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" When I was about five or seven years old my mother was placed in a mental institution and so we were with our father who worked very hard, and we had to figure a lot of things out. "
Quincy Jones
Years
Mother
Father
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" When I was 13, I started working in a nightclub with Ray Charles. That's the greatest school in the world, the school of the streets. Ray taught me how to read in Braille. He was only two years older than me, but it was like he was 100 years older. "
Quincy Jones
Working
Me
School
" To me it's no accident that all the symphony orchestras around the world tune up to the note A. And A is 440 cycles, except in Germany where it's 444. But the universe is 450 cycles. So what I'm trying to say is, I think it's God's voice, melody especially. Counterpoint, retrograde inversion, harmony... that's the science and the craft. "
Quincy Jones
God
World
Think
" The climate in the '50s and '60s for black performers or black people in the entertainment business was atrocious. It was atrocious. "
Quincy Jones
Entertainment
Business
Black
" Frank Sinatra took me to a whole new planet. I worked with him until he passed away in '98. He left me his ring. I never take it off. Now, when I go to Sicily, I don't need a passport. I just flash my ring. "
Quincy Jones
Ring
Now
Need
" Every day, my daddy told me the same thing. 'Once a task is just begun, never leave it till it's done. Be the labour great or small, do it well or not at all.' "
Quincy Jones
Small
Great
Every Day
" You make your mistakes to learn how to get to the good stuff. "
Quincy Jones
Good
Your
Mistakes
" China's got a billion people and a hit record over there is a million records. You know that ain't right. "
Quincy Jones
Over
People
Right
" A great song can make a terrible singer sound good, but a good singer - you put a great song on top of that, you're really in great shape! "
Quincy Jones
Song
Top
Good
" I got in the school band and the school choir. It all hit me like a ton of bricks, everything just came out. I played percussion for a while, and stayed after school forever just tinkering around with different things, the clarinets and the violins. "
Quincy Jones
Everything
Band
Forever
" Without the Fender bass, there'd be no rock n' roll or no Motown. The electric guitar had been waiting 'round since 1939 for a nice partner to come along. It became an electric rhythm section, and that changed everything. "
Quincy Jones
Guitar
Partner
Rock
" When I was 14, I was a passenger in a terrible accident. "
Quincy Jones
Passenger
Terrible
Accident
" My earliest memories are being pinned to a fence with a switchblade. "
Quincy Jones
Memories
Pinned
Being
" Melody is king, and don't you ever forget it. Lyrics appear to be out front, but they're not; they're just an accompanying factor. If they're good, you're really in good shape. Lyrics are written to be rewritten. "
Quincy Jones
Forget
Good
You
" All guys get into music because they love music and they also want to get the girls. "
Quincy Jones
Love
Guys
Want
" Everybody, no matter what vocation they're looking at, should add music as an essential to their curriculum. Music can be a very important part of your soul and your growth as a human being. It's so powerful. "
Quincy Jones
Looking
Powerful
Soul
" I'm never in my life going to do a record that's a tribute to myself. I don't need it. "
Quincy Jones
Myself
Life
Never
" I was reading Omar Khayyam, Kahlil Gibran, Rumi, L. Ron Hubbard, all sorts of philosophy. Bebop cats are like that. Curious. I wanted to know about everything. "
Quincy Jones
Curious
Reading
Cats
" I don't ever want to grow up. That's boring. "
Quincy Jones
Ever
Up
Want
" I started imagining this whole different world. It was a society of musicians, a family I hoped I could belong to one day. "
Quincy Jones
Day
World
Society
" Unfortunately, America doesn't have a minister of culture, and I don't understand why. It's really bad for young people. "
Quincy Jones
Young
People
Culture
" I got a scholarship to Seattle University and I was writing arrangements for singers and everybody. But the music course was too dry and I really wanted to get away from home. "
Quincy Jones
Away
Writing
Seattle
" Young people should travel, and they don't. You can't know if you don't go. "
Quincy Jones
Travel
People
Know
" I was rapping in 1939. It's old. The roots are complex. And kids don't know. "
Quincy Jones
Kids
Old
Roots
" Sidney Poitier and Sidney Lumet were instrumental in helping me get started as the first black composer to get name credit for movie scores. "
Quincy Jones
Name
Me
Started
" I like all music. The only music I don't like is bad music. "
Quincy Jones
Like
Bad
Music
" I believe in astrology as much as I do in genetics. "
Quincy Jones
Believe
Astrology
I Believe
" I believe that a hundred years from now, when people look back at the 20th century, they will look at Miles, Bird, Clifford Brown, Ella and Dizzy, among elders as our Mozarts, our Chopins, our Bachs and Beethovens. "
Quincy Jones
Look
People
Believe
" I was inspired by a lot of people when I was young. Every band that came through town, to the theater, or the dance hall. I was at every dance, every night club, listened to every band that came through, because in those days we didn't have MTV, we didn't have television. "
Quincy Jones
Band
Dance
Night
" I travel like a maniac. I travel more than anyone I know. I love learning the languages. "
Quincy Jones
Know
Learning
Like
" I'm a tremendous believer and supporter in hip-hop and rap. "
Quincy Jones
Supporter
Rap
Hip-Hop