(March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024)
Wikipedia
Record producer, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received many accolades including 28 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Tony Award as well as nominations for seven Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards.
Jones came to prominence in the 1950s as a jazz arranger and conductor before producing pop hit records for Lesley Gore in the early 1960s (including “It’s My Party“) and serving as an arranger and conductor for several collaborations between Frank Sinatra and the jazz artist Count Basie. Jones produced three of the most successful albums by pop star Michael Jackson: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), and Bad(1987). In 1985, Jones produced and conducted the charity song “We Are the World“, which raised funds for victims of famine in Ethiopia.
Jones composed numerous films scores including for The Pawnbroker(1965), In the Heat of the Night(1967), In Cold Blood (1967), The Italian Job (1969), The Wiz(1978), and The Color Purple (1985). He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for the miniseries Roots (1977). He received a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical as a producer for the revival of The Color Purple (2016).
Throughout his career he was the recipient of numerous honorary awards including the Grammy Legend Award in 1992, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1995, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001, the National Medal of the Arts in 2011, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2014, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2024. He was named one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century by Time.
A few things he showed us!
Film
Year | Film | Director | Credit | Ref. |
1965 | ||||
1966 | ||||
1967 | Sidney Lumet | Composer | ||
Ron Winston | Composer | |||
1968 | Composer | |||
Composer | ||||
Composer | ||||
Composer | ||||
Composer | ||||
1969 | ||||
1970 | Sidney Lumet | Composer | ||
Composer | ||||
1971 | Composer | |||
Sidney Lumet | Composer | |||
Composer | ||||
Richard Brooks | ||||
1972 | Peter Yates | |||
Richard Fleischer | Composer | |||
Composer | ||||
1978 | Sidney Lumet | |||
1985 | Producer | |||
1990 | Producer | |||
1997 | Producer | |||
2005 | Composer | |||
2023 | Producer | |||
2024 | Composer |
Television
Year | Project | Role | Notes | Ref. |
1966–1967 | Composer | “Hey Landlord Theme“; 7 episodes | [126] | |
1967–1968 | Composer | 12 episodes | ||
1969–1971 | Composer | 52 episodes | ||
1971 | The Bill Cosby Special | Composer | Comedy special | |
1971 | Musical Director | Television Special | ||
1972 | Musical Director | 2 episodes | ||
1973 | Composer | “Sanford and Son Theme“; 135 episodes | ||
1977 | Miniseries | |||
1990–1996 | Executive Producer | 148 episodes | ||
1991 | Executive Producer | Episode: “The Homefront” | ||
1995–1999 | Executive Producer | 76 episodes | ||
1996 | Executive Producer | Television special | ||
1997 | Executive Producer | 6 episodes | ||
1997–1998 | Executive Producer | 28 episodes | ||
1997–2009 | Executive Producer | 215 episodes | ||
2001 | Say it Loud: A Celebration of Black America | Executive Producer | 5 episodes | |
2022 | Executive Producer | 6 episodes |
“RE Classics” – We will never forget!
