Quincy Jones An impresario in the broadest and most creative sense of the word, Quincy Jones ' career has encompassed the roles of composer, record producer, artist, film producer, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, TV producer, record company executive, magazine founder and multi-media entrepreneur. As a master inventor of musical hybrids, he has shuffled pop, soul, hip-hop, jazz, classical, African and Brazilian music into many dazzling fusions, traversing virtually every medium, including records, live performance, movies and television. Celebrating his 50th year performing and being involved in music, Jones' creative magic has spanned over six decades, beginning with the music of the post-swing era and continuing through today's high-technology, international multi-media hybrids. In the mid-50's, he was the first popular conductor-arranger to record with a Fender bass. His theme from the hit TV series "Ironside " was the first synthesizer-based pop theme song. As the first black composer to be embraced by the Hollywood establishment in the 60's, he helped refresh movie music with badly needed infusions of jazz and soul. His landmark 1989 album, BACK ON THE BLOCK was named "Album Of The Year " at the 1990 Grammy Awards and brought such legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Miles Davis together with Ice T, Big Daddy Kane and Melle Mel to create the first fusion of the be hop and hip hop musical traditions. His 1993 recording of the critically acclaimed "Miles and Quincy Live At Montreux " featured Quincy conducting Miles Davis' live performance of the historic Gil Evans arrangements from the "Miles Ahead", "Porgy and Bess" and "Sketches of Spain" sessions, garnering a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance. As producer and conductor of the historic "We Are The World" recording (the best-selling single of all time) and Michael Jackson's multi-platinum solo albums, "Off The Wall", "Bad " and "Thriller" (the best selling album of all time, with over 40 million copies sold), Jones stands as one of the most successful and admired creative artist/executives in the entertainment world. Born on March 14, 1933, in Chicago, Jones was brought up in Seattle. While in junior high school, he began studying trumpet and sang in a gospel quartet at age 12. His musical studies continued at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he remained until the opportunity arose to tour with Lionel Hampton ' s band as a trumpeter, arranger and sometimepianist. He moved on to New York and the musical "big leagues" in 1951, where his reputation as an arranger grew. By the mid-50 ' s, he was arranging and recording for such diverse artists as Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Count Basic, Duke Ellington, Big Maybelle, Dinah Washington, Cannonball Adderly and LeVern Baker. When he became vice-president at Mercury Records in 1961, Jones became the first high-level African American of an established major record company. Toward the end of his association with the label, Jones turned his attention to another musical area that had been closed to African Americans-the world of film scores. in 1963, he started work on the music for Sidney Lumet's "The Pawnbroker" and it was the first of his 33 major motion picture scores. Jones' laurels, awards and accolades have been innumerable: he has won an Emmy Award for his score of the of the opening episode of the landmark TV miniseries, "Roots", seven Oscar nominations, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ' Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, 26 Grammy Awards, and N.A.R.A.S.' prestigious Trustees' Award and The Grammy Living Legend Award. He is the all-time most nominated Grammy artist with a total of 77 Grammy nominations. In 1990, France recognized Jones with its most distinguished title, the Legion d' Honneur. He is also the recipient of the French Ministry of Culture ' s Distinguished Arts and Letters Award. Jones is the recipient of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music 's coveted Polar Music Prize, and the Republic of Italy's Rudolph Valentino Award. Jones is also the recipient of honorary doctorates from Howard University, the Berklee College of Music, Seattle University, Wesleyan University, Brandeis University, Loyola University (New Orleans), Clark Atlanta University, Claremont University's Graduate School, and the University of Connecticut, Harvard University, and The American Film Institute.