Review by Thom Jurek
Box sets like this reflect what is almost incomprehensible in the 21st century: that headline musicians could be, if they wised as recording artists. They could cut and albums have multiple albums released in a year on well known labels, and distributed to the masses. This four disc box that covers three years in Quincy Jones' long career contains a total of nine albums. Seven of these titles are listed under his own name--I Dig Dancers, Around The World, QJ at Newport, The Great Wide World Of Quincy Jones, the classic Quintessence (one of two offerings not on Mercury here; it was released on Impluse!), and Bossa Nova. Another is the collaborative album Basin Street, recorded with Billy Eckstine. Also included is the hard to find original score for for Arne Sucksdorff's film, Pojken i trädet (trans: the Boy In The Tree), and lastly, Sarah Vaughan's You're Mine You--which he arranged and conducted (it was issued by Roulette). These discs contain nearly five hours of music--285 minutes to be exact--and reflect a hell of a quality run in Jones' catalogue. While the Enlightenment label is not exactly renowned for is quality reissues, the price is right and the sound--mono--is more than acceptable.
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It was during the 1960s that Quincy Jones became a world renowned Jazz musician and composer of film soundtracks, but it was not until about the middle of the decade that success of this nature began to come his way, soon after he had composed the score for Oscar nominated 'The Pawnbroker'. Indeed, during the first few years of the 1960s he lived as a working musician, bandleader and the musical director of Barclay Records - the French imprint of Mercury - but could barely earn enough to pay the bills. This however, did not prevent Quincy from continuing to perform and release music of a quite superlative nature. While still in Paris, Quincy, along with his Jones Boys, recorded his first album of the 1960s, the upbeat 'I Dig Dancers'. Released in 1961, his follow up, titled 'Around the World', was cut back in New York (to where he had returned in October 1960) and featured Quincy's arrangements of songs and tunes from - just as it said on the tin - around the world. Over the next two years Jones continued releasing music at a prolific rate whilst drawing from influences far and wide, and by the end of 1962 his profile had risen considerably as he begun to be noticed in circles outside of the Jazz community. This 4CD collection brings together the nine albums Quincy Jones made during 1960 - 1962, providing a comprehensive overview of a musician on the cusp of greatness.