59. He might have said 12 tone because he’s 86 and actually just meant “technical excercises” or something musically “lofty.” ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/152 "2018-02-21T22:03:24Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There does seem to be a link.. Nothing definitive there, but according to Slominsky, McCoy Tyner said that Coltrane had that book with him frequently and practiced with it daily from ‘57 - ‘59. Yeah, I buy that … it’s a good book, btw. Still in print. An excellent resource for any musician. Bibliore is a cool site, too (I’m listed in one of their posts and I’m greatly honored!) though I think your link is off. > **[Slonimsky and Coltrane](https://bibliolore.org/2014/04/27/slonimsky-and-coltrane/)** > >   Nicolas Slonimsky’s Thesaurus of scales and melodic patterns (1947) is a highly systematic compendium of templates for composition and improvisation. In an interview, Slonimsky stated that “… As for Q’s line about Alban Berg? Yeah, maybe Coltrane got some inspiration from Berg, but Coltrane drew from many sources, musical, technical, spiritual, all in this torrent of ideas. > **[Why Giant Steps is not 12-tone - Dan Reitz Dot Blog](https://blog.danreitz.com/why-giant-steps-is-not-12-tone/)** > > This is a strange thing to write about, but an interview with Quincy Jones was published yesterday in which Quincy Jones repeatedly referred to Giant Steps, and at least one other John Coltrane recording, as being “12-tone.” I’d put Quincy Jones near... ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/153 "2018-02-21T22:18:08Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I never liked Quincy Jones’ work; everything he does sounds horribly over-produced to me. > > Compare early blues and R&B recordings of Dinah Washington, backed by smokin’ hot jazz combos, with the toned-down, sedate crap she did under the Jones baton. > > Yeah, maybe he knew Bird and Diz, but THEY probably thought he was a dork, too. > > Fuck his opinions; he greatest talent was outliving all the better musicians. I pretty much agree maybe a little less harshly. And while even as jazz fan I used to unfavorably compare the technical proficiency of pop musicians compared to real jazz musicians in general, that was a youthful affectation I long ago realized was beside the point. It’s still beside the point even if a (once) genuine jazzman (though a not true great as a jazzman) like Jones is saying it. Moreover Jones is mainly famous as an arranger/producer of music the main attribute of which is that a lot of people like it. Not that it’s great but under appreciated art. So why would he be the one commenting on the musical/technical seriousness or lack of by successful pop acts. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/154 "2018-02-21T22:56:44Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Yeah, I buy that … it’s a good book, btw. Still in print. An excellent resource for any musician. > > Bibliore is a cool site, too (I’m listed in one of their posts and I’m greatly honored!) though I think your link is off. Ack! Sorry about that. Thanks for putting up the correct link. (I keep forgetting that when I’m on my iPad or iPhone, it defaults to text quotes vs straight quotes. I’ve done this multiple times. I also keep forgetting that you no longer have to cage the URL in quotes, anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/155 "2018-02-22T01:26:16Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Yeah, I buy that … it’s a good book, btw. Still in print. An excellent resource for any musician. > > Bibliore is a cool site, too (I’m listed in one of their posts and I’m greatly honored!) though I think your link is off. > > [Slonimsky and Coltrane | Bibliolore](https://bibliolore.org/2014/04/27/slonimsky-and-coltrane/) > > As for Q’s line about Alban Berg? Yeah, maybe Coltrane got some inspiration from Berg, but Coltrane drew from many sources, musical, technical, spiritual, all in this torrent of ideas. > > [Why Giant Steps is not 12-tone - Dan Reitz Dot Blog](http://blog.danreitz.com/?p=1520) I actually bought one after reading the interview. I can’t read music but I’m going to carry it around for a few years and see what happens. I am going to dig into every bit of it that doesn’t take music reading. In all seriousness I am getting a lot of reflected info from the contents page. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/156 "2018-02-22T01:34:03Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I actually bought one after reading the interview. I can’t read music but I’m going to carry it around for a few years and see what happens. I am going to dig into every bit of it that doesn’t take music reading. In all seriousness I am getting a lot of reflected info from the contents page. I’ve been dropping the book from various heights in a stairwell and sampling with a field recorder. Definitely useful to non-musicians as well. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/157 "2018-02-22T04:17:20Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I actually bought one after reading the interview. I can’t read music but I’m going to carry it around for a few years and see what happens. I am going to dig into every bit of it that doesn’t take music reading. In all seriousness I am getting a lot of reflected info from the contents page. Any study is a good thing … except … Are you also becoming an heroin addict? Seriously, a LOT of people did that 'cause … well, some of that genius might be there. Worked for Trane, didn’t it? (Quincy can probably tell you who they were.) \*Now I’m deep into Zen meditation and macrobiotics, and as soon as I can I intend to get into narcotics. \* your humble TubaDiva I even call my girlfriend “Man.” ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/158 "2018-02-22T04:29:45Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Any study is a good thing … except … > > Are you also becoming an heroin addict? > > Seriously, a LOT of people did that 'cause … well, some of that genius might be there. Worked for Trane, didn’t it? > > (Quincy can probably tell you who they were.) > > \*Now I’m deep into Zen > meditation and macrobiotics, > and as soon as I can > I intend to get into narcotics. \* > > your humble TubaDiva > I even call my girlfriend “Man.” Not an addict but I’ve also been looking for the book supposedly written by Victor Feldman about harmony, just to have it. I haven’t found it. I hope it’s not all staves and lines. Whoa those intrachapter headings are 50 centers. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/159 "2018-02-22T16:19:15Z")
You don’t mean this do you? _Musicians Guide To Chord Progression_ [http://jazzbooks.com/jazz/product/MGCP](http://jazzbooks.com/jazz/product/MGCP) OMG! Here’s Victor Feldman with probably one of the greatest bassists of all time, Scott LoFaro, and the fabulous Stan Levey on drums … Sorry to drag this thread so far astray but good music. drad dog, PM me or email me if there's anything I can help you with. :D ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/160 "2018-02-22T16:41:14Z")
Oh…Scott LoFaro. Such a sad story (for other readers: he died in a car accident right after doing **Live at the Village Vanguard** with **Bill Evans** ), a favorite CD of mine. I can’t imagine being a Coltrane and carrying around a scale/mode book to dip into and use to expand his practice work. So committed. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/161 "2018-02-22T18:10:09Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > You don’t mean this do you? > > _Musicians Guide To Chord Progression_ > > [Jamey Aebersold Jazz: Product Display](http://jazzbooks.com/jazz/product/MGCP) > > OMG! Here’s Victor Feldman with probably one of the greatest bassists of all time, Scott LoFaro, and the fabulous Stan Levey on drums … > > Sorry to drag this thread so far astray but good music. drad dog, PM me or email me if there's anything I can help you with. :D I must be losing a step. That was quick. And cheap! Thanks. You have the first Tuba chair in any orchestra I organize. I read that Walter Becker said that when he started out he just bought a book on chords and that was all he needed and I thought maybe it was Victor’s, since he played on all 6 dan classics. Just read that he was the percussionist on Do It Again, so he was like the first steely ever heard by most people. In Re: QJ and “twelve tone” I think he was using the term like you would “long hair music” or “jungle music” as shorthand for complexity, basically saying “They said it was a heavy composition, but it was from an exercise book” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505.md?page=9)