NOVEMBER PREMIERE: MOANIN’ QUINCY JONES

On the first anniversary of his death, trumpeter and bandleader Quincy Jones (1933–2024) is seen in a tantalizingly short Stingray DJAZZ channel première on November 3. In late 1959, Jones put together an all-star American big band to tour Europe as part of a Harold Arlen musical. Jones discovered the difference between music and the music business there, as business was so bad that the final curtain fell in February 1960. Jones managed to keep the big band alive by booking high-profile concerts around Europe, playing material from his 1959 album ‘The Great Wide World of Quincy Jones’, and occasionally opening for vocalist Nat “King” Cole. “Q” and his men took the stage at the Palais de Beaulieu in the Swiss city Lausanne on June 27, 1960. In this rare, vintage recording of the event, handsomely mustachioed Jones guides his fabulous big band through a swinging arrangement of pianist Bobby Timmons’s jazz classic, “Moanin’”. The band includes, among others, luminaries Benny Bailey (trumpet); Quentin Jackson, Melba Liston, Ake Persson (trombone); Phil Woods (alto saxophone); Sahib Shihab (baritone saxophone); and Patti Brown (piano). Enjoy “Q” – on Stingray DJAZZ!