Q

July 23, 2001
With some chapters written by Jones, and others by his family and friends (Ray Charles and Peggy Lipton, to name a few), this (auto)biography full of behind-the-scenes anecdotes has an improvisational feel that suits its subject: a jazz musician and superstar composer. Jones came from a hardscrabble background split between Seattle and Chicago—when he was still a boy, his schizophrenic mother was placed in a mental hospital for a time, and he was raised by his father and a stepmother. Jones discovered his talent for music early on, and hit the road with Lionel Hampton's jazz band when he was still a teenager. Hampton is just one of the musical greats who makes an appearance—Frank Sinatra, Dinah Washington and Ray Charles are others. Jones scored his greatest musical successes during the 1970s and '80s (during which years he composed film scores and Michael Jackson's albums), but the strength of the book comes early on, when he describes the joy of his discovery of music, his early friendship with Charles and his struggles and joys as a jazz trumpeter on the road. "When I played music, my nightmares ended. My family problems disappeared." But to Jones's credit, he doesn't hold back his narrative when those problems caught up with him in the 1980s and he suffered a mental breakdown. With the help of his friends, Jones has composed a life story that gives much more than the typical celebrity memoir. (Oct.)Forecast:This title will appeal to many, including fans buying the CD boxed set,
Q: The Music of Quincy Jones.

June 1, 2001
From bebop to hip-hop, from Chicago's steamy South Side to Hollywood, here is the story of a master.

Copyright 2001 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2001
Jones has been a celebrated jazz trumpeter, band leader, arranger, composer, producer, and business mogul. Now he can add writer to his r sum . His powerful, cinematic recollections range from his mother's mental illness, a rough childhood in Chicago, and a musical epiphany in Seattle to working with Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, and Frank Sinatra, leading his own band through a ramshackle tour of Europe, becoming a successful writer of motion picture and television music, producing two of the biggest-selling records of all time (Michael Jackson's Thriller and the "We Are the World" charity single), and surviving two brain operations and a mental breakdown. Jones's snapshots of these events alternate with revealing sections written by his brother, ex-wives, children, and close friends (alas, no Jacko). Though gimmicky in theory, these "witness" chapters actually complement and deepen Jones's firsthand remembrances. Most problematic are the tiresome chapters devoted to his love life (he's fathered seven children by five different women) and the unfocused nature of the book's second half. These flaws, though substantial, are outweighed by the book's strengths. Recommended for most collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/01.] Lloyd Jansen, Stockton-San Joaquin Cty. P.L., CA

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2001
" Thriller." To forestall that development, the man himself offers a mellifluous autobiography, which tells quite a bit about " Thriller" and Jackson but more about Jones' life and long career. Growing up mostly on Chicago's gritty South Side, Jones ran the streets and was fascinated by "the black gangsters who ran all of black Chicago." The usual fruits of fascination with the underworld ensued. "I don't think I ever saw a white person's house until I was eleven and . . . by that time I was carrying a knife and doing whatever I had to do to survive." Every weekend Jones and his siblings "watched a legendary black cop named Two-Gun Pete . . . shoot black kids in the back in broad daylight, right in front of a Walgreen's drugstore." (And those who watchdog repression say the streets are meaner today!) Urban legends, a streetwise narrative voice, the skinny on Michael Jackson, plus bits on other performers many may find more interesting than the self-styled King of Pop--all from a pop star with jazz credibility who might actually have written it himself. Quite a book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)