The Wattree Chronicle: Echoes of An Era: The Fabulous Quincy Jones

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

ECHOES OF AN ERA: THE FABULOUS QUINCY JONES

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Quincy Jones is one of the last truly GREAT composers and arrangers to come out of jazz or any other form of music in quite some time. NOBODY is greater, and no one ever has been. He stands among Ellington, Basie, Mancini, and Gershwin in complete comfort, so we can't honor this musical giant enough. The fact is, Quincy's genius, like the genius of Charlie Parker, Ray Charles, and John Coltrane, makes him not only a musical giant, but very easily elevates him to the stature of one of the greatest men who's ever lived.
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Yes, we already recognize him as a celebrity, but he’s much more than just that. Due to our contemporary philosophy of "de-education" - or the dumbing-down of society - even in his celebrity many of us fail to recognize Quincy’s true stature as an artist and what he represents to the history of humanity as a whole. Quincy Jones is not just famous, he's an icon of the arts of a historic stature, and we should all recognize and honor such greatness within our midst, because there is nothing of more value to humanity than those who have achieved Quincy’s level of excellence, greatness, and accomplishment.
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People such as Quincy enhances all of humanity. They serve as living testaments to what mankind is capable of at our best. Their contributions represent the ultimate political, spiritual, and moral statement of humanity as a whole. They stand as a constant reminder of what man can, and should be, and the kind of excellence that we should all strive to achieve.

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So I dedicate these lyrics as my tribute to a GREAT man, a great artist, and to one of his greatest compositions, a composition that serenaded me as a mere child of 12, and I love it just as much today as I did then. I was incapable of expressing how much I appreciated the beauty that Quincy and his cohort, the late great saxophonist, Phil Woods, brought into my life back then, but hopefully, I can do it now.
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To Quincy Jones, a musical genius who has managed to achieve the ultimate in the human endeavor . . . immortality.
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QUINTESSENCE

(The Fabulous Quincy Jones - Recorded Dec. 22, 1961)

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I____ love the sound____ of maestro Quincy Jones____.

His music____ is so____ divine______.

When I sing____his songs____ I know I can’t____go wrong,

because I’m filled____with the soul____of Quincy Jones______.

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Q’s____serenades_____ are always so refined________
The mel-o-dies linger____ on_____.

They sing of love for you____from a guy_______ known

as "Q"_____,

A name____that will always_______ sing for

you______.

DUKE ELLINGTON

And then when Phil____ begins to play,

Quin-tes-sence in his own____and special way____

he seems to know_____exactly what the Q had to say.

They sung about jazz and love\ and of \ling___er___ing

Sunsets__________,

then______ blessed the dawn________with this song__________.

They sung of love\ and when your heart is full,
trem-bl-ing lips\ beneath a mistletoe____

they made my heart____ stand still_______.

So when I sing____ this song____ I know I\Just\ can’t____ go wrong______,

because it flowed____ from the pen ____ of

Maestro Quincy Jones______.
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COUNT BASIE

I____ love the sound____ of maestro Quincy Jones____.

His music____ is so____ divine______.

When I sing____his songs____ I know I can’t____go wrong,

because I’m filled____with the soul____of Quincy Jones______.

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FRANK SINATRA
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And then when Phil began to play\he sung it in____ his own and special way_____,

and he said, \"Maestro\ . . . I just love this mel-o-dy that you've laid,"

then picked up his horn and started to

soar________like an angel__________,

and joined____ the immortals____ in fame_____.
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