Mark Ronson has shared his tribute to the late Quincy Jones in an obituary piece.
Published by The Guardian yesterday (December 26), Ronson wrote at length about his experience working with Jones, who died at the age of 91 in November.
He began by recalling a section he read in Jones’ 2001 memoir Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones – about how the producer, in the midst of a burgeoning career in his mid-20s, packed up and left for Paris to study music theory and composition.
“I fantasise about having that kind of courage,” Ronson wrote. “The guts to drop everything, leave the rat race and bury myself in theory and orchestration, and return a musical Jedi master, instead of freezing like a deer in headlights at Abbey Road while conductors toss around terms that may as well be in Klingon.”
He said Jones set an “impossible yardstick” with his decades-spanning work: “For producers and arrangers like me, he didn’t just raise the bar; he hid it where no one could reach.”
His own personal relationship with Jones also goes back to the past two decades – with Ronson once engaged to Jones’ daughter Rashida in the early-2000s. “Over the years, he would send me kind notes – he had a particular fondness for Amy [Winehouse] – and we’d often hang out whenever I played the Montreux jazz festival, his beloved stomping ground,” Ronson recalled.
The duo would work together on a song for the 2018 documentary Quincy, which was directed by Rashida. Ronson detailed a moment in the studio working with Jones: “At one point, I got stuck on a trumpet solo – take after take, and I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong.”
“Quincy, silent all day, finally piped up: ‘Tell him to try a cup mute.’ ‘Excuse me, Q?’ He nodded. ‘Cup mute.’ The trumpeter took out a cup mute, and just like that, the sound I’d been chasing appeared. Quincy knew – intuitively, spiritually – what I was searching for and what the song needed. He was a guru and musical maestro.”
Ronson concluded: “Losing Quincy is like a black hole swallowing part of the musical universe. But his work will live forever, as will his lessons.” Read the full tribute piece here.
Last month, Rashida and her family accepted a lifetime achievement award on behalf of Jones, with the actress reading the speech the producer had prepared prior to his death.
“Our father passed away two weeks ago today. He was really excited to attend tonight, and a lot of his family are here,” Rashida said, accompanied by her siblings. “… And he really, really, really intended on being here with us tonight. And I want you to know that he is here, very much here.”