Quincy Jones Plays "Moanin'"

Carrfan, a good friend of mine, will love this performance of "Moanin."

From the late 1950's to 1964, Quincy Jones was the first African-American to serve as a record producer at a major label, Mercury Records. During this time, he also wrote arrangements for stars as diverse as Dinah Washington, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra (the last album the two recorded was the "L.A. Is My Lady" in 1986) plus producing albums for such young artists such as Lesley Gore. After resigning from Mercury in 1964, Jones went into composing, writing scores for films and television and contributing such wildly diverging scores as the themes to "Ironside,""Sanford and Son" and Bill Cosby's two short lived tv shows in the 1970's.

It's Jones' skills as an arranter that still amazes. "Moanin'" takes it's cue from the Bob Florence chart for Vikki Carr and turns the song in an all-out blues with Clark Terry playing a fluid solo on flugelhorn.