Spring begins early in Tucson and The Learning Curve (an adult education program) offered a four week class on The Magic & Music Quincy Jones, who passed away in November, 2024. The Learning Curve is an independent Arts and Humanities program exploring History, Music and Literature. Our instructor was Khris Dodge, the Executive Director of the Tucson Jazz Festival held each January and also the Conductor for the Tucson Pops Orchestra. We had taken several classes with Khris over the past few years and always enjoy them. Per the outline, we were going to:
Explore the depth and breadth of the incredible career of the legendary Quincy Jones, one of the most accomplished figures in modern music, crossing jazz, R&B, film music, and pop over a seven-decade career. He received 28 Grammy awards and was given honorary degrees by Harvard, Princeton, Juilliard, the New England Conservatory, the Berklee School of Music, and many other institutions, as well as a National Medal of Arts and a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master fellowship.
The classes are always fun and filled with video clips, some live performances and our instructor’s personal notes. Learning more about such a prolific participant in the world’s music scene was an eye-opener. I knew little about Quincy Jones and had no concept of the depth of his seven decade career. His use of unusual instrument pairings with some of his classic pieces were pointed out and once heard and defined, it can add a new appreciation to an often-heard song…