To begin to appreciate what Quincy Jones meant to American popular music, listen to Frank Sinatra’s 1964 recording of “Fly Me to the Moon” with the Count Basie Orchestra swinging behind him. Then listen to the relentless bass line of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” part of 1982’s “Thriller,” the biggest-selling pop album in history. And then listen to “We Are the World,” the 1985 charity single in which superstars obediently sang backup for megastars and no one dared disobey the maestro’s baton.
