Behind the Scenes Stories from Friends and Collaborators
On November 3, 2024, the world lost Quincy Jones at 91 years old. The breadth of what he created, produced, and championed across seven decades of music is almost impossible to fully comprehend: from his work with Michael Jackson on Thriller and Off the Wall to his arrangements for Frank Sinatra, his collaborations with Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, and hundreds more, and his lifelong mission to use music as a force for human connection across every culture and boundary. Quincy Jones was not just a great musician. He was the architect of the sound of the 20th century.
Days after his passing, Elmo brought together a group of musicians who had worked with Quincy directly or been deeply shaped by his legacy, to share the stories, memories, and lessons that no obituary could capture. John JR Robinson, the most-recorded drummer in history. Michael Bearden, Michael Jackson's music director. Ibrahim Maalouf, the Lebanese-French trumpet virtuoso. Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, the arranger and multi-instrumentalist whose work echoes Quincy's own spirit of genre-defying collaboration. Daru Jones, Jason White, Jeff Gitty, and Elmo himself.
Together they paint a portrait of a man who made everyone around him feel seen, heard, and capable of something greater than they had imagined for themselves.
"He didn't just make records. He made people believe they could be more than they thought they were."
The most-recorded drummer in history. Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, session legend
Michael Jackson's This Is It music director, Lady Gaga, Beyonce
Lebanese-French trumpet virtuoso, composer, and global musical explorer
Arranger, multi-instrumentalist, Suite for Ma Dukes, Flying Lotus, Thundercat
Drummer, Jack White, Mayer Hawthorne, educator and cultural voice
Sunday Service, Kanye West; and the Go With Elmo family
Musicians who worked alongside Quincy share the moments that revealed who he really was: his generosity with young artists, the way he ran a session, and the specific things he said and did that stuck with them forever.
What made Quincy Jones singular: his ability to see across genres and eras, his gift for bringing out the best in every musician he worked with, and why his records still sound unlike anything else in the history of recorded music.
The ripple effect of Quincy's influence through generations of musicians who never met him but heard themselves in the musicians he shaped. How his spirit lives on in the work of everyone he touched, directly or indirectly.
The wisdom Quincy Jones shared -- about music, about life, about what it means to be a professional -- that the guests in this episode carry with them every time they walk into a studio or onto a stage.
First-hand perspectives on the sessions, the creative energy, and the sheer ambition behind the records that Quincy and Michael Jackson made together, and what it meant to be in those rooms.
How musicians process the loss of a figure who defined entire chapters of their lives and careers, and how the best way to honor someone like Quincy Jones is to carry his spirit into the work you do every day.
John JR Robinson on what it was actually like to be in the room with Quincy Jones during sessions: the atmosphere he created, the standards he held, and the particular way he communicated with musicians that made even legends feel like students in the best possible sense.
Michael Bearden on Quincy's influence on his own approach to music direction and production: the specific things Quincy showed him about arranging, about leadership, and about what it means to serve an artist's vision while bringing your full self to the work.
Ibrahim Maalouf and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson on how Quincy's fearlessness in crossing cultural and genre borders shaped their own sense of what was possible, and why his example gave them permission to pursue the kind of work that refused to fit any single category.
The full group on the records: which Quincy Jones productions they return to most, which arrangements still stop them cold when they hear them, and what they hear in those recordings now that they know music from the inside that they could not have heard before.
Elmo on what Quincy Jones meant to him personally and to the Go With Elmo community, and why this episode was both the most important and the most difficult one he had ever hosted.
A shared reflection on what the music world looks like now that Quincy is gone: the void he leaves, the responsibility his absence places on those who carry his influence, and the ways they each plan to honor his legacy through their own work going forward.