for quincy Jones (4)

for quincy jones

(1933 --

any writing or telling of the history of
black music without u in it is like the english
alphabet without the letter q, the dominant
missing from the diatonic scale, a volume of
space that is essentially empty! quincy delight,
my, my, my, my! what would have happened if u hadn’t
quit school & gone on the road with hamp? u started yr
career arranging songs for the likes of sarah, duke
dinah & ray, playing with the best known names in jazz.
& for more than sixty years u have burned yr imprint –
records, television, film; seventy-nine grammy
award nominations & twenty-seven grammys,
thirty-three major motion picture scores, an emmy,

seven oscar nominations, hundreds of millions
of records sold to name just a few of yr awards
& accolades – on the consciousness of the nation.
u have ushered american music from the post-
swing era thru’ today’s high-tech, international
multi-media hybridism. u have just like
ellison added yr ten drops of black to the mix,
making the discolored stuff like that the “purest white”
when shaken, like obàtálá’s cloth, & like the arch
divinity, u have molded the unique talents
of an eclectic group of singers & musicians
in yr image & likeness, that pays tribute to u,
the musician, composer, arranger, producer.

© Joseph McNair; 2010