Quincy Jones moved to Seattle as a child and discovered a passion for music that would bring him global success as a musician, composer and producer.
* How would you describe Seattle?
Seattle is like a global gumbo, a melting pot with all kinds of people -- the rich, the poor, white people, some Chinese, Filipino, Jewish and black people -- they‘re all here.
* What was it like when you first arrived in the city?
I was born into a black ghetto in Chicago, during the depression. Where we came from, there were gangsters everywhere. At 11 years old we broke into a building to get some lemon meringue pie. As we were leaving, I spotted a splendid piano in the corner. I put my hands on the piano and somehow every cell in the body, everything in me knew that‘s what I would be doing for the rest of my life. That moment changed my life.
* Your remarkable career started in Seattle...
I always wanted to be a trumpet player. By the time I got to high school I was starting to be pretty good. I was in all the bands at the school -- concert bands, dance bands, the gospel bands. Back then, Ray Charles and I used to pretend we were older than we were so that we could sneak into the jazz clubs around the city. Later we started playing in nightclubs; it was brilliant.
* You are, arguably, best known for producing Michael Jackson. How did that come about?
When I was a musical director we were working together on a film project. He asked me to help him find a producer for his first solo album. Watching him was incredible. He would learn everybody else‘s parts -- the dialogues, the songs, the dance steps -- and I saw something in him. I saw a part of him that had never been exposed before. We went all the way to Michael‘s soul at that time and it was am amazing experience.
* You‘ve often said that music gave you your freedom, how is that?
Music to me became a passion. It was even deeper than that because we had a strange family background. My mother was in the mental institution since I was seven, with dementia. Things weren‘t working out in the family sense. I didn‘t know my mother so I made a pact with my soul and said if I don‘t have one I don‘t need one, and I made music my mother. Music became my mother and it was a passion -- a total passion.
