Obituary | The Prince of Bel-Air

Quincy Jones ruled popular music for half a century

The producer, arranger and film-score writer died on November 3rd, aged 91

Composer Quincy Jones composing at his home studio in Los Angeles, United States, October 1974
Photograph: AP

Among the other thousand things that kept him busy and curious without end, Quincy Jones loved to cook. His gumbo was so good, it would make you slap your grandmother. He made the world’s best lemon meringue pie by putting lime in the meringue. And lemons themselves were his favourite ingredient, time after time. Forget onions, hot sauce, garlic. A squeeze of lemon knocked out everything else, like a piccolo in a symphony orchestra. In fact, he didn’t cook so much as orchestrate.

This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “Quincy Jones”

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