Last post on final years - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=140179
Refer to my profile for all posts in the series

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The score rankings
Unreleased
Hey, Landlord S1 episodes (1966-67)
A Dandy in Aspic (1968)
The Counterfeit Killer (1968)
The Hell with Heroes (1968)
Jigsaw (1968)
The Out-of-Towners (1970)
Up Your Teddy Bear (1970)
Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)
Brother John (1971)
Honky (1971)
The New Centurions (1972)
Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2005)

Only the theme released
Ironside pilot movie & S1 episodes (1967-68)
The Anderson Tapes (1971)
The Getaway (1972)

TV title themes
The New Bill Cosby Show (1972-73)
Sanford and Son (1972-77)
Rebop (1976-79)

Haven’t heard yet
Enter Laughing (1967)
The Split (1968)
John and Mary (1969)
Killer by Night (1972)

**½
24. Come Back Charleston Blue (1972)

***
23. The Hot Rock (1972)
22. $ (1971)
21. Roots (1977)
20. Walk, Don’t Run (1966)
19. The Wiz (1978)

***½
18. For Love of Ivy (1968)
17. Man and Boy (1971)
16. The Bill Cosby Show S1/S2 (1969-71)
15. The Color Purple (1985)
14. The Slender Thread (1965)
13. The Lost Man (1969)
12. The Deadly Affair (1967)

****
11. Mirage (1965)
10. The Boy in the Tree (1961) - Not a bad start at all
9. They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) - Funk for days!
8. Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) - Groovy
7. Cactus Flower (1969) - Groovier
6. In the Heat of the Night (1967) - For those who liked wild instrumental mixes
5. The Pawnbroker (1965) - A forgotten gem among the decade’s jazz scores

****½
4. Mackenna’s Gold (1969) - More fun than any bad film deserves
3. Banning (1967) - The finest Mancini score Mancini didn’t write
2. The Italian Job (1969) - The best part of the movie, even more so than the Mini Cooper chase

*****
1. In Cold Blood (1967) - Astonishingly creative for its era and still impressively unnerving today

Some of these are a result of their original LP programs / recordings. I’d argue the music from The Pawnbroker and The Slender Thread would have better rankings / ratings if their expanded score presentations were available on album, at least going off of my impression of the music as it functioned in their respective films. This should not inherently be taken as criticism of Quincy’s LP arrangements though as he was trying to conform to shorter listening durations common for the era, not to mention that his score for The Italian Job is more enjoyable standalone in its LP sequence than in the chronological film sequence.

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10 essential albums by Quincy Jones
Classic big band jazz
1959: The Birth of a Band!
1962: Big Band Bossa Nova

Contemporary jazz and R&B
1969: Walking in Space
1970: Gula Matari
1971: Smackwater Jack
1973: You’ve Got It Bad, Girl

Modern genre fusions
1974: Body Heat
1978: Sounds…and Stuff Like That!!
1981: The Dude

Its own beast
1989: Back on the Block

Runners-up: This Is How I Feel About Jazz (1957), Around the World (1961)


10 essential albums Quincy did for others
1955: Julian “Cannonball” Adderley - Cannonball Adderley; Quincy arranged & partially wrote

1957: My Fair Lady Loves Jazz - Billy Taylor; Quincy arranged & conducted

1961: Genius + Soul = Jazz - Ray Charles; Quincy partially arranged

1961: The King of the Gospel Singers - Little Richard; Quincy produced & partially wrote

1966: Sinatra at the Sands - Frank Sintara and the Count Basie Orchestra; Quincy arranged & conducted

1979: Off the Wall - Michael Jackson; Quincy produced & partially arranged

1982: Thriller - Michael Jackson; Quincy produced & partially arranged

1987: Bad - Michael Jackson; Quincy produced & partially arranged

1993: Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux - Miles Davis; Quincy produced & conducted

2013: Diversity - Emily Bear; Quincy produced

Runners-up: For Those in Love, Under Paris Skies, Ella and Basie!, A Message from the People

Notes on omissions:
- All the Sarah Vaughan albums kind of blur together.

- It’s My Party is a great song, but Lesley Gore’s first album was put together in a rush and over-indexed on the crying theme. The later albums really did run her style into the ground, but at least we got You Don’t Own Me and Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows out of them.

- A retrospective by The Rolling Stone made a case for Masterjam as one of his great productions, but I felt that record blended in with the other genre fusion records Quincy was overseeing at the time. Fun at times - on like Chaka Khan, as Wags would say - but not a classic.

- You could make a case for including any of the Brothers Johnson albums, though I think that would be on the strength of individual songs as opposed to entire programs. Still, the album cover of Blam! is one of the most epic things I’ve ever seen.

Just wanted to thank you for this series. I didn't comment while it was posting, but I read every one, and really enjoyed your exploration of a composer who I knew very little about. This final list is great and will help guide me to explore some of his work further. Thanks so much for doing doing the research and sharing it with all of us!

> Just wanted to thank you for this series. I didn't comment while it was posting, but I read every one, and really enjoyed your exploration of a composer who I knew very little about. This final list is great and will help guide me to explore some of his work further. Thanks so much for doing doing the research and sharing it with all of us!

Many thanks for the kind words. Like the MV/RC and Hisaishi efforts in the past, it started as just a quick personal project (it was only gonna be film scores at first) that soon spiraled out of control, pushing my curiosity into new realms, and if nothing else it seemed a tad rude not to share all that I'd learned.

Or most of what I learned rather, as this was on track to be be twice as long before I tried paring down the posts to their bare essentials hahaha. Do people really care what I think about Decisions, the terrible album he did with The Winans? Gosh, I hope not!

It also helped that the wife dug a lot of the albums - "Austin Powers!" when Big Band Bossa Nova comes on and whatnot.

And hopefully the recent posthumous album re-releases (The Slender Thread, Twilight Time) are a sign of things to come on some of his LPs getting wider availability once again. Quincy said Julius Watkins' French Horns for My Lady was one of his worst-selling albums; would that lovely but obscure record do better on streaming?

(Message edited on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at 10:04 a.m.)

> Last post on final years -
> https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=140179
> Refer to my profile for all posts in the series

I'll definitely need to check out the other posts. Unfortunately your series was mostly during my 2 week vacation so I missed most of it, and it would be quite informative for me since I'm only familiar with 5 scores from your list below, and those are all in context of the films.

Does the series cover "Soul Bossa Nova" from the Austin Powers films? Probably my first exposure to Jones and still a personal favorite. My high school band had a ton of fun playing it, and the audience always enjoyed it.

> The score rankings
> Unreleased
> Hey, Landlord S1 episodes (1966-67)
> A Dandy in Aspic (1968)
> The Counterfeit Killer (1968)
> The Hell with Heroes (1968)
> Jigsaw (1968)
> The Out-of-Towners (1970)
> Up Your Teddy Bear (1970)
> Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)
> Brother John (1971)
> Honky (1971)
> The New Centurions (1972)
> Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2005)

> Only the theme released
> Ironside pilot movie & S1 episodes (1967-68)
> The Anderson Tapes (1971)
> The Getaway (1972)

> TV title themes
> The New Bill Cosby Show (1972-73)
> Sanford and Son (1972-77)
> Rebop (1976-79)

> Haven’t heard yet
> Enter Laughing (1967)
> The Split (1968)
> John and Mary (1969)
> Killer by Night (1972)

> **½
> 24. Come Back Charleston Blue (1972)

> ***
> 23. The Hot Rock (1972)
> 22. $ (1971)
> 21. Roots (1977)
> 20. Walk, Don’t Run (1966)
> 19. The Wiz (1978)

> ***½
> 18. For Love of Ivy (1968)
> 17. Man and Boy (1971)
> 16. The Bill Cosby Show S1/S2 (1969-71)
> 15. The Color Purple (1985)
> 14. The Slender Thread (1965)
> 13. The Lost Man (1969)
> 12. The Deadly Affair (1967)

> ****
> 11. Mirage (1965)
> 10. The Boy in the Tree (1961) - Not a bad start at all
> 9. They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) - Funk for days!
> 8. Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) - Groovy
> 7. Cactus Flower (1969) - Groovier
> 6. In the Heat of the Night (1967) - For those who liked wild
> instrumental mixes
> 5. The Pawnbroker (1965) - A forgotten gem among the decade’s jazz
> scores

> ****½
> 4. Mackenna’s Gold (1969) - More fun than any bad film deserves
> 3. Banning (1967) - The finest Mancini score Mancini didn’t write
> 2. The Italian Job (1969) - The best part of the movie, even more
> so than the Mini Cooper chase

> *****
> 1. In Cold Blood (1967) - Astonishingly creative for its era and
> still impressively unnerving today

> Does the series cover 'Soul Bossa Nova' from the Austin Powers films? Probably my first exposure to Jones and still a personal favorite. My high school band had a ton of fun playing it, and the audience always enjoyed it.

It most certainly did!

https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=139573

Quite possibly the best album Quincy ever made. And the first time Lalo Schifrin appeared on a commercial record if memory serves.

Bravo, Jon, on another fantastic series! I loved reading every post and am *slowly* catching up on all the albums on Spotify and YouTube. I now have a greater appreciation for the man and his impact on American music and culture.

And in case no one has seen it, the opening scene from Austin Powers: Goldmember features a sweet cameo by Quincy conducting the orchestra (he appears at the 1:15 mark): https://youtu.be/dC6y8X4iyjM?si=sbmkciIst1EWCDSX

> Bravo, Jon, on another fantastic series!

Thanks!

> I loved reading every post and am *slowly* catching up on all the albums on Spotify and YouTube.

Yes, I would not expect expediency for something that's 120+ albums.

> I now have a greater appreciation for the man and his impact on American music and culture.

I'll admit before he passed I knew he was a titan in the music industry but could really only name a handful of his film scores and Thriller. Shame on me.