Transcription
Not one drop of my self worth depends on your acceptance of me.
It's work when they say that the dictionary's the only place you see success before work and that's alphabetical. I was ready to do myself in. I just couldn't handle the pressure anymore. From day one, we need how to play every kind of music. Our entire business is all based on two things, a great song and a great story.
He's an American record producer, composer, musician, and entertainment executive. His career spans six decades in the entertainment industry and he's been nominated for a record 79 Grammy awards. Time magazine listed him as one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th Century. He's Quincy Jones and here's my take on his top ten rules for success. Rule number one is my personal favorite, and make sure to stick around all the way to the end for some special bonus clips.
Number one is to know who you are and learning to love who you are. 'Cause you can't love anybody else if you don't love yourself. Ray Charles and I used to say, every day in Seattle, not one drop of my self worth depends on your acceptance of me. Every day, that was the deal with racism and everything, because we don't want an external force defining who the hell you are.
[Interviewer] Where have you gone, to improve your arranging skills, as an arranger?
(laughs) Work and study, man. Work and study. I did that a long time ago. I put 28 years in my core skill and orchestration, counter point, everything. Music is always left and right brain, intellect and emotion, and you've got to work to keep the science going. You don't work to keep the science going, you can't support the emotion. A million guys come and tell me, "man, if I could play piano, "I could be better than Herby Hancock." I say, yeah, but you ain't going to be better than Herby Hancock because you haven't worked. But you have to work. It's work man. They say that the dictionary's the only place you see success before work and that's alphabetical. In school, we were exposed to march music and classical music and semi-classical music. To make a living, you had to play schottische and all those things, so it was always the full range of music around. I remember once Ray Charles said to me, we were trying to put a bee-bop feeling in the schottische one time and he says, "no, you just put your soul into the music "you're playing and let it be a schottische and it'll be okay." I never forgot that.
When Quincy Jones was stranded in Europe, he realized the importance of being a good business man as well as being a good musician. He had to really look at every aspect of the business to try to get home. This is my responsibility. I got him over here, I can get him back.
I was ready to do myself in. I just couldn't handle the pressure anymore because it was performing, and the payrolls, and the book and everything else. I think when people think about taking their life, it's just about 15 minutes peace, just to get some rest for awhile. It's amazing how it works because a whole series of mistakes, at one point, people start to call experience. Oh, he's very experienced in that. That means you've had a chance to mess up a lot. That's great, because if you don't take any chances, you're not going to make any mistakes, you know. My father said to us every day of our lives, "once a task is just begun, never leave it 'til it's done, "be the labor great or small, do it well or not at all." Every day of our lives he said that. He would never let us half step. That I learned from him and I treasure that though, 'cause he didn't believe in doing anything half way.
What advice do you have for the future of making great records as a producer?
Know what you're doing. Study everything. Study music. I'm hearing some funny stuff now that drives me crazy. I'll talk to some of the producers today. We were doing an amazing project in Morocco last year. We had all of the number one singers in the Arab Spring, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Aleppo, Damascus, everywhere. We were recording over there and I'm calling on names over there and I said, "do you read music?" He said, "yeah, I used to, but I forgot." Give me a break man, you don't forget how to read music. Man, you have to understand, to put the work in to learn the science, man. You do. You can't play a trumpet if you don't know how to-- it's a science, the armistice, the diaphragmatic breathing, there's a lot of secrets with everything you attempt to do. Retrograde, inverting, counter point. There's only 12 notes, man, so you can figure out what you have to do to get your own sound. You have to do that through rhythm, melody and harmony, and you have to do a lot of research to figure that out. You have to know what's going on. You have to understand, I don't know a Bravelle and Oldenburg and Basie and Duke and Bo Diddley and Melle Mel and Ludacris and Drake and all of them. Come on man, it's doing your homework, man. That's all I can say. Prepare yourself, 'cause my thing was, my biggest fear, and I don't play with that word at all, was to get great opportunity that I'm not prepared for. When Frank Sinatra called me, man, I was ready for him. I'm telling you. And he tested me. I'm telling you, Ray Charles too, 'cause those guys are rough man. Billy Eckstine, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, they will kick your booty. He'd say to me, we were doing an arrangement at Capital Studios, he'd say, "Q, that first 8 "was a little dense." So I say, no problem man and I put all the horns, the trumpets and the (mumbles) out, transfer the saxophones to the alto flutes, stuff like, let's go. He was testing me. He only did it three times and after that, he said, "he knows what he's doing." I was ready for it and that's the biggest compliment and accomplishment you can have in your life, is to say, I've go my stuff together. I got my (bleep) together. You have to have it together man. (audience applauding) You do.
Let me ask you at creativity then, and the diversity that is Quincy Jones, because I'm a kid of the 1980s, so I know Quincy Jones, the famous guy, the hit maker, the pop wizard, the R&B soul guy. You were a serious jazz guy through the 50s. I mean, you were on tour with Lionel Hampton--
No, no, no, understand man, from day one, we knew how to play every kind of music, Sousa, Debussy, Schottische, for Bar-mitzvahs, rhythm and blues, everything. We played everything, man. I got a lot of, this is when I started doing Michael Jackson. I didn't have to learn anything to do Michael. I mean, I've been doing that all my life.
That's my question though. Is the guy who toured with Count Basie or did arrangements for Count Basie or Gene Krupa, Sarah Vaughan--
Everybody.
That's the same guy who can produce hip hop or pop music?
Bubba, we were doing it all our lives. Nadia Boulanger said, "Quincy, God gave us 12 notes, "the Bach, Brahams, Beethoven, Bo Diddley, Basie, "Bird, all use the same 12 notes." "Until he gives us 13, I want you to know what everybody "did with 12." I studied hard for 28 years, man, and for seven decades, we never stopped, you know. We tried to play like Miles, tried to play like Charlie Parker, like (mumbles) and when you come out of that, there's 10 different people and your personality is going to finally, not transcend that but morph into its own personality because it is a personality. If you have traveled the roads of all the great people, but I think that happens with anything. If it's a camera man, you know, you look at (mumbles), whatever, all your favorite people and just deal with just the best. Or like classical composers or whatever and people that deal with drama, you know with the elements of drama, they all do it a different way. Jump into it. Jump all over it. I'm serious. Don't be bashful. Jump into it. Try to copy it, just like it is. You can't do this on a professional level, I mean in training your mind to think on that level, the highest level, go with everybody from Johnny Williams to Goldsmith to Alan Sylvestre, Stanley Clark, everybody. I have seven kids. I have six daughters, 21 to 16, that's why I don't have any hair. (audience laughing) And one son, but my part of the tough love is to tell them, the first thing they have to know is know who you are. Because a lot of people don't know who they are. And that's very difficult, but that's the first challenge, I think, is to know who you are. If it's 70/30, work on it. At the 30%, stop whining and move on. Then, after you know who you are, love who you are. That's the first two steps. (audience applauding) Mantra to my children. 'Cause you're on your way once you know who you are and love who you are. You're on the way, because if you don't love who you are, you're in trouble. Always be true to yourself, baby. Our entire business is all based on two things, a great song and a great story. Film, television, if you don't have that story, nothing else matters. You don't call anybody else, or direct anybody. The same with a song, great song can make the worst singer in the world a star. But a bad song, the three best singers in the world can not save it. And that's the bottom line man.
[Male] If you are not working as a musician until the later years of your life--
It doesn't matter man. At 60 you can start, man. Nadia Boulanger told me that. She said, "you can become an attorney at 60 years old." Man, you do whatever you feel like doing, if you're willing to put your mindset behind it, the passion, and the work. Anything, anytime in life. (audience applauding) 70 years old. I mean, I feel like I'm just starting man, I really do.
Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because Ari Gabriel asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave it in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I also would love to know which of Quincy's top ten rules had the biggest impact on you and why. Leave it in the comments. I will join in the discussion. Lastly, wanted to give a quick shout out to Mark Drager from Phanta Media. Mark, thank you so much for buying one of my books. It means a lot to me. For those of you watching, if you want a chance at a shout out in a future video, make sure to pick up a copy of the book and email in your receipt so we can keep track. Thank you so much for watching. Continue to believe, or whatever your one word is and I'll see you soon.
It starts with a human being you know. Nadia Boulanger said that to me every day. "Quincy, your music can never be more or less than you are "as a human being." That's what it's about. You can have all that science and technique and everything else. If you don't have a life and love and live and give and stuff like that, you have nothing to say, you know to share, you have nothing to share, to give, and she's right, you know. Man, I have lived man. I did my best. After Ray Charles, are you kidding? Basie, Miles, Sinatra, please. Sinatra used to tell us every night we got off the stand, to live every day like it's the last, and one day, you'll be right. (laughing)