Quincy Jones, a maestro of American music and a titan of the entertainment industry who influenced nearly every popular genre, produced landmark albums and earned a record 80 Grammy Award nominations, has died, his publicist said. He was 91. Jones 'passed away peacefully' Sunday night at his home in Bel Air while surrounded by his family, his publicist Arnold Robinson said. 'Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing.
He worked with Cannonball Adderley, Count Basie, Clifford Brown, Gigi Gryce , Oscar Pettiford, Dinah Washington and a host of other jazz luminaries. He toured with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in 1956, traveling across the Middle East and South America, and recorded his first album as a bandleader the same year. He worked for a spell at the Barclay record label in Paris and then led an all-star big band for the European run of Harold Arlen’s “blues opera” in two acts, “Free and Easy.