Among Quincy’s banner events in 2008 was his 75th birthday on March 14. One of his biggest birthday celebrations, however, was held four months later at the Montreux Jazz Festival where Q was honored with a star-studded, nearly six-hour concert.
Below you can check out video of Quincy addressing the crowd at the event.
Montreux was the perfect site for a celebration in Quincy’s honor, since Q has a close connection to the famed jazz fest.
From 1991 through 1993, Quincy served as co-producer of the festival. It was during his first year in that role that Q convinced Miles Davis to revisit his classic ’60s repertoire, originally arranged by Gil Evans. The performance captured on Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux is considered Davis’ final artistic triumph. He died several months later.
Quincy returned to Montreux in 1996 to celebrate his own anniversary of five decades of music making. The all-star performances captured on Quincy Jones: 50 Years in Music - Live at Montreux 1996 include Patti Austin, Mick Hucknell of Simply Red, Chaka Khan and others.
Austin, Hucknell and Khan were among the artists that performed at Quincy’s 75th birthday celebration, along with Herbie Hancock, Al Jarreau, Nana Mouskouri, Petula Clark, Angelique Kidjo, and relative newcomers Ledisi and Paolo Nutini.
You can read a full report on the event filed by Stephanie Nebehay for Reuters here and view an accompanying slide show here.
Below you can view Nutini performing the Brothers Johnson’s 1977 Quincy-produced hit “Strawberry Letter 23″ at the concert.
