Quincy Jones Speaks To Class

While speaking to an Afro-American Studies class yesterday, Quincy D. Jones Jr., the popular R&B musician and producer, mentioned that Time Warner will provide a matching grant to permanently endow the visiting chair now in Jones' name.

Jones, who has ties to such musical legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles, has traveled around the world composing and arranging music for individual artists as well as films.

In a speech to students in Afro-American Studies 154: "Black Music: Race, Politics and Culture," Jones discussed aspects of his own life as well as the resurgence of R&B, its roots and influences and the notion of a connection between race and talent. Jones said he does not believe the two are related.

"I know a lot of brothers who cannot dance, and I know a lot of Jewish blues singers," said Jones, 70, who began his career as a gospel singer and worked his way up in the jazz world with such notables as Ray Charles, playing for troops during World War II.

"I never thought we'd be talking about this subject in 1997," he said "I thought we would have solved it in the '50s and '60s."

Jones answered student questions, which focused on his jazz background. He also examined the roots and current forms of African-American music.

A natty dresser, with a close-shaven head and a gold earring in his left ear, Jones also discussed American politics, saying he is upbeat about youth today. He exhorted listeners to solve racial conflicts and made a plea to the class to do something about the dilemmas of America's inner cities and wield the power of music in a positive way.

He criticized the use of slang such as "bitches" and "hoes," saying that children listening to such words often pick it up out of context and, thinking it acceptable, add it to their vocabulary.

Jones spoke about Tupac Shakur, the famed rapper and associate of Jones who was killed last year in Nevada, and of Shakur's frustration with the music industry.

Jones--whose daughter, Kidada Jones, had been engaged to Shakur and came close to being in the car in which the rap artist was killed--said the "gangsta" element in rap music was more theatrical than political and should be abandoned.

"Tupac told me before he died, 'I'm tired of playing [a] facade,'" Jones said.

Afro-Am 154 is taught by Dwight D. Andrews, an Emory University professor who is the current Jones visiting associate professor of African-American music. Andrews is also teaching a class on the history of jazz this term, and composed the music for August Wilson's "Seven Guitars," now a Broadway hit.

Another daughter of Jones, Rashida Jones '97, a student at the College, composed this year's score for the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, one of the reasons Jones spoke to the class. Jones is currently in a partnership with Time Warner.

WGBH was taping Jones as he spoke for a documentary on black culture which will be aired in June

He criticized the use of slang such as "bitches" and "hoes," saying that children listening to such words often pick it up out of context and, thinking it acceptable, add it to their vocabulary.

Jones spoke about Tupac Shakur, the famed rapper and associate of Jones who was killed last year in Nevada, and of Shakur's frustration with the music industry.

Jones--whose daughter, Kidada Jones, had been engaged to Shakur and came close to being in the car in which the rap artist was killed--said the "gangsta" element in rap music was more theatrical than political and should be abandoned.

"Tupac told me before he died, 'I'm tired of playing [a] facade,'" Jones said.

Afro-Am 154 is taught by Dwight D. Andrews, an Emory University professor who is the current Jones visiting associate professor of African-American music. Andrews is also teaching a class on the history of jazz this term, and composed the music for August Wilson's "Seven Guitars," now a Broadway hit.

Another daughter of Jones, Rashida Jones '97, a student at the College, composed this year's score for the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, one of the reasons Jones spoke to the class. Jones is currently in a partnership with Time Warner.

WGBH was taping Jones as he spoke for a documentary on black culture which will be aired in June