Quotes by Quincy Jones

About Quincy Jones:

Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. is an American record producer, conductor, arranger, composer, musician, television producer, film producer, instrumentalist, magazine founder, entertainment company executive, and humanitarian. His career spans six decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1991. Jones and fellow artist Alison Krauss have won the second most Grammys in history.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I think the attraction of 'American Idol' is about the basic human nature attitude that is, 'We can put you up there. But we can take you down.'

Quincy Jones

It's amazing how much trouble you can get in when you don't have anything else to do.

Quincy Jones

If architecture is frozen music then music must be liquid architecture.

Quincy Jones

I got in the school band and the school choir. It all hit me like a ton of bricks, everything just came out. I played percussion for a while, and stayed after school forever just tinkering around with different things, the clarinets and the violins.

Quincy Jones

We were in the heart of the ghetto in Chicago during the Depression, and every block - it was probably the biggest black ghetto in America - every block also is the spawning ground practically for every gangster, black and white, in America too.

Quincy Jones

Playing the game, and unfortunately, playing the gangster game is very profitable.

Quincy Jones

My grandmother had this high-tech security system - a rusty nail she used to lock the door.

Quincy Jones

I believe that a hundred years from now, when people look back at the 20th century, they will look at Miles, Bird, Clifford Brown, Ella and Dizzy, among elders as our Mozarts, our Chopins, our Bachs and Beethovens.

Quincy Jones

Arts is just as important as military defense, you know? Emotional defense is just as important.

Quincy Jones

You cannot get an A if you're afraid of getting an F.

Quincy Jones

I was reading Omar Khayyam, Kahlil Gibran, Rumi, L. Ron Hubbard, all sorts of philosophy. Bebop cats are like that. Curious. I wanted to know about everything.

Quincy Jones

When I was about five or seven years old my mother was placed in a mental institution and so we were with our father who worked very hard, and we had to figure a lot of things out.

Quincy Jones

Without the Fender bass, there'd be no rock n' roll or no Motown. The electric guitar had been waiting 'round since 1939 for a nice partner to come along. It became an electric rhythm section, and that changed everything.

Quincy Jones

After I learned the piano, I went on to learn percussion, the tuba, b-flat baritone, French horn, trombone, trumpet, most of the instruments in the orchestra. Trumpet was my instrument.

Quincy Jones

I believe in astrology as much as I do in genetics.

Quincy Jones

I'm Pisces with Leo rising. The Pisces part is the dreamer. The Leo says, 'Let's execute.'

Quincy Jones

When I was 13, I started working in a nightclub with Ray Charles. That's the greatest school in the world, the school of the streets. Ray taught me how to read in Braille. He was only two years older than me, but it was like he was 100 years older.

Quincy Jones

Working with kids in Soweto in South Africa, it's rough out there. But the bottom line is you've got to go to know. In Cambodia, there are 10,000 landmines. Same in Afghanistan, same in Colombia. I'm totally addicted to traveling.

Quincy Jones

We got into all the trouble you could ever imagine. We figured that if the Jones boys and all the gangsters ran Chicago, we had our own territory now. All the stores, all the crime, we were in charge of everything, my stepbrother and my brother.

Quincy Jones

Frank Sinatra took me to a whole new planet. I worked with him until he passed away in '98. He left me his ring. I never take it off. Now, when I go to Sicily, I don't need a passport. I just flash my ring.

Quincy Jones

Author Bio

  • NameQuincy Jones
  • DescriptionAmerican record producer, conductor, arranger, composer, television producer, and trumpeter
  • AliasesQuincy Delight Jones, Jr.
  • BornMarch 14, 1933
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionConductor; Trumpeter; Composer; Bandleader; Jazz Musician
  • AwardsCommander Of The Legion Of Honour; Marian Anderson Award; Grammy Trustees Award; Grammy Legend Award; MusiCares Person Of The Year; National Humanities Medal; Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award; Steiger Award