On Sunday November 3, 2024 legendary music producer and Garfield alumni Quincy Jones passed away in Bel-Air, Los Angeles. He was 91 years old.
Jones was a revolutionary producer, songwriter, composer and arranger. “Quincy, I think, did a great job of working with a lot of artists who don’t really have very clear genre labels,” Garfield band teacher Jared Sessink said. “He has an album from the 90s where he’s got Miles Davis recording with rap artists of the 90s, [so] just a lot of cross collaboration.”
Jones produced hits for 60s singer, Lesley Gore, including “It’s My Party,” and three Michael Jackson albums, including the best selling album of all time, Thriller. Additionally, Jones was an arranger and conductor for many collaborations between jazz artists Frank Sinatra and Count Basie, including their cover of “Fly Me to the Moon” which became the first song ever played in space. Jones was the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Original Song category, and was nominated for 80 Grammys, winning 28 of them.
Jones was born in the south side of Chicago IL on March 14, 1933 to parents Quincy Sr. and Sarah Jones. The family moved to Bremerton Washington in 1943, and four years later to Seattle where Jones attended Garfield High School.
It was at Garfield that Jones first learned to play the trumpet and became more serious about music. Throughout his career, Jones credited his early interest in music to living in Seattle. He reportedly joked that the rain kept him inside writing music. “This place was a music fountain,” Jones said, at the Upstream Fest and Summit in 2017. “Garfield was the most diversified high school in America in the 40s,” Jones said. “Boy oh boy, what a school.”
At Garfield, Jones met Charlie Taylor. The two bonded and formed The Charlie Taylor Band. The duo played all over Seattle, despite making a mere $7 from their first gig. Eventually they met Bumps Blackwell and became The Bumps Blackwell Junior Band, going on to open for Billie Holiday in 1948.
Garfield’s Quincy Jones Performing Arts Center opened in 2008 in tribute to Jones’ revolutionary work in the music industry. “There’s a lot of impact in Quincy’s role in this area, especially in music education. And I think, [it affects] the way people perceive our music programs and jazz in particular,” Sessink said.
The Garfield music program still aims to purposefully honor the work of Quincy Jones. “Students are actively engaged in his music,” Sessink said, “every year we’re playing charts by Quincy Jones, so it’s pretty intentional.” Overall, “there’s a lot we can take from his wisdom,” Sessink said, “[and] a lot to learn from his life, especially for students at Garfield, that maybe [similarly feel that] they don’t have a sense of belonging, because music saved him.”
On November 4, 2024 Garfield drumline and band honored Quincy Jones with a performance of Michael Jackson’s Thriller on the front steps of Garfield.
