Stuff You Gotta Watch: Quincy
Even if you think you know Quincy Jones—Thriller mastermind, super-producer, The Color Purple composer, etc.—you still won’t be prepared for the scale of achievement on display in this sincere and lovingly crafted doc.
Directed by his daughter Rashida, Quincy is a rags-to-riches story interspersed with recent footage revealing the octogenarian’s unstoppable lust for life. Born on Chicago’s South Side, as a kid he ate possum meat and saw his mother taken away in a straitjacket. But music was his escape, and at 14 he left home and started on a journey that would take in every significant Black sound of the century, from jazz and big band to disco, R&B and hip-hop, plus countless films and musicals.
Along the way he acquired three wives, seven kids, and 80 Grammy nominations. But did you know about his friendship with Frank Sinatra? That he founded VIBE magazine? The meeting he held to try and stop Biggie and Tupac from killing each other? The two-hour doc is barely long enough to contain the man’s highlights, let alone the deep cuts. Tragic, comic, heartwarming—a proper showbiz tale.
Review by Chal Ravens. Check out the full archive of the Stuff You Gotta Watch column.