Quincy Jones Speaks

Quincy Jones gave the keynote address at SXSW on Thursday afternoon, and the just-turned-76 year old renaissance man - who joked that he's celebrating his birthday so many times that "I'll be 80 by the end of the year" - was introduced by SXSW director Roland Swenson as a man who has called "Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Bono and Barack Obama colleague and friend."

From there, the man who referred to himself "the ghetto Gump," gave a warm, funny, generous spirited talk that ranged through his six decade career and was the most justifiable disply af rampant name dropping that I may have ever heard in my life. And the only bum note that he played all afternoon - and he talked for over two hours - was when he talked about how one of the people from Austin he felt a deep connection with - along with Willie Nelson - was Christopher Cross.

Other than that, it was a master class in storytelling and the sharing of musical wisdom. He had a lot to say, so I'm just going to let him do the talking. And in the photo above, by the way, he's looking at a video of his old buddy Ray Charles, who he met when he was 14 years old and Ray was 16, singing a song to him called "My Buddy" at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1991.

On to Q:

"Everywhere I go in the world - Shanghai, Abu Dhabi - at midnight they play the music Michael and I made 30 years ago."

"There's a club called the AARP that if you're lucky, you all will join. Michael, Prince and Madonna just joined it, because they all just turned 50. Though Madonna will deny it for the next 20 years."

"There's the hills and valleys and you find out who you are when you hit the valleys

"In my career I worked with a lot of the great artists of the 20th century: Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Kool Moe Dee, 50 Cent. I know a girl in China who calls 50 Cent "Two Quarters."

"In the '40s, we had to play everything.  I had a teacher who told me there are only 12 notes. Until they invent a 13th, learn what everybody - everybody - did with them.  we had to play everything. Stravinsky, Ravel, to Bo Diddley to whoever.

"With Frank [Sinatra], there was no gray. He either loved you and respected you, or would roll over you in a Mack in reverse.There was nothing in between... He said to me, Q - he was the first one to call me that - live every day like it will be your last, and one day you'll be right."

"I've been called the "the Ghetto gump." And that's always just been about being in the right place at the right time."

"They always teach musicians the bad words first, in every language. I learned to curse in Tuskish from the Ertegun brothers. In Dutch, I don't know how to say hello, but I know all the bad words."

Growing up with Ray Charles "we had to dream of things that never happened before. We used to lie on the ground and dream that the Lone Ranger was black."

"Most great singers you recognize them the first 20 seconds or so. You know who they are."

Working with Michael Jackson in the 1970s after his biggest hit had been "Ben": "I had to find songs about creatures who walk on two legs, not just rodents."

Record execs "wanted Gamble and Huff to produce Off The Wall. They thought 'Quincy's too jazzy." I love being underestimated."

"Find a group of songs  that touch you and give you goosebumps. We are instruments of a high power.  Music comes through us. You have that attitude, you'll be creative the rest of your life."

"Observe the the pain on the face of a person you don't trust when they encounter a new idea: It's like they have  acid reflux. Stay away from those people."

"You've got to be crazy to be in this business. That's why I'm glad to be hear with you. And stay crazy. Because you are the soul of the world."