My father was a carpenter, a very good carpenter. He also worked for the Jones boys. They were not family members, we weren't related at all. They started the policy racket in Chicago, and they had the five and dime store. Quincy Jones More Quotes by Quincy Jones More Quotes From Quincy Jones I chose the trombone because the trombone players in the marching band got to be up front with the majorettes (because of the slides) and I loved that! Quincy Jones slides band player Empty the cup every time and it comes back at twice as full. I developed that attitude when I was very, very young, when I decided I didn't want to be a gangster anymore. Whether it's just shining shoes, I said okay, I'm going to do this better than anybody else did it in my life. Quincy Jones shoes shining attitude I got to trumpet, finally. That's why I love to write for brass, and [Count] Basie and [Frank] Sinatra and all that stuff, 'cause that's just like part of my DNA. Quincy Jones dna stuff writing Making a record is like painting a school bus with a toothbrush Quincy Jones painting records school I'd been in love before - I was always in love. Quincy Jones been-in-love I don't remember feeling love. Quincy Jones feelings remember After every war, there was a significant change in the music, and I can understand how that happened. If you participate in protecting the country, you think you can be part of it, but you come back home and it's worse than ever. Quincy Jones home war country Hell, nobody knows where jazz is going to go. There may be a kid right now in Chitlin Switch, Georgia, who is going to come along and upset everybody. Quincy Jones upset music kids 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 symphony voice thinking It's the attitude about life, man. Looking at the light instead of the dark. Looking at love instead of fear. Quincy Jones dark attitude men Billy Strayhorn wrote Multicolored Blue. Billy to me is the boss of the arrangers. Quincy Jones boss blue China's got a billion people and a hit record over there is a million records. You know that ain't right. Quincy Jones china records people A person's age can be determined by the degree of pain he experiences when he comes in contact with a new idea. Quincy Jones pain age ideas A song should have all the color and beauty of every rose. Quincy Jones color should-have song We were in the heart of the ghetto in Chicago during the Depression, and every block - it was probably the biggest black ghetto in America - every block also is the spawning ground practically for every gangster, black and white, in America too. Quincy Jones ghetto block heart I go to the favelas in Brazil. It's the same in the South Side of Chicago. It's the same, or just more violent. We're trying to get them to stop selling dope. You see kids with AK-47s, and nine-year-olds with nine millimeters. You know, they don't play. They make us look like nuns. Quincy Jones dope kids years Though negative things have happened to me, God somehow let me know that becoming bitter was not the way to go. You die when you do that. Someone once told me that if you fully open your arms to receive love, you'll get some scratches and cuts on your arms, but a lot of love will come in. If you close your arms, you might never get cut - but the good stuff won't come in either. Quincy Jones cutting love-you negative My dream is to put together a performance of the evolution of black music with Cirque du Soleil . I would also like to do street opera and children's books. But even as I work toward these things, I want to simplify my life. Quincy Jones black dream book I look back and say, "This must have been somebody else." I am not going to tell you that when I was 4, I dreamed about all of this. Quincy Jones Whenever a woman would come too close, I would cut her off. Part of that was vindictive - but that was totally subconscious. Quincy Jones vindictive subconscious cutting
