["Summer in the City" by Quincy Jones plays]
Wow.
Can you even fathom what's happening, like...?
You know what I'm saying? This is so...
fucking crazy.
Quincy Jones' house, man.
Believe it?
So much history in here.
Hey, baby. What a pleasure, man.
[Dr. Dre] Thank you so much for doing this.
It's The Pharmacy with Dr. Dre, special edition.
- Yes, it is. - 'Cause we have the legend of all legends.
Quincy Jones. The legendary Quincy Jones.
Man, y'all making me sound old.
[laughter]
- My ultimate mentor and inspiration. - Don't even know how to drive.
[Dr. Dre laughs] That's all right.
You're the reason why I decided to get into production.
- So proud of him, my man. - Yeah, thank you.
- Thank you so much. - No, I mean that, man.
[Dr. Dre] So, I really wanted to know
what type of strugglesÂ you had and what did you have to go through?
I wasn't born in Bel Air, man. I'm from the South Side of Chicago, man.
In the '30s, man, during the Depression, damn, you kidding?
We lost my mother when I was seven,
and my brother and I,Â we were, like, we were street rats, you know?
I wanted to be a gangster till I was 11.
Wow.
- You want to be what you see. - Right.
And that's all we ever saw.
You see that right there?
I went on the wrong street and they took a switchblade
- and nailed my hand to a fence, man. - What?
Seven years old.
- See this one here? - Yeah.
That's an ice pick, man.
Wow.
To know where you came fromÂ makes it easier for you to get where you're going.
And I learned a long time ago that
your music can never be more or less than you are as a human being.
And that's very true.
Wow, I... You know what? I'm sitting here, just,
really tripping the fuck out, man. You are so...
- [laughter] - You are so inspiring, man.
It's like... like, do you know who you are, man? [laughs]
It's Quincy Jones!
["Stomp" by the Brothers Johnson plays]
Mr. Quincy Jones.
[inaudible]
♪ Steppin' out, the weekend's open wide ♪
♪ Fill it up... ♪
The first thing is to be humble with your creativity
and graceful with yourÂ success.
♪ While we're cruising around In the street ♪
♪ Listen up for the partying feet ♪
♪ So, slap me five, that's the place We've arrived ♪
♪ It's alive! ♪
♪ Everybody take it to the top... ♪
You can't live without water or music. You can't live without it.
♪ In the neighborhood ♪
Between Ray Charles and Sinatra, I learned how to live.
Sinatra wore it for 40 years himself and then he left it to me
and I never take it off.
Quincy Jones!
[cheering]
What sign are you?
What's your birth sign?
Pisces. It's the same, we're both crazy.
[woman] Gemini.
Oh, God. Miles Davis and Prince.
I've been in this business 70 years.
It's unbelievable.
Hey, baby.
I got six daughters and one son. That's why I don't have any hair.
- What a great treat to see you here. - You too, man.
- How you been, man? - I've been good, man, yeah.
Great. We've been doing concerts this year.
You're kickin' ass.
- Life's a motherfucker, isn't it, man? - Oh, yeah.
Pressure's on. Quincy's here.
Help!
How are you, guys?
I can party all the time. Never had a problem with that.
♪ Wanna party ♪
♪ Till the morning light ♪
♪ Gonna stomp ♪
♪ All night ♪
♪ In the neighborhood... ♪
- What? - I can't be like you, I cannot...
hang out all night and then... No, I can't do that.
Don't try to do what he's done.
- [man] Yeah. - No, 'cause you'll get your ass killed.
[slurring] We worked the balls off a pool table.
[Rashida giggling]
- Right, honey? - [Rashida] Yeah, Dad.
You must be so tired.
- Honey, I'm past tired. - Oh, Dad.
I couldn't even stand up for the second number.
They gave us some serious wine, honey.
[Rashida] I know, but six bottles?! How you gonna get it back?
We're gonna drink it here.
- Are you shooting, honey? - I am.
I'm just learning. I'm not great with a camera, I'm just learning how.
- Cute shoes, Dad. - [Quincy] Thank you, honey.
- [Rashida] Really cute. - [Quincy] Pimp shoes.
[Rashida] Do you think it's easier to be up late in LA, to work by yourself?
- Yeah, absolutely. - [Rashida] 'Cause nobody's up, right?
Absolutely.
Well, nobody's up that late anyway, so I always wrote at night.
- [Rashida] Right. - The muses come out then, you know?
- Right. - Everybody used to say,
"Keep your score paper and pen right near you,
'cause if you're not up, God will take it down the street to Mancini."
- [Rashida laughing] - It's very true, honey.
Haven't been sleeping a lot.
- Been sleeping a lot, or haven't? - I haven't been sleeping a lot, no.
Too much on my mind, you know. It's hard to turn it off.
But let me ask you a question. Do you think you could drink in moderation?
- Do you think you could... - Yeah, I do.
Or do you think it's a slippery slope, honestly?
No, no, no, it's not a slippery slope at all. No.
But I want one badder than ever now.
- [Rashida] You want what? - A drink.
["I've Got You Under My Skin" by Cole Porter plays]
[Bono] Dino, get me a bourbon.
Where's Q? Where's my... Where are ya?
Oh, yeah!
Come on!
Oh, yeah!
[inaudible]
The seven of us all together.
We're all family.
- [woman] Thank you very much. - Thank you.
[cicadas chirping]
- [Quincy] You know the palindromes? - [Rashida] Mm-hmm.
Just found a good one.
"Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog."
[Rashida giggling]
Go... hang... a salami.
[Quincy laughing] I love those.
- These are amazing,Â did you try these? - No.
I wonder what's wrong withÂ my appetite though. Something's wrong.
[Rashida] Really, Dad?
- 'Cause you know me, I can eat, honey. - I know, I don't like that.
Yeah, but it's okay.
It's all right. It'll be all right, honey.
No... If you don't feel good, you gotta take care of it.
I will, I will.
[phone picking up]
[dispatcher]
[man]
[dispatcher]
[phone hanging up]
[monitors beeping]
[ventilator exhaling]
[blues guitar music]
My mother had gone away sick one day.
She kicked and screamed as they threw a straitjacket on her and carried her out.
And just like that, she was gone.
Daddy was a carpenter for the Jones Boys,
the black gangsters that ran the ghetto back in Chicago.
[inaudible]
We fought, we stole, we ran with gangs andÂ from gangs.
By that time, I was carrying a knife
and doingÂ whatever I thought I had to do to survive.
Why not?
My world seemed to be senseless.
If my mother could go crazy, who couldn't?
Daddy was in over his head
and took us to stay with his mother.
Grandma was a former slave.
She cooked whatever she could get her handsÂ on.
Mustard greens, okra, possums, and rats.
We ate them because that's all there was to eat.
My mother broke out a couple of times, and I remember, downstairs,
we heard the glass breaking,
and Daddy said, "Sit down to the table and don't get up."
He said, "It's your mama."
Kids kept telling me, "'Cause your mother's really messed up,
and if she gets out, she's gonna kill you guys," you know?
And so I started to picture her and associate her with a death threat.
When she got out one time, she came and weÂ saw her running to us.
We screamed and we ran about seven blocks,
we were so afraid, you know?
I said, "I can't depend on a mother 'cause I don't have one,
so I don't need one," you know?
I was happy that Daddy said,
"We're leaving town, we're leaving now.
We're getting on a Trailway bus and getting out of here."
[monitors beeping]
[doctor] Do you know the year?
[quiet grunt]
Do you know what year it is?
- [Quincy] What year? - Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[Quincy] No.
[doctor] Okay, it will come back. It will.
[Quincy grunting] Okay.
[doctor] Well, we had the new year, so it's 2015.
I get it, yeah.
And the seventh was when you got unconscious,
because it's now the eleventh.
So you lost four days out of your life.
Who is the president?
- What? - Who's the president of the US?
What's his name?
Do you remember?
[Quincy] Sarah Palin.
[laughter]
[doctor] I'm glad... I'm glad some things haven't changed.
[man] Oh.
You have any idea what happened to you?
[Quincy] No.
[doctor] You were drinking too much.
And when you came in that night, you were having troubleÂ breathing,
your temperature was 103, and yourÂ sugar was close to 1,000.
You have to be on a low-sugar diet.
Amazingly tough guy, huh?
- [woman] Yeah. - [man] That's for sure.
- [monitors beeping] - [ventilator pumping]
[inaudible]
You guys are so supportive, baby.
I love them, so that's why I got my shit together quick.
It was really scary.
I'm grateful to get that wake-up call.
You know, grateful.
After the operation, in the hospital andÂ everything,
my mind went to another place, honey.
And you reflect on things you never thoughtÂ about before.
Like what?
Vodka.
That ain't gonna be no more.
Nope.
Not going out.
Not yet.
When I go out, I'll be ready.
I'll be ready for it. Yeah.
[laughter and chatter]
- [man] Happy birthday, Q. - Thank you, man. Thanks for coming by.
- [woman] Love you. - [Quincy] Love you too, honey.
- Love you, honey. - Love you, Daddy.
Me, too.
Love you, Dad.
[woman] Smile, Dad. There you go, perfect.
That's a whole lot of love.
[all] ♪ Happy birthday Happy birthday to ya ♪
♪ Happy birthday to ya ♪
♪ Happy birthday! ♪
[woman] Yay!
- Thank you guys so much. - [cheering]
I gotta tell you, I wish everybody here...
a long, long, long-ass life...
filled with a whole lot of, um...
tons of...
let's say...
love to share...
health to spare, and friends who care, 'cause that's really all that's important
when you get down to it, to the bottom of it.
- I love you from the bottom of my heart. - [women] We love you!
- [applause] - [woman] Make a wish.
[applause and cheering]
[laughter]
[Quincy] Daddy found us a little house in Washington state.
He grabbed the toolbox and joined the long lineÂ of black folks
marching down the hill to the naval shipyard.
He was a workaholic.
He tried to do everything he could to make sure it worked, you know.
I was on shaky waters with identity as a child anyway,
because, without Mama there, you're not quite sure what's going down.
At the time, we're talking about the '40s,
in the school books, black people didn't exist.
We didn't know who we wanted to be like.
There was nobody to see that you wanted to be like, you know.
One night, I broke into the armory.
In the room, there was an old upright piano.
I tinkled on it for a moment,
and I knew this was it for me, forever.
I was in heaven.
I took up percussion, trombone,
sousaphone, B-flat baritone horn, French horn,
but I decided I wantedÂ to play trumpet.
I couldn't get enough.
[trumpet music]
Just that idea, to see black men that were dignified and proud.
I said, "That's what I want to be.
I want to be in that family, I'd do anything to be in that family."
I used to hang backstage with Count Basie and Clark Terry.
I know I used to bother them to death,
and they were kind enough to stop and say, "Okay, here's how you do it."
And they helped me.
And I started to play in a band when we were 14 years old
and worked in the nightclubs.
And after we finished, we used to go off and jam all night playing bebop.
And that's where everybody was talking about this guy named R.C.,
and he was 16 years old then.
I was new in town and this 14-year-old cat comes up to me.
He said, "I'm Quincy Jones and I play trumpet, and I want to write."
We hit it off right away.
[Quincy] Ray was so wise when he was 16,
and you know how it is, when you have an older buddy
that seems to have all the answers for everything.
He'd say, "Every music has its own soul,Â Quincy.
It doesn't matter what style it is, just be true to it."
[Ray Charles] He's truly like a brother to me.
In my mind, I sort of adopted him like my brother.
[Quincy] By then, I had seriously discovered girls.
I discovered the ladies not in the same way I discovered music,
but enough to win the heart of a beautiful girl named Jeri Caldwell
from my high school.
Night after night, as I wandered in and out of clubs, bars, and juke joints
with my trumpet beneath my arm and my scores tucked beneath my shirt,
a tiny glint of something new began toÂ emerge in my life.
Something I'd never had before.
I had no control over where I lived, no control over my sick mother.
I couldn't control the angry whites
who still called me "nigger" when they caught me alone on the street.
But music was one thing I could control.
It was the one thing that offered me myÂ freedom.
Lionel Hampton was like a god in those days.
He had the rockin'- est band in America.
When he said, "Young huss, you wanna join my band?"
I said, "Yes, sir!"
I was in the band!
["Slide, Hamp, Slide" plays]
Lionel Hampton would pass out an itinerary of our schedule.
Seventy straight nights.
We worked non-stop, not one night off.
At that time, all of the black bands had white bus drivers
to go in the restaurants to get the food to bring it back to the band.
We hit some city in Texas,
and in the middle of the city,
there's this small church,
and there was a rope with a black dummy hanging off of the steeple.
This was everyday stuff then.
You know you just better be careful.
And the best thing that ever happened to me was traveling.
As soon as we got off the plane, wherever it was, you know, Paris,
Turkey, Pakistan, Casablanca...
I made it my business to get right into the lifestyle
of the real people in the country.
Is there some vodka?
No, it's in there.
Why no... why no vodka?
[voices chattering]
Thank you, baby.
- So sweet. - [Rashida] I'm nervous about Europe.
I don't... Forget it, honey.
- I don't even want wine. - Really?
- Nothing wrong with that. - You're not gonna want...
- It's not gonna be... - No.
- I don't think so, I think he feels okay. - It's been five, six months.
It's not even in my body anymore.
- Not even the temptation, honey. - Good.
The girls are the only temptation.
[laughs]
["Soul Bossa Nova" by Quincy Jones plays]
[inaudible]
Give it up for my brother, D'Angelo.
Mary J. Blige!
My brother, Carlos Santana!
- Boo! - Hey, man, my baby.
- Hey, Herbie. - Hey, Q.
- How you doin', man? - Good. Missing you, man.
- You look great. - [Quincy] I lost 50 pounds.
Congratulations, man!
- Thank you, sir, how... - You started it.
[Quincy] Bonsoir.
[cheers and applause]
Merci.
I just wanted to say first, tonight,
how much I appreciate being a part of thisÂ family.
Very much so. Thank you.
[cheers and applause]
These next two incredible human beings,
Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock!
Mon frÃ¨re.
[cheers and applause]
- Hey, Herbie. - Hey.
- You got it? - Got it.
All right. All right.
I'm really, really happy how good you're looking, man.
Thank you, man.
Follow him. He told me a long time ago, I didn't listen.
He told me to stop drinking.
- I worked on him for a while. - He did! Ten years ago, man.
I said to Herbie, "You must be crazy."
Man, I've had less hair many times.
- Brain operations and shit. - Oh, yeah.
- They're not getting you this time! - Hell, no.
You got a new "get out of jail free" card.
That's right.
- A government pass. [laughs] - Yeah!
[Quincy] Oh, amazing city.
It's beautiful how your memories stick with you, and the cities you love.
- [Rashida] Does it hurt to leave? - Yeah. It always hurts to leave.
But I know I'll be back, though.
[Rashida] Dad, how do you deal with your ego and your art?
You know...
you need confidence, sure.
- That's... I'm not denying that. - [Rashida] Yeah.
But the... an ego is usually just, uh...
overdressed... insecurity.
[Rashida] Mm.
I think you have to dream so big that you can't get an ego.
'Cause you'll never fulfill all those dreams.
There's always more to come and learn.
I learned a lot from the old guys, too.
["Rat Race" by Count Basie plays]
[Quincy] I left the Lionel Hampton Band and I was off to New York City
to follow my dream of composing and arranging.
I lived with my wife, Jeri, and our baby, Jolie.
This music called bebop was being createdÂ in New York,
and I was dying to getÂ closer to it.
I'd hang out at Birdland, or other bars and clubs,
always looking for the next job.
I wrote for anybody who would pay.
I met a singer named Dinah Washington and she became a great friend to me.
Dinah said, "I want you to write my next record."
Her label, Mercury Records, said, "Nope, we want a name."
Dinah said, "Here's a name for your ass.
Dinah Washington, and Quincy Jones is my arranger."
The record was a big success.
After that, the work started to flow.
I did hundreds of arrangements and recordings
with the absolute best in the business.
Louis Armstrong,
Count Basie,
Sarah Vaughan,
Clark Terry,
Dizzy Gillespie,
and my buddy, Ray Charles.
To really describe the true soul in his arrangements,
I can't really put it into words.
It's just a feeling that you can feel it all down in here,
and beforeÂ you know it, you're tapping your toe, you know?
[Quincy] With the work came money,
and with theÂ money came temptations.
Women and money and work came together
and I embraced them all.
I was at a higher altitude than I had ever dreamed possible.
But I didn't know what was coming.
My mother had searched for me for years before finding me.
God knows how she did it.
She was a schizophrenic.
Dementia praecox, they call it.
I remember the first timeÂ I played in Birdland with my own big band,
and that is really a serious dream to come true.
My mother came,
and when she walks in the door, boy, you know, you can't ignore her.
I knew she was gonna raise hell.
So sheÂ came in and people said,
"Sorry, ma'am, but you can't come in here without a ticket."
She just said, "Get out of the way!"
I'm on the bandstand, trying to look cool,
and it was pitiful.
I was so embarrassed.
She said, "God doesn't like sinners.
Make music for God only or you'll beÂ redeemed in hell."
I just closed down.
Count Basie was like a father to me.
"Learn to deal with the valleys, Quincy," he advised.
"The hills will take care of themselves."
I wanted to write different kinds of music,
you know, more than just jazz.
Because in those days, in New York,
they wouldn't let the black arrangers write for strings.
[orchestral string music plays]
I moved to Paris in 1957
so that I could study with Nadia Boulanger,
the queen of classical music.
This was a lady that was Igor Stravinsky's mentor,
and she also taughtÂ Leonard Bernstein.
I said, "I really want to know everything I can about orchestration."
Her words stick with me a lot.
She said, "Quincy, there are only 12 notes.
There really are only 12 notes,
and you should really investigate what everybody did with these 12Â notes."
And I never forgot that.
In Paris, I did 200 sessions with huge string sections
and wrote for strings until it came out of my ears.
France made me feel free as an artist and as a black man.
["Soldier in the Rain" by Henry Mancini plays]
- [Quincy] Got so much shit going on. - Yeah.
That's an understatement, isn't it? What's next?
[Adam] Uh, the contracts.
- I shouldn't sign this? - Um, no, I wouldn't.
- Okay. - Not yet.
Not until he sends you something that's even remotely acceptable.
- Great magazine. Jesus. - [Adam] Isn't it awesome?
Does it say anything on the Internet?
Who else is involved in that?
It's an understatement to say that.
Put that in there too.
How you doing, honey?
- What you got, some pills? - Yeah.
- I'll take 'em. - You have...? Okay.
I'll definitely take 'em.
[man] What else is on the list?
The African-American Museum Smithsonian.
Uh, they want you to produce a TV special forÂ the opening.
Oh, the African-American Smithsonian Institute,
um, right in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
And they asked me to produce it?
Then I'm gonna produce it.
It's very...
special, though.
[man] Yeah, it's a pretty incredible honor that you're...
- Yeah, we gotta kill it, man. - Who do you want for this show?
It should be the top of every... category.
Well, my immediate choice would be Oprah, Will, and Jazzy Jeff.
- Okay, add Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff. - [man] Yep.
[Quincy] Mary J. Blige.
John Legend.
- You want Herbie, right? - Oh, for always.
We should send a "save the date"...
- [man] To all these people - To all these artists.
[Quincy] Yeah, definitely.
Stevie for sure.
Usher.
My brother, Colin Powell.
Dave Chappelle.
Naturally, we should have the First Lady and President on there.
[woman] So cool, man... So cool!
These are important moments in history
and we're getting to watch how it goes down.
It's exciting.
Another serious challenge.
God...
I love how I always end upÂ jumping into all this stuff, I can't believe it.
Because it's not easy.
Daddy got me to do that.
He always said, "Once a... task has just begun, never leave it till it's done.
Be the labor great or small, do it well or not at all."
Every day, he told us that.
[frantic cymbals playing]
[Quincy] In 1959, I had assembled a dream big band
for a show called Free and Easy.
It was the greatest band I could everÂ dream of.
["The Birth of a Band" by Quincy Jones plays]
After six weeks, the show closed.
I couldn't stand it.
So I stood up and told the band,
"Let's stay here and tough it out."
Every single one of them agreed.
[inaudible]
But after ten months of hauling 30 people across Europe,
I started to break down.
We were stuck over there.
I had no money. I didn't know what to do.
It was time to go home.
The band and myself, we'd like to say auf Wiedersehen, au revoir, and goodbye.
For the first time in my adult life,
I went out and got me a real job.
I was working as an executive at Mercury Records
trying to get from under the $145,000 debt from the Free and EasyÂ tour.
I said, "Well, pop music is not that big a deal, you know, to do."
And they just kept saying,Â "Well, why don't you do something about it?"
It turned out to be a little harder thanÂ I thought.
Plowing through piles of demo tapes, listening to bad songs.
One afternoon, they tossed a tape down the table.
I said, "I'd like to take a shot with this."
It was a 16-year-old kid from New Jersey named LesleyÂ Gore.
We cut a single called "It's MyÂ Party".
♪ It's my party And I'll cry if I want to ♪
♪ Cry if I want to, cry if I want to... ♪
[Quincy] It went to number one.
We had 18 hits with Lesley.
It was hard being married to Quincy, you know.
There was so much infidelity
and he had so much ambition, and that got in the way.
And I always felt he loved me,
but I wasÂ the wife at home and he went out,
and heÂ had a lot ofÂ good times without me,
and heÂ grew in ways that I wasn't growing.
That was why we got divorced.
[Quincy] I had messed that marriage up.
Like my daddy before me,
I focused on work.
["Stuff Like That" playing in distance]
[Quincy] Man, let's hang.
- Okay. - I'm serious, man.
- You serious? - There ain't many of us left!
- Is there? - You got it.
[Quincy] Miss ya, man.
Q... How you feelin', boss?
- Thank you for the other night, man. - Oh, any time.
- It was great. - Any time.
- Hey, baby. - Hey.
- [Quincy] How old are you now? - Eighty-nine!
I'm right behind you.
How are you, sweetheart?
- I'm really good. - You're burning, girl!
- Hey, baby. - Hey, man.
[Jarreau laughing]
These cats been dropping out of here like flies, man.
[man] I don't like it.
Jesus Christ, man, we lost Louis Johnson,
Lesley Gore, Clark Terry.
It don't stop.
George Duke, Joe Sample. It's fuckin' insane, man.
Insane.
Tonight, we are gathered together to honor...
and pay tribute to my dear, dear friend
and present him with this year's humanitarian award.
God bless all of you people for being here tonight.
You have no idea what you've done to this...
to make this soul smile tonight.
It's just unbelievable and it's, uh...
I'm only 82, you know, so...
[cheering]
[applause]
I was very ill at the beginning of thisÂ year... and...
they... say that cliché, you know, "I almost died."
Well, I did.
And then I got a...
email from heaven,
and it said, "Brother Jones,
we already gotÂ Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Charlie Parker,
Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie,Â and stuff.
We don't need any more headaches up here, man.
Stay home. Keep your black booty home."
[laughs]
[applause]
[Quincy] I was sitting in my office one day in NewÂ York in '64
and the phone rang.
I picked it up.
I heard him say, "This is Frank Sinatra.
I like what you and Basie did together
and I'd like you to arrange and conduct my next album,
It Might As Well Be Swing.
That call from Frank was a major turning point in my career and my life.
He tested me in the beginning.
And he said, "That instrumentation's a little too...
dense in the first eight bars."
I said, "No problem, man."
Well, he'd go ten feet away where there was a table or a desk,
and he'd fix it in no time.
It always amazed me that a manÂ could do that,
change all of thoseÂ notes that he had written before.
[Quincy] He was shocked, 'cause I was 29, right?
He was used to working with guys that were 50.
After that, it was total trust, man.
Total trust.
I would like to have you meet a gentleman
who's been doing these marvelous orchestrations for me,
Mr. Quincy Jones, right there.
[applause]
Q, Mr. Quincy Jones.
[Quincy] Thank you.
One of the bright young stars in theÂ orchestrating business.
Q, go ahead.
[intro to "Fly Me to the Moon" plays]
[Quincy] Frank was just my style.
He was hip, straight-up and straight-ahead,
and above all, a monster musician.
♪ Fly me to the moon ♪
♪ Let me swing among the stars... ♪
Quincy's drive is what made the difference
in the recordings that I beganÂ to do.
The orchestra drove harder than they did before the days with Quincy.
[Quincy] Frank was at the height of his powers
and I was running his musical ship,
the greatest band in the world.
♪ I love you ♪
♪ Fly, fly, fly! ♪
[Sinatra] We became very fast friends,
forgetting about all the work we had to do.
[Quincy] Frank led me into a brand new world...
[inaudible]
...a land of dreams and high living,
anything you felt like doing, whenever you felt like doing it.
And making the music we both loved.
♪ Why don't you fill my heart... ♪
[Quincy] During this time, I was with some of the finest women in the world
and had a brief affair with a dancer named Carol.
My second lovely daughter, Rachel, was born as a result.
It was a mind-boggling time.
The astronauts on Apollo 10 took a little tape recorder along with them
and they played that tune back to Earth from about 150,000 miles in space.
[astronaut] This is just so that you guys don't forget what your job is down there.
We're ready.
[crackly Sinatra] ♪ Fly me to the moon Let me play among the stars... ♪
[Quincy] Frank called up when they played that music on the moon, like a little kid.
"Can you believe that, man?" I said, "No, man, the first music on the moon?
Give me a break, man." You can't plan that!
Frank was so buzzed about Basie's band
that he took the entire band to Las VegasÂ in 1964.
Vegas was mob territory back then.
No black entertainer in their right mind
would wander around those casino hotelsÂ alone.
It was a trip 'cause Sammy Davis,
or LenaÂ Horne, Belafonte,
they used to work in the big room as the stars,
but they had to eat in the kitchen.
They couldn't go in the casino
and theyÂ had to sleep in the black hotels acrossÂ town.
[Sinatra] Bigotry is a terrible disease, it's a veryÂ bad disease.
I began to make noise about it.
I said, "If they all have to live on the other side of town,
then you don't need me."
Suddenly, it changed. And I can't explain to you what happened.
[Quincy] Frank, by himself, stopped all that.
He said, "We're gonna fix this shit."
And he did.
He took Sammy, Basie, and myself and changed the whole racial situation.
♪ This is my first affair, so... ♪
♪ Please be kind... ♪
[Sinatra] Working with Basie and Quincy was the mostÂ exciting engagement
I have ever done in my life since I'veÂ been performing.
♪ Please be kind ♪
Jump, Q, jump!
- [brass section kicks in] - [scatting]
Quincy had a key to the Basie band...
more than any other orchestrator that IÂ know of.
And I began to realize that he was a giant.
♪ Please... ♪
[Quincy] I loved him, man.
I know he loved me too.
In all the years working together,
just like with Ray Charles,
we never once had a contract... just aÂ handshake.
[applause]
[Sinatra] Quincy turned out to be...
one of the finest musicians that I'veÂ ever known.
[Quincy] After my time with Frank, I wanted toÂ move out of New York
and get into LA filmÂ scoring.
I didn't see blacks' names on the screens, you know, as composers.
There weren't any black composers at all.
So I just took that chance.
I said,Â "I don't know,Â maybe I won't make it out there, but I'm goin'."
A friend of mine was doing a movie,
and he said, "They're thinking about Quincy Jones for a movie."
I said, "Yes, great, great."
He said, "Can black men write movie music?"
I said, "Of course they can!"
[Quincy] There was a lot of reluctance... "How can you write for a white star?"
I thought that it was just a dream that I'dÂ have to hold on to.
First of all, thank you very much for being...
- My pleasure, man. - It's an honor.
I've been with The Post for a long time.
Why do you think it's taken so long to get this thing done?
'Cause I read that it was like 1905 when they started talking about it.
But it's taken a long time to keep them from shootin' black kids.
This happens... Probably last night it happened. Come on.
'Cause the racism has been buried and hidden, you know.
In the South, it's open, you know who you're dealing with, but in the North,
it's disguised with all the bullshit, you know.
- [Geoff] Yeah. - And that's the problem.
So, this museum... There are millions of museums here
but why is that museum so important right now?
Well, young black kids need to know where they come from.
Bebop, doo-wop, and hip hop, and all that stuff is all sociological, you know.
Hopefully, the juice that we generate about the museum is gonna help.
- Yeah. - They say, "Hey, you gotta be part of this
for the young kids of tomorrow."
- [Geoff] Yeah. - That's what's important for me.
- What... - 'Cause it's big, man.
It's something I've wanted all my life to see.
Can you tell me a little bit about what's gonna happen?
- No. - No? It's a total secret?
- Nothing. - Under wraps?
- Nothing. - [Geoff] Okay.
It's not a surprise if I tell you.
So I don't get anything, no Stevie Wonder there or anything?
- Tack sÃ¥ mycket. - VarsÃ¥god.
- [camera shutter clicking] - Lookin' good.
[Quincy] ♪ Brother, brother, brother... ♪
[humming Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On"]
And do it to the camera, yeah.
[photographer] Can I take one more? Sitting, exactly like that.
Yeah.
[camera shutter clicking]
- [photographer] I'm fine, I'm happy. - You cool? Good.
I'm tired, man, I'm sorry.
- It's an honor, thank you so much. - My pleasure. Tack sÃ¥ mycket.
[playing discordant notes]
Hmm?
[sighing]
[quick high notes]
[playing a gentle, melodic piece]
[piano melody continuing]
[film viewer whirring]
[Quincy] When composers get started on a film,
I think they spend the roughest parts of it scraping away...
the bullshit, you know, in their life.
They have to really scrape away so there's nothing left but truth.
[inaudible]
Because I don't think you can write, can't create anything without...
feeling right with the truth.
[viewer whirring]
You have to find something to grab a hold of to believe in,
or you can't write.
I can't say, "This'll be good enough," or your senses won't react.
You make a desperate escape to get downÂ into the subconscious,
which I reallyÂ think all the goodies come from.
["The Separation" by Quincy Jones from The Color Purple plays]
After you finish the quiet moments of writing,
I just like to groove with my family then, and enjoy all of it.
["To Sir With Love" by Quincy Jones plays]
My wife, Ulla, she's from Stockholm originally,
and we have two kids that I just can't stay away from for two minutes.
My biggest hobby is my family.
It's a complete contrast to when we go inÂ to record.
- [man] Ready with the playback, Quincy. - Thank you.
[Quincy] It's such a moment of tension
when you're trying to coordinate so many elements...
when we're involved with technicians, lots ofÂ musicians and...
lots of money being spent per hour,
and soÂ the pace tightens up.
Three and four, a 56.
Everything has to come into play at that time.
[intro to "They Call Me Mister Tibbs!" plays]
It's just beginning to become
so that itÂ isn't such a sensationalism
to see interracial loveÂ relationships or even, uh...
uh, the role of where the black man really plays the role of a man,
rather than just aÂ character.
[Quincy] But as my career began to move forward...
my relationship with Ulla was starting to show cracks.
I never came close to being a perfect father.
But I always, always loved my kidsÂ deeply.
One day, Ulla announced she was going toÂ visit her mother in Sweden.
I didn't want her to take the kids along but there was no arguing.
A week later, Ulla called from Sweden
and adamantly proclaimed that she was not coming back, period.
She was staying there and keeping the kids.
My heart fell to my feet.
["Family Man" by Quincy Jones plays]
I couldn't handle it.
- [Quincy] What time do we start? - Now, sir.
Let's hit it.
- Hur mÃ¥r du pappa? - Skit bra.
[laughter]
[applause]
So, you have an incredible work ethic,
and, I mean, I've never seen anything like it.
I mean, at no point in my life
have I ever been able to hang with you 24/7 andÂ I can keep up.
It's... it's crazy.
Where did that come from? And what is in your water?
It's probably from not having a mother.
You know, really, yeah.
At seven, we were, like, deserted. They took her away to this mental home.
And myÂ grandmother was an ex-slave, you know.
America's just trying to getÂ over that... that part of their history
'cause it was terrible, terrible, man, and we experienced it, you know.
Ray Charles and I used to say, back in the '40s,
"Not one drop of my self-worth depends on your acceptance of me."
Because you can't be that vulnerable.
Not back then, the '30s and '40s. The '50s, man?! You kidding?
Oh, hey, look at this, man!
You know I love that.
Mm-hm.
Jesus Christ, I'll take it.
They're killing me!
Sometimes I step in too deep. Like, look at that.
[chuckles]
We go to Georgia, the Black Sea Festival in Georgia, Russia.
Then we go to Zurich.
Then...
the big one, the Smithsonian.
We produce the Smithsonian, African-American Museum.
Obama, uh, he cuts the ribbon at noon.
And we come back at night and do a two-hour special
that's got the whole history, almost, of black music.
- Wow. - It's a hard job.
But I mean, my whole life has been like that, though. I like that.
Look at that architecture. God damn, baby!
["Sanford and Son Theme (The Streetbeater)" by Quincy Jones plays]
- [applause] - Hey!
[speaking in Georgian]
I want you to give it up for Alfredo Rodriguez. Alfredo!
[Colbert] Is there a commonality between these artists you worked with?
Yes. Individuality,
distinctive personalities,
and sounds.
Ray Charles, Count Basie, Clark Terry,
they put me on their shoulders, so it's an honorÂ for me
to putÂ the young people on my shoulders. It is an honor.
How you doing, man? You doing okay?
[inaudible]
[loud cheering and applause]
Welcome.
Hur mar du.
First time here in the office?
- In the office, yeah. - Yeah.
- Sweden, 63 years. - Yeah, I know it.
Oh, man.
You going to save the record business?
- Hopefully, that's what we hope for. - It needs some saving.
- Justin Kauflin, come on. Give it up. - [cheering]
- It's good to see you. - You guys are bad motherfuckers, man.
- Oh, boy. - You are the future, brother.
That is the power of music, to bring theÂ people of the world together.
[cheering]
Look at these cars, man. Look at this.
That's just Chicago in the '30s, man.
[woman] Mr. Quincy Jones!
[applause and cheering]
I came up in that school of, like, all kind, every kind of music.
There's just two kinds, bad and good.
I just got back from, uh, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi and Dubai,
so I'm a little turned around here, so bear along with me, okay?
Uh...
Tonight...
is a powerful foray...
into... Jesus!
I'm falling down here.
Glenn!
Jesus Christ.
Glenn!
[audience murmuring]
[dispatcher]
[woman]
[dispatcher]
[woman]
[dispatcher]
[man] How's your pain right now?
- I don't have any. - [man] No pain? Good.
Okay, very good. Okay.
[Rashida] Dad, did they tell you that there's any way to preventÂ blood clots?
- Did they tell you? - No.
[Kidada] Exercise.
- [Rashida] Exercise, compression socks. - Yeah, not sedentary.
- [Kidada] Yeah. - Sedentary.
- [Kidada] Yeah. - What socks?
- [Rashida] Compression socks. - Yes, I know... about that.
[Rashida] Did they say it was from, yeah, traveling, Dad?
Traveling is worse if you don't exercise.
[Rashida] He's traveling too much.
[Tapson] Can I listen to your lungs real quick? Just take a second.
You had kind of a close call, you know?
If you've got a big clot like that that sneaks up through,
it's a clot this long, I mean, that can be sudden death.
Oh, man.
You got any travel coming up?
I was supposed to go to Washington, I was supposed to go to Europe.
You gotta be careful, I think,
especially the first few weeks after something like this, you know.
I want to start exercising too.
I honestly, I thought, 90 percent chance you come out in a wheelchair.
- Really? No way. - I... That got me very excited.
- I'm glad to hear that. - I'm a responder and a survivor.
["Body Heat" by Quincy Jones plays]
♪ Can you feel it...? ♪
[Quincy] After my marriage to Ulla broke up,
I was determined not to hook up seriously with anyone.
♪ My temperature's risin'... ♪
I met Peggy Lipton in 1972.
She was a beautiful star of a hot TVÂ series,Â The Mod Squad,
the first young hip drama on TV.
She was independent, smart,
beautiful, and understanding.
♪ Why can't I control my passion? ♪
When we met, the chemistry was so strong.
I just was so drawn to him.
He came into my life and that was it.
It was like I knew.
After we met, it was so instantaneous that he just moved in.
It was, like, two weeks later, he was in.
[Quincy] Falling in love with Peggy was like aÂ breath of fresh air.
♪ When we meet, ain't it sweet? ♪
♪ And when we greet, feel that body heat ♪
[Quincy] We said, "We'll do this as long as we feelÂ good."
We never even talked of marriage.
We didn't feel that a piece of paper was necessary to keep us together.
♪ Feel that body heat ♪
♪ Body heat ♪
All of her desires, her focus, she gave to herÂ family and to me,
so that I could get onÂ with my career.
["Gula Matari" by Quincy Jones plays]
He was working himself like crazy.
He was so determined to take himself out of only a jazz musician,
to take himself out of only a movie composer,
and to go the next step with that.
[Quincy] Duke Ellington said, "I want you to be one of the people
that helpÂ to de-categorize American music."
He passed the baton down.
In order for music to grow, the critics must stop categorizing
and let the musicians get involved
in all different facets of music.
We will die if we get stuck in one area of music.
[announcer] Tonight, the Academy Awards orchestra
will be conducted by three-time Oscar nominee Quincy Jones!
[mid-tempo music plays]
[music building to a crescendo]
- [music peaking] - [sudden silence]
[Peggy] One day he just, um...
collapsed.
And I called 9-1-1 right away.
When we took him to the hospital, he... he wasn't conscious.
And I was just, like, how could one moment be so perfect
and the next moment your whole life is falling apart.
[Quincy] It was like a cannon had blasted through my head.
What happens is the main vessel to your brain... pops.
They operated for seven and a half hours.
At the end of the operation, my neurosurgeons came in and said,
"The good newsÂ is you lived.
The bad news is we found another one on the other side
that could be ready to explode at anyÂ minute.
In two months, we have to go back in again."
The first thing that you think about are all the things that were, like,
things I'mÂ going to get around to.
Like my daughter hadn't called me "Daddy".
And all of the things that I hadn't done,
all these crazy, wild things in your imagination
that youÂ hadn't even started on.
It's nature's way of getting your attention.
You know, to make you live your life, you know, really live it and... and...
dig down for the values that really mean something.
[Peggy] With our baby Kidada six months old,
and the other operation looming a few weeks away,
we decided to marry.
["Somewhere" by Aretha Franklin plays]
♪ Somewhere ♪
♪ There is a place for us... ♪
[Quincy] You realize, uh... the true essence of time.
And you tell your friends you love them... now!
Not tomorrow or next week.
Let them feel your love.
♪ It waits for us ♪
♪ Somewhere ♪
[Quincy] I asked the doctor afterwards, "What is that...
What was going on at that time?" And he said, "You were dying, you know."
I had to try to rehabilitate, you know, go through therapy to be able to write
because it's frightening to see, you know, those big jagged edges,
when you're trying to write again.
And dropouts in...
memory.
So that's scary, that's frightening.
I mean, people real close to you, it just disappears.
[woman] What's important to you now?
[Quincy] Uh, contributing something...
that you don't really get anything in return for.
[Peggy] We were grateful.
We were grateful for a lot of things.
And, uh, people were just amazed at hisÂ recovery.
And then we had another baby.
Happy anniversary to us. Happy anniversary to us.
[laughing]
Isn't that wild?
["Fat Cat Strut" by the Ray Brown Orchestra plays]
[Quincy] When you come back,
all of the dreams you have, you say, "You'd better go for it, now," you know?
You can't put that off, you know. It's not...
I'd rather say, uh, "I'm sorry I did," rather than "I wish I had," you know?
["The Best is Yet to Come" by Frank Sinatra playing]
Gigi!
- Hi. - How's my baby?
- Are you hungry? - A little bit.
[Sinatra] ♪ You think you've seen the sun ♪
♪ But you ain't seen it shine... ♪
[singing along to the melody]
♪ Wait till the warm-up's under way ♪
So much fun, man.
What's this, love?
It's just something I found going through one of the boxes.
Oh, my God.
Wow.
I haven't seen this in 50 years.
I got accurate records of everything.
How much I was getting... Jesus Christ, look at all those!
Nineteen arrangements, twenty dollars apiece.
Lord have mercy.
[both laugh]
- Twenty dollars apiece. - What year was that?
Twelve dollars! God damn! 1952.
Twelve dollars an arrangement.
Jesus Christ.
But I was happy 'cause I wasn't starving to death.
What else you got?
Wow.
Boy, time is a bitch, man. Look at that.
- [Gloria] Is that you? - [Quincy] That's my yearbook picture.
Look at that belly, man.
That's a big belly, man.
Wow.
It takes you back, honey.
Look at Daddy.
He was always happy.
Oh, he was a beautiful man.
Oh, my God.
- My mother. - Yeah.
Oh, Sarah.
Wow.
Heavy.
What the hell is this?
"This is filled with lies."
Who said that?
[Gloria] I have no idea, what is that?
"Everybody spoke well of you until you scandalized your mother."
This looks like your mother's writing.
- I know. - Typewriter.
"That is what happens when you listen to evil communications." That's her.
My mother, she was mad when she read thisÂ article.
I never saw this stuff before.
"The cake is what made you lose all ofÂ your teeth.
I insisted on good food. Even so, that's when I tossed the cake in a garbage can."
Oh, God.
That's sad.
[Peggy] Quincy's mother, Sarah, was there as a shadow.
As a shadow of...
who he could become.
He worried that maybe he had that mental illness like her.
She would come back into our lives through...
you know, wanting to see the grandchildren.
Quincy just would go into a full coldÂ sweat around her.
She pushed his buttons in a way that weÂ could never understand.
[Quincy] Of the word mother, you know, it doesn't mean tooÂ much to me.
I don't know what it is, you know.
I guess trauma gets frozen at the peak.
It was really seriously damaging.
I'm sure that affected my relationship with a lot of women later, you know.
[inaudible]
They're feelings that I'm... to this day, I'm still wrestling with.
[Quincy] Isn't it astounding, man,
when you look at the reality of us having the sameÂ twelve notes
for 710 years.
- Everybody. - Amazing, right?
Brahms, Beethoven, Basie, Bo Diddley, Bird.
The same fucking 12 notes.
It's heavy, man. Isn't it?
- That's really heavy, right? - It is heavy, man!
Seven hundred and ten years!
- That... that is quite amazing. - Shit!
[tentatively playing a melody]
- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. - And then something to do like this one.
[Alfredo singing the same tune]
Where's that B, where's that B?
[finishing the run]
Do it again, like this.
- Uh-huh. - Like that?
[playing different chords]
[tapping out a lively rhythm]
[piano keys tinkling a tune]
We're still dealing with the climactic part ofÂ the octaves.
- Those octaves, you can't follow 'em. - [Richard] Mm-hmm.
I'm just saying, just let them have a little bit at a time, you know?
Of course, yeah.
- What do you think? - I think it's ready for the painting.
- Yeah? - Ready for some paint.
Richard, the other stuff is very legato and everything else,
so let's do the contrast and keep it so it's a little bit more percussive.
Okay.
[Bona singing in a Cameroonian language]
[Quincy] Yeah!
Yeah.
- Yes! - [Alfredo] Whoo!
I think that he's great.
He's great, man.
[laughter]
- It was a good day, man. - [Alfredo] Yeah.
Good day.
- [man] No bass? - [Quincy] We'll do the bass separate.
- Okay. - Do the guitar first
so we can make a decision about it.
[man] "Light Up The Night", take two!
[funky rhythm guitar and drums]
[Quincy] My feeling is always leave at leastÂ 20 orÂ 30 percent of room
for the Lord to walk throughÂ the room.
Because, you know, then you're leaving roomÂ for theÂ magic
and, uh, records are about
capturing magic, real magical moments,Â you know,
at that time, and capturing them on tape, you know.
I think that's what communicates, is theÂ magic of the moment.
And... love is the other word, too. When the loveÂ is in the studio,
because thatÂ contributesÂ more to magic in the studio than anything else.
[fully-produced version of "Light Up The Night" playing]
I guess this is the most exciting period of my life.
[man] You don't in any way find it exhausting creatively?
[Quincy] It's the best thing for me because it gives me a chance
to getÂ everything out
and, uh, get involved with the whole eclectic world which I love,
which is black music, period.
And also film scoring just taps the right parts of me
and makes me feel at ease.
♪ Here is the lively invitation ♪
[Peggy] I think with The Wiz, it was the nextÂ challenge for Quincy.
And, of course, he put 110 percent in.
♪ And light the night ♪
♪ Come on, girl, we got to glow ♪
[Peggy] Our whole family moved to New York to beÂ with him,
and I took his two other children with me,
and it was very difficult 'cause he was away every night.
[man] Okay, we're back with Michael Jackson,
and you just coming off The Wiz.
It was terrific. It's something I alwaysÂ wanted to do,
and, uh, it was a lot of fun working with all the greats...
Sidney Lumet, Quincy Jones...
[Quincy] When we were doing The Wiz,
he asked me about, could I find him a producer?
At the time, we were heavily into the film and so I didn't pay much attention.
Hey fellas, is today the day you're gonna help me get down from here?
[Quincy] What I saw is discipline.
He showed up at five o'clock in the morning
for a four-hour makeup job, and then he stood around.
He knew everybody's songs, all of their lines,
lyrics, dance steps, everything! He just absorbed everything.
And I started to see a maturity in him.
And at that moment, I said, "You've got a producer, man.
I'd like to take a shot at it."
[inaudible]
I felt he had the potential to go way beyond
the wonderful trademark bubblegum he'd done on Motown with the Jackson 5.
When he was ready to record, I got my "Killer Q" posse together.
Rod "Worms" Temperton,
one of the greatest songwriters who everÂ lived.
Bruce "Svensk" Swedien,
Greg "Mouse" Phillinganes,
Louis "Thunder Thumbs" Johnson,
John "J.R." Robinson,
Paulhino Da Costa,
Jerry Hay,
and many, many others.
We attacked that record.
[intro to "Rock With You" by Michael Jackson plays]
We tried all kinds of things I'd learnedÂ over the years
to help him with his artistic growth.
Things like dropping keys just a minor third
to give him more flexibility and a more mature range.
He was so shy, sometimes he'd sit down and sing behind the couch
with his back toÂ me.
Quincy saw that spark in Michael that would make him a star.
He definitely saw
that there was something in Michael that was needed in the world.
[Quincy] You have to get something that,
when weÂ look at the end of a day,
and I have goosebumps, and Michael has goosebumps,
then I think we've got something special,
'cause we're all very hard to please and not satisfied too easily.
[Quincy] The resulting record, Off the Wall,
was theÂ biggest-selling black record in historyÂ at that time.
[woman] Quincy Jones is hard to put in a musical category.
His most recent production
of Michael Jackson's hit album Off The Wall
was a smash success.
It sold over eight million copies and gotÂ award upon award.
Off The Wall, Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson.
Thank you, Quincy Jones.
Thank you, my mother and father and allÂ the beautiful fans
who bought, you know, the record, and, uh...
God, I really appreciate it. I love it. Thank you very much.
[Peggy] Well, Quincy really had to nurture Michael,
and part of their relationship was that of a mentor and his protégé.
But I think Quincy was also a fatherÂ figure to him.
["P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" playing in the distance]
[music growing louder]
♪ P.Y.T. ♪
♪ T.L.C. ♪
♪ P.Y.T. ♪
♪ T.L.C. ♪
♪ P.Y.T. ♪
In the pocket!
♪ T.L.C. ♪
♪ P.Y.T. ♪
♪ T.L.C... ♪
[inaudible]
[Quincy] The making of Thriller in a little more than two months
was like riding a rocket.
Everything about it was done at hyperspeed.
Rod Temperton, who also co-wrote several of the album's songs, and I
listened toÂ nearly 600 songs before picking out aÂ dozen we liked.
We all worked ourselves into a near frenzy.
I called Michael "Smelly"
because when he liked a piece of music or a certain beat,
instead of calling it funky, he'd call it "smelly jelly".
- [Quincy] Incredible! - [Michael] Yeah?
- [voices] Yeah! - [Quincy] One more, son, one more.
[man] Cut! Once more, right away.
- [man] Here we go! - [man] Right away.
And re-cue. Let's go, right away.
[man] Okay, here we go, ready, and...
We're working on a... a movie short, which is like ten minutes,
for theÂ Thriller album, the song "Thriller",
and it's really exciting, what happens.
Michael, I think this is gonna be the Citizen Kane of the videos.
I really do.
It's going to be the most revolutionary thing in the history of videos, you know.
[Quincy] The single "Thriller" was the first 14-minute music video ever made
and wasÂ treated like the premiere of a feature film around the world.
[intro to "Thriller" by Michael Jackson plays]
Michael was splashed all over the globe visually as well as musically.
Michael, the MTV videos, and the music, all rode each other to glory.
"Dear Quincy, we are all part of history in the making."
[applause]
All right.
[laughing]
[Peggy] I don't think anyone would have known how far it was gonna go.
[fans screaming]
[man] Several people in the crowd of 5,000 fainted.
Police struggled to maintain order.
One fan said, "I thought I was going to get killed, but it was worth it."
["Thriller" by Michael Jackson plays]
[fans screaming]
[shouting]
[screaming]
Michael! [screams]
And producer of the year is... Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson!
Yes!
We'd like to thank the people that makeÂ this work.
My wife...
who chose to take care of me rather thanÂ pursue her own career...
and our family, and I love her.
- And Michael Jackson... - [cheering]
I think one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th century.
I mean that from all my heart.
[cheers and applause]
[inaudible]
[Quincy] Beautiful, beautiful.
Great... great bass sound on the synths, man.
Love it.
One of my favorite sounds.
[impersonating a bass rhythm]
[woman] One, two, three.
If I don't see you before,
- have a great holidays. - You too.
- I'll send you some shots, love you. - I love you back.
Hmm. Quite a history!
- [Laju] Hi! - [Quincy] How are you, sweetheart?
- Oh, good to see you, you look great. - [Quincy] You too, honey.
You've been doing other exercise, too?
No, I haven't done exercise in six months.
Oh, wow.
So we gotta find a way to ease back, you know.
- Okay, yeah. - Take me slowly there.
Definitely.
It's been a long time.
There you go.
- Good, that's good. - [grunts]
- Perfect. - Can't even budge.
[exhaling short sharp breaths]
- Good. Turn... Be completely relaxed. - This is hard, man, Jesus Christ.
Take a break.
[exhaling deeply]
- The body's not used to it, right? - Yeah.
Yep.
It's the way to get back like that again.
[exhaling deeply]
I'm gonna give you a list right now of peopleÂ that I'd like to just get,
and as fast as you get them on the phone, I have to speak with each one.
No problem.
- Sidney Poitier. - Mm-hmm.
Stevie Wonder. Michael.
- M.J. - Streisand. Spielberg's office.
- And I'd like to talk to Alex Haley. - Mm-hmm.
And Brando.
[intro to "Give Me The Night" by George Benson plays]
[woman] The new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
This one honors composer, arranger, and jazzÂ musician Quincy Jones.
- How did all these people get here? - [laughter]
[woman] Jones was there today with his wife, actress Peggy Lipton,
who was, of course, in The Mod Squad.
Jones headed the list with eight nominations
including best album of theÂ year for The Dude.
You get inspired by so many things and you never stop, you never stop.
You think you can get it all in and that's the dangerous part.
[Peggy] There was so much demand on him, in every way.
Host this, be that, you know, show up here, do that.
I began to find those things really wearing on us.
It didn't feel like the old daysÂ anymore.
It felt like things had changed so much.
[woman] A group of legendary performers recorded "We Are the World".
That's good, let's put it on the tape!
[woman] They've generated millions of dollars to help fight famine in Africa.
"The world's number one music man." One would think that's enough.
What, uh, made you decide to go and produce a film?
Well, it's been a little secret dream for years, right?
And it also encompassed a beautiful era of black music
that was woven and integrated right into the story.
["Miss Celie's Blues" from The Color Purple plays]
At first I resisted, you know, for all the obvious reasons.
And Quincy was saying, "You know, this is not about race.
This is about humanity."
And he said, "You know, you didn't have to go to Mars to make E.T."
And that made a lot of sense to me.
♪ I bet ya think I don't know nothing... ♪
You all know the story, right? Quincy Jones discovered me.
And he was in Chicago,Â turned... Tell 'em the story, Quincy.
[Quincy] We were trying to cast The Color Purple.
I came in on a red-eye
and couldn't sleep and walked around in the hotel
and turned on the television set,
and hereÂ comes Miss Winfrey,
real, honest, and true,
and it's all over. My baby.
- And I was discovered! - My baby.
- [applause] - [Oprah giggles]
[Quincy] After principal photography had beenÂ completed,
I almost forgot
I still had to create a score in lessÂ than two months.
- [Oprah] Were you overwhelmed? - Oh, yes.
And I just panicked, you know?
We already got a drum machine on, man. We got a drum machine.
We don't need toÂ worry about that, do we?
["Corinne and Olivia" from The Color Purple plays]
[Quincy] I know it's a sickness, in a way.
You can call it "workaholic" or whatever it is, but it's, uh...
it's the only way I know.
[Peggy] He'd become...
a person that people just wanted a part of,
and he began to give away, I thought...
pieces of himself.
And by the time The Color Purple was over, there was nothing left.
He wasn't even of this world.
How are you feeling now? I mean, are you, like, zombied out?
I'm fried, yes, really. It's... I've been running around,
and... and I'm just physically and mentally exhausted, you know?
- From writing all that music? - Just everything.
It's just the most music I've ever seen in my life, and it's...
The brain is just tired, you know.
It's twoÂ years, you know. Just like...Â I've been running.
[Peggy] Our relationship was starting to, you know, look sort of, uh, bleak.
And a lot of it came from my insecurity,
not having him around as much as I wantedÂ to.
That movie took him away.
He wanted to fix things, but there wasÂ nothing to fix.
I wasn't that whole... person that I needed to be.
[sighing] So...
we broke up.
It was over like that.
[Quincy] Losing my marriage to Peggy after 14Â years
was like having my arteries rippedÂ out.
I lost the woman I thought I'd live with for the rest of my life.
I'd known then that I was losing my mind...
that I was having a nervous breakdown.
I went back...
inside, deep into myself,
to reassess my essence as a human being.
'Cause I don't want to recreate any of the old patterns again.
I realized that, from the time I was a little boy, to that moment,
I was always running...
always trying to fill up that black holeÂ in my soul.
I ran because there was nothing behind me to hold me up.
I ran because I thought that that was all there was to do.
I thought that to stay in one place meant to die.
All I could think about was my kids...
how my success had been at their expense inÂ so many ways.
Sometimes it's hard, at first, to talk to him.
- [Rashida] Uh-huh. - But then, once...
once I say what I want to say, he's fine.
Like, I couldn't reallyÂ talk to him for a while 'cause I never see him.
[Martina] Yeah.
[Quincy] It took two or three years to get everything really in focus,
to reassess how I want to spend the rest of myÂ life.
["Oh, Happy Day" by Quincy Jones plays]
[inaudible]
[chattering voices]
[man] Ladies and gentlemen, the hardest-working man in showbusiness.
[laughter]
[woman] Okay... Okay, did you get it?
[girl] Daddy! Daddy!
- [shouts of encouragement] - [laughter]
[girl screams]
[girl] No! Oh, God...
[hysterical laughter]
[inaudible]
I thought about my kids because, while I was doingÂ all this stuff, you know...
uh, it was taking the time from them.
And that's what I kept thinking about, you know.
And that's my pride and joy, my children, I'm telling you.
And I'm making up for it now.
This is my one and only number one son.
He loves lots of hip hop
and introducedÂ me to a lot of things that I didn'tÂ understand about it.
And again, yep.
That's good. And look over there.
That's great.
This shit kinda big, huh?
It's Quincy Jones, boy.
Don't talk to me no more.
Want to make a bad face?
My generation was introduced to Quincy when Thriller...
You know, that's where...
kids my age can identify him with.
- Where you from, man? - I'm from Compton.
South Side of Chicago, that was my home.
- Yeah, it's tough. My family's from there. - Huh?
- My whole family's from there. - That's amazing.
But it's the same. You know, the hood is the same everywhere in the world.
- Yeah. - Then I found a piano, man,
- and that changed my life. - Yeah.
I would have been dead or in prison a long time ago.
- Right. - Chicago, Jesus...
In the '30s?
- Them motherfuckers don't play. - Yeah.
It's funny, because I was inspired by Back on the Block without even knowing.
Combining hip hop and jazz, and you was the first to do it.
- Do you know where rap came from? - Uhn-uhn.
Where? Where do you think it came from, the Bronx?
- My generation, we're gonna say the Bronx. - Shit.
- The Bronx. - It came from Africa.
The praise-shouters in Africa.
- That's a trip, man. - It is.
That's where all the rhythms came from. Huh?
- To know where it really originates. - Yeah.
- Where the rhythms came from. - Vibrations, yeah.
When I was in the hospital, I was looking back on 70 years, man.
- It's been a motherfucker, man. - Yeah.
Unbelievable. Each decade is different, you know?
- Each decade. - Different music.
- Right. - It's amazing.
I never thought about that stuff before, you know.
- 'Cause you get back what you give, man. - Yeah.
- You can count on that. - Wow.
- Man. - But you're on the right track, man.
- It's definitely a pleasure. An honor. - I'm very proud of you, man.
- Thank you. - And I'm always there for you.
- You got my card, right? - Yup. Yup.
- Always there. - Yup.
- I mean that. - Yup.
- I'm gonna take that to heart. - Mm-hmm.
I'm gonna take it to heart.
- [man] So, this is Prairie, huh? - This is it.
Lord, that's it! Lord have mercy! Just hold, just a second. God damn.
Wow.
God. Boy, this is heavy... Whoo!
That is unbelievable.
God damn!
That's frightening, man.
I can't put it all together.
Man, oh, man.
Look at this, I remember this.
Ooh! I remember this so well.
[steps creaking]
Yeah, we were back here.
Oh, my God, man.
Wow.
[exhaling]
You know what's amazing is how big everything used to feel. It's so tiny.
Oh boy, it's my... My parents stayed here.
That's where they threw my mother down on the bed and, uh...
and put her in a straitjacket.
And they took her away.
[groaning]
Jesus Christ.
["Cotton Curtain" by Quincy Jones plays]
I'm carrying around the past.
But you can sit and wallow in thatÂ shit, you know...
and blame, and all the other stuff, but it's not about that.
At one point, I stopped thinking about myself and I started to think about her
and... think about the things she had goneÂ through.
And how much she loved us.
And I got it. It was real late, but I got it, youÂ know.
You got to let go all of the past, you know,
bring the good parts forward,
forget aboutÂ the negative stuff, and go on.
Because whenever you get hung up and locked into the past,
you're robbingÂ yourself of the present...
and definitelyÂ the future, you know.
- How old are you? - Eight.
I was here when I was your age.
You got Michael Jackson in business.
[laughing]
[Quincy] I was working on the show, man.
It's just right around the corner.
- [Rashida] You think you'll be ready, Dad? - We'll get it.
[Quincy] Boy, oh boy, what history.
Oh, my God.
Boy, the shit they've gone through in this country.
This has got to be the best for youngÂ people to see, good God.
Look at Marvin over there.
My baby.
Look at this. All the old homies there.
Yeah, these are the kings.
Mm-mm-mm!
Unbelievable.
Here's your girl, Dinah Washington.
[Quincy] Look at Dinah, the Queen.
I started with her when I was 22.
It's heavy, man. This is like a dream.
My brother, man.
Smelly.
Heavy.
Lord have mercy, this is memories.
Memory lane, man.
This is so good for young people, boy, I can't tell you.
Kids can see what the history is about.
- Exactly, exactly. - It's beautiful, man. Thank you, brother.
Thank you. Been waiting all my life to see this, man.
Jesus Christ.
Damn.
All of them gone.
That's frightening.
Hmm.
Beautiful people.
[high notes on a saxophone]
- Am I in tune? - [Quincy] That's what I was gonna do.
- [one note] - Feels a little high.
[note played on the piano]
- Um, sharp or flat? - It's a little high.
- [man] A little sharp. - [Davis] No shit.
[Quincy] If I had one more shot to make an album,
it would be an album like this.
[scatting]
Whoa, baby!
- I'm supposed to keep right through? - That's it.
You did just what you supposed to do.
- You know, it should be your personality. - I'll try.
- Okay? And that's easy for you to be you. - [laughing]
♪ Whoo-oo-oo, oo-oo-ah... ♪
[Quincy] Working with these artists that people have loved over the years
like EllaÂ Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan, and MilesÂ Davis, Dizzy Gillespie,
and Ray Charles...
Now, Q, what do you want... Okay, guys, where should I go?
♪ I'll be good to you... ♪
[Quincy] Yes, sir!
♪ Take you shoppin', you know what I mean, baby... ♪
[laughter]
Did you say, "I'll take you shopping"?
Okay, yeah, I mean...
[laughter]
[Quincy] Along with the rappers, the new peopleÂ in the family,
like Kool Moe Dee and Ice-T,
and Melle Mel and Big Daddy Kane, it's just been unbelievable.
You've got a real nice message here,
so try to just make sure all your words are clear and coming through,
no matter what feeling you put into it.
♪ [rapping] I'm introducin' A bop revolution In jazz that has pizazz ♪
♪ He is one player usin' it As who is, his first name's Dizzy ♪
♪ Last name Gillespie Now watch him get busy ♪
[Quincy] And there was a kinship.
There was a strong kinship between hip hop and bebop, I could feel it.
And that's why I tried the fusion of the two and it was so natural.
♪ Back on the block so we can rock ♪
♪ With the soul, rhythm, blues Bebop, and hip hop ♪
♪ Back on the block so we can rock ♪
♪ With the soul, rhythm, blues Bebop, and hip hop ♪
♪ Back on the block, back on the block ♪
♪ Ice-T, let me check my credentials A young player bred in South Central... ♪
Back on theÂ Block, Quincy Jones,
producer Quincy Jones.
I can't believe this.
I really can't believe this. I've been in this Academy since 1958.
And this is the first time I even dare think about having a...
Grammy... under my own name, and I'm so proud.
[applause and cheering]
I'd like to firstly thank my mother.
To my beautiful children, my family.
I'd like to ask everyone to pray for peace on Earth,
and when we get peace on Earth, let's take care of the Earth.
Thank you very much. I'm very happy.
[cheers and applause]
[man] Why did you say that the next decade
is goingÂ to be the most difficult ten years of your life?
It's when I'll have the energy to really stand behind all of the things
that I believe about, creatively...
um, socially, politically,
personally, ethically, morally, and everything.
We came here to announce the formation of Qwest Broadcasting Company.
Qwest will be one of the largest minority-controlled broadcasting groups
in theÂ industry today.
Our first show went on NBC on Monday nights, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
♪ Now this is a story all about how My life got flipped, turned upside down ♪
[Will Smith] Quincy called me. He said, "What are you doing?"
I said. "Well, you know, we're touring." He said, "Okay.
Well, I want to pitch your future to you."
- Hey, Q! - Hey!
[inaudible]
[Quincy] I saw him from the first time he gotÂ on camera,
and I saw this man grow and grow.
[female reporter] Vibe is the latest thrill for Quincy Jones,
who says his new magazine will be for the '90s hip hoppers
what Rolling Stone was to '60s rockers.
[Quincy] I realized there's a whole new music culture
that sits on the scene today that I think is growing by the minute
and there's no voice for it.
[2Pac] ♪ How do U want it? ♪
♪ How do U feel? ♪
[woman] What is it about rap that scares people?
[Quincy] It's young black urban males with a lot of energy
and expressing the conditions of their life in a very poetic way.
It's a very dramatic way, a very theatrical way,
and it is very powerful stuff.
[inaudible]
[male reporter] The two have been at the center of a battle
between east and west coast rappers.
[Quincy] I don't think they are aware that they have such a tremendous heritage.
Sometimes they feel like they're alone out there. But they're not alone.
[sirens wailing]
[male reporter] Fans on both coasts want the real-lifeÂ violence to stop.
I think communications can help a lot,
because we're getting ready to lose two generations of young people.
[Quincy] We had a symposium, uh, in New York with Suge Knight,
and Dr. Dre, and Puffy, and all those people,
Public Enemy, and Colin Powell,
you know, toÂ talk about how do we even this out
so that they don't get blown away so young.
Let's bring Quincy Jones up so he can really set it off.
[applause]
The reason I fell in love with hip hop? Because it reminded me so much of bebop,
and I feel a kinship there because we went through a lot of the same stuff.
The philosophy behind bebop
is that you had to be hip, you wanted to be hip.
And being hip is being aware.
The thing that really provoked me to say it's time to pay attention now is Tupac.
We finally hooked up, even though it was, uh...
tension conditions in the beginning, we finally talked to each other
and heÂ said nobody had talked to him like that before.
And I said I can't take it anymore...
because we no longer can afford to be non-political,
and I'm talking to the hip hop nation now.
We got to seriously talk about what you areÂ you going to... deal with.
They're not playing. There's real bullets out there, believe me.
I'm not gonna roll on here. I got so many things to say...
[voice cracking] and it's a very emotional... thing.
I want to see you guys live at least to my age.
I really do.
[female reporter] Rapper Biggie Smalls was shot to death in Los Angeles.
His death comes almost exactly six months to the day
that another rapper, Tupac Shakur, was fatally shot in Las Vegas.
[Dr. Dre] His death is going to open some eyes most definitely.
To me, I get the feeling thatÂ there's already becoming a change inÂ hip hop.
Everybody's moving more to theÂ positive vibe.
You know what I mean?
["Love and Peace" by Quincy Jones plays]
I've seen the power of music as a tool...
to reach the hearts and minds of millions of people.
And since my voice carries louder and farther than those of a few others,
I have a special responsibility to sing a melody...
about poverty eradication,
to end the suffering caused by extremeÂ poverty.
And I have been hungry. I know what itÂ feels like.
And I don't careÂ how much money I make or suits I wear,
I never forget that feeling of what it feels like when you miss the meals
and you can't eat for three days.
When Quincy decided that he wanted to be more of a citizen with more impact,
not only in the United States, but around theÂ world,
he goes after that the same way he went after music.
Hi, I'm Quincy Jones,
and this is the first official opening ceremony
leading to the presidentialÂ inauguration.
- Hey, Rash! - [Rashida] Busy, Dad?
- Who, me? - [Rashida] Yeah.
[Clinton] He understands that it's only through politics
that you can address some of theÂ problems that he cares a lot about.
[female reporter] Now Jones will gather many of the world's A-list stars in Rome
for the "We Are the Future" concert.
Ciao, Roma!
[female reporter] The event will launch a worldwide humanitarian effort
aimed atÂ helping children in war-ravaged countries.
[male reporter] Pope John Paul II meets with Quincy Jones today
as part of an effort to help get rid of Third World debt.
[Quincy] We're raising the funds now to build 100Â homes in South Africa
with the HabitatÂ for Humanity.
My daddy used to do this, man.
[Mandela] I've got a great respect for Quincy Jones.
For a man with such talents
to regardÂ the struggle in South Africa...
This takes an exceptional human being.
What's interesting about Quincy has been,
at each stage in this remarkable career, he's been the first.
He's been somebody who's walked through that door before anybody else has,
and that'sÂ given people behind him enormous confidence.
And he's done it with grace.
- You only live 26,000 days. - [Oprah] That's right.
- And you dead a lot longer than that. - That's right, honey.
And so, I'm telling you, I'm gonna wear all of them out.
And if I get to 80, that'll be 29,000.
I'm gonna wear 'em all out, you know?
They're gonna know... we came through here.
["The Dude" by Quincy Jones plays]
It's from a...
a farm down in South Africa,
and they were going broke with the produce,
so the owner of the farm taught all theÂ people that worked on it
how to doÂ sculpting.
Isn't that something?
So I was at this art gallery...
with Mancini, and I saw the dude that said,
"Take me with you, take me home."
You know, he just begged me to take him home.
That's what inspired the album. Isn't that something?
♪ That's the dude ♪
That's the dude.
Attitude, isn't it, man?
Is that attitude? Shit...!
Don't mess with that motherfucker, boy.
And it just talked to me every night.
"Hey, motherfucker, I want to be an album. I want to be a tune."
[chuckling]
[piano playing]
[Quincy] Merry Christmas.
This is my grandson.
Love you, man.
- Merry Christmas. - You too, baby.
I adore you.
Yeah, baby!
Where's my kiss?
Thank you, sweetheart.
Oh!
- I love your class. - [woman] Can you take a picture with us?
Thanks for tonight, Glo.
It was great.
When you almost leave here, you really treasure a day like today.
Oh, man.
Really treasure it.
Every... every day, friends are dying.
It's really been crazy.
It's hard because, you know what, you knowÂ that that telephone
will never beÂ answered again.
Ray Charles, all those people, it'll never be answered again,
and that's the hard part.
You've got their numbers, the Cannonball's and stuff,
Dizzy's and Miles', and Sarah, and Ella, and all that stuff,
but they're... they're gone, you know.
And it's painful.
Painful, man.
Lesley Gore, and Michael.
It's a killer.
[sighing]
But that's life.
Hey, Quincy.
This is me.
You know what?
♪ Nights alone ♪
♪ Since you went away ♪
♪ I think about you ♪
♪ All through the day ♪
♪ My buddy ♪
♪ Your buddy ♪
♪ Misses ♪
♪ You ♪
Aww, Quincy...
I love you, man. I love you.
[applause]
Today, as so many generations have before, we gather on ourÂ National Mall...
to tell an essential part of our American story.
One that has, at times, been overlooked.
[man] Quincy is the reason we're all here.
He suggested that we all get involved in this.
[applause]
[Quincy] Thank you.
You know what would be a good idea?
So if you're doing a live "America the Beautiful",
you ought to playÂ Ray Charles' "America the Beautiful" in there too.
- The combination would be hot. - Yeah.
As soon as you get the script, just send it him.
Maybe we'll let him use his own words about how happy he is to see the museum.
"African-Americans came from Carolinas, Florida, New Orleans..."
Just cut that out and start, "A lot of whites came from Downtown."
- We didn't get Colin Powell yet, huh? - Huh?
- Didn't get Colin Powell? - Don't think they got him yet.
Okay, I'll call Colin, man, I'll call him.
My brother, Colin, this is Quincy, man.
Yeah.
But we need you, man.
And Tom Hanks will introduce you, you know,
right after they do the Tuskegee Airmen.
All right, Colin, I love you, man.
Done.
Colin Powell.
We got him.
And Jada.
So, did you hear back from her yet? Oprah?
- Just from the assistant. - Okay.
She was passing it along.
[man] Okay, thank you, we'll begin this rehearsal just as we did before.
♪ Hold on ♪
♪ Stand ♪
♪ Be strong ♪
♪ Stand ♪
♪ God will step in ♪
♪ Stand ♪
♪ And it won't be long ♪
♪ Ooh, just... ♪
Killed it, man. What a beautiful feeling.
Don, would you mind putting Chick Webb before Ella Fitzgerald?
- Okay, okay. - Great stuff, baby.
[sighing]
- [man] Got Oprah. - Okay.
I can't wait to see ya.
You're going to have a ball, honey. You're gonna have a ball. I love you.
♪ I sing ♪
♪ Because... ♪
Yeah, baby!
♪...I'm happy... ♪
Hell, yeah.
♪ I sing ♪
♪ Because I'm free... ♪
- You guys are so good, honey! - Thank you!
- So good, honey!
- Thank you so much! - Thank you, honey.
- For just being being on this planet. - No, you!
- God bless you, honey. - You are so inspirational.
I feel your soul and your minds.
- You guys singing those thirds, I love it. - Thank you!
- You do your own arrangements? - Yes.
Go on, girl!
[laughing]
- Love it. Solos and harmony. - That means so much.
No, honey,Â I mean it. I'm too old to be full of it.
[laughing]
So exciting, man.
They're killin' it. Thanks, Don.
[woman] That's Quincy Jones!
[inaudible]
- "Hardcore." - [laughing]
We came all the way from North Carolina for this!
- Really? - Thank you!
God bless you.
[passers-by shouting]
Me, too.
Love the band!
Tennessee State, man. They're incredible, man.
Hey, baby. How you doing?
Hi.
I know, Dad, I can't wait.
You look so good, Daddy! You look so sharp.
Hey, girl!
Hey, Mary. God bless you, honey. I'm so glad you're here.
- Thanks for having me. - Thank you.
- We're gonna have a fun show. - Oh, baby, it's a killer, man. Killer!
- How are you, buddy? - Good to see you.
- Yeah, you kicked it, man. - Oh, man.
It was fun last night, wasn't it?
- Hey, Tom. How you doin', brother? - Good to see you!
- You too, man! - How you doin', my man?
You're looking fantastic!
- I stopped drinking 19 months ago. - Did you really?
Well, your life is totally different, then.
How you sleeping? All good?
- Incredible. - Beautiful.
- So happy you're here, man. - I'm here, ready to do the thing.
- You called and I came, man. - Love you, man.
Hey, baby! How you doing, man?
So proud of you, man.
- Whoa! - [crowd shouting greetings]
- [Oprah] All right. I came to play. - All right.
On my way.
[people chattering]
Heads up, five minute warning.
Want to practice once?
"It was the happening place. We called it the Uptown Getdown."
- That's good. - That's better.
[man] Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States,
Barack Obama, and Mrs. Michelle Obama.
[applause]
[Quincy] VoilÃ !
Now we're talking.
[cheering]
We're here to celebrate, and laugh, and clap along,
and probably even cry a little
to mark the opening of the first museum in the country
dedicated to the African-American experience in America!
A father who always gets the music started, as he will tonight.
Quincy Jones!
And his daughter, Rashida Jones!
[applause]
[big band style "Fly Me To The Moon" plays]
How are y'all?
[audience] Yeah!
So, let me just set the scene for you.
Harlem, in the '20s and '30s,
not just an address, but a state of mind.
["America The Beautiful" by Ray Charles plays]
♪ Mmm, America ♪
♪ May God thy gold refine ♪
♪ Till all success ♪
♪ Be nobleness... ♪
Ladies and gentlemen, six survivingÂ members
of the Tuskegee Airmen.
[cheers and applause]
♪ Well, now, wait a minute ♪
♪ I'm talkin' about ♪
♪ America ♪
♪ Sweet America ♪
♪ You know, God done shed his grace on thee
♪ He crowned thy good ♪
♪ Yes, he did ♪
♪ Yeah, with brotherhood ♪
♪ From sea to... ♪
Up there is the first black President.
♪...Shining sea ♪
♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord! ♪
♪ I thank you, Lord ♪
♪ Shining sea... ♪
- Great, honey. - You did great, Dad.
[Quincy] Killer!
[man] Thank you.
God bless you. Y'all are bad, baby.
Yeah.
I have to thank you, man, from the bottom of my heart,Â man.
- [Quincy] God bless you, man. - God bless you.
- What an experience. - [Quincy] Keep on keepin' on.
- Q! - [Quincy] Thank you.
You kill me, baby!
[Quincy] What a night.
- [Quincy] God bless. - God bless.
[Quincy] Thank you.
God bless, honey.
- How was it? - Oh, I cried, honey.
- Oh, you did? - Yeah.
God bless, baby.
[exhaling deeply]
God damn.
That's big stuff, man.
It's a big... responsibility in this generation, you know.
"Here's what happened."
It's a journey, coming up in thisÂ fucking country, man. Chicago...
[exhaling]
No joke.
I didn't see anybody white till I wasÂ 11 years old.
And the kids, the kids' minds...
most of them...
are not into that shit, 'cause you have to be taught how to hate.
That's not natural, to hate somebody because of their skin.
You don't have nothing to do with that.
So how people can judge somebody by the color of their skin
is fucked up, you know?
But I... I have a feeling that God will prevail,
and... the light will prevail.
You have to think like that.
'Cause we've come a long way, but we've got a long way to go.
[Chaka Khan] ♪ There's a dream ♪
♪ In your eyes ♪
♪ Reflecting what's in front of you ♪
♪ It's blinding but it's in you ♪
♪ There's a world On the tip of your tongue ♪
♪ A taste lingering on your lips ♪
♪ A feeling on your fingertips ♪
♪ Ooh, can't nobody tell you What you cannot do ♪
♪ Write a word and watch emotions Flow right through you ♪
♪ Make a bid, why, you're like a rocket Watch it soar across the moon ♪
♪ And keep reachin' ♪
♪ Keep reachin' ♪
- ♪ Just keep on reachin' ♪ - ♪ Keep on reachin' ♪
♪ All you got to do is keep reachin' ♪
[woman] Is there anything you think you tried to do
that you didn't succeed at?
[laughs]
Marriage.
[both laugh]
♪ Like a star in the sky ♪
♪ It's always been right there for you ♪
♪ That's why you know what to do ♪
♪ You heard the call that set you free ♪
♪ There's nothing that can stop you From becoming what you're meant to be ♪
♪ Ooh, can't nobody tell you What you cannot do ♪
♪ Write a word and watch emotions flow Right through you ♪
♪ Make a bid, why, you're like a rocket Watch it soar across the moon ♪
♪ Keep reachin' ♪
- ♪ Just keep on reachin' ♪ - ♪ Keep on reachin' ♪
♪ All you got to do is keep reachin' ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Ooh, can't nobody tell you What you cannot do ♪
♪ Write a word and watch emotions flow Right through you ♪
♪ Make a bid, why, you're like a rocket Watch it soar across the moon ♪
♪ Keep reachin' ♪
♪ Reachin' ♪
- ♪ Just keep on reachin' ♪ - ♪ Keep on reachin' ♪
♪ All you got to do is keep reachin' ♪
♪ And keep reachin' ♪
♪ Whoo, yeah ♪
♪ Keep reachin' ♪
- ♪ Just keep on reachin' ♪ - ♪ Keep on reachin' ♪
♪ All you got to do is keep reachin' ♪
["Soul Bossa Nova" by Quincy Jones plays]