Have u guys seen this video of Jones saying basically that Prince is an average musician?

lol.......unreal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3tzjkxBljk

[Edited 7/17/20 14:45pm]

LoveGalore said:

Quincy is as problematic as it gets. Not surprising here as he is well known for being a shit talker in his advanced age.

I didn't like his comments when I first heard it but it may have been taken out of context....I think he is saying that he's seen better piano players...he mentions Herbie Hancock but he played with so many greats from the old days. He's been around theh best. I think Prince himself called himself a 'guitarist' but never a pianist. As I delve deeper into the 70s Jazz fusion and 60 jazz, I realize more and more that the players in those days were of much higher calibre on specific instruments. Prince was fantastic but you can't compare Prince playing bass to Victor Wooten in terms of skill. You can't compare Prince to Chick Corea on piano....they are just in a diff league.

HOWEVER, what is unique to Prince - and I would have loved to have heard Quincy's opinion on this - is that he could really do it ALL. He could play all the instruments at a very highl level of proficiency but his sound was HIS only. You usually knew when Prince was playing pretty much anything he played.

NOw let's forget the mechanics for a sec, he could write the songs too...all on his own. So, from his imagination straight to tape. Can Quincy say he could do that?? Could Miles Davis do that?? My point is, each had to rely on others to realize what they dreamt up.

Then there is arranging...Prince was a master arranger. Just look at his reworkings of his own songs live...sometimes they were drastically different and sounded AMAZING.

Then there is performing live. I don't think anyone can deny his unparalleled performances. When he was on, there was NO one who could do it like him. Again, would love to have heard Quincy comment on Prince's RRHOF solo and how he just smoked all those 'guitar players' and walked off the stage. Prince quietly did everything many old school black musicans wanted to do. He didn't talk - he did it and did it on his terms.

Quincy is still mad that P never showed up at the "We Are The World" sessions..or the time he put his lollipop in his face at that awards show years ago.

One of Prince's best talents was sticking it to Quincy Jones.

Superstition said:

Quincy needs to only talk about his own work. His controversial statements over the years about numerous others have not made him look like the professional he is. Or was

SoulAlive said:

I have tremendous respect and admiration for Quincy and all of his accomplishments,but in recent years,he’s been saying a lot of ridiculous nonsense.I don’t know if it’s old age or whatever,but he is speaking alot of BS these days.

But this video looks decades old.

To me it sounded like it was coming from a place of ego.

I'm sure being who he was made him feel like he had the final verdict on other musicians.

However, his remarks don't mean shit. You don't have to be a master musician to hear the beauty and artistry in Prince's piano playing.

he was jacksons bitch, so what do you expect

Graycap23 said:

He obviously doesn't have anything better to do...

PurpleHigh said:

One of Prince's best talents was sticking it to Quincy Jones.

^^^^^ THIS
And thank Godt he did. Can you imagine Prince among that crowd, purposely positioned among the taller singers? He knew what would happen.

purplethunder3121 said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

Quincy is still mad that P never showed up at the "We Are The World" sessions..or the time he put his lollipop in his face at that awards show years ago.

Prince made an ASS of himself. It was embarrassing. One of the low points of his career. I was ashamed of being a Prince fan after that display of selfish egotism.

homesquid said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

Quincy is still mad that P never showed up at the "We Are The World" sessions..or the time he put his lollipop in his face at that awards show years ago.

Prince made an ASS of himself. It was embarrassing. One of the low points of his career. I was ashamed of being a Prince fan after that display of selfish egotism.

Funny i looked at it as a bad ass move not perform on a cringworthy recording. If yah talking about the lollipop in the face i agree.

Why do people care what Quincy thinks?

homesquid said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

Quincy is still mad that P never showed up at the "We Are The World" sessions..or the time he put his lollipop in his face at that awards show years ago.

Prince made an ASS of himself. It was embarrassing. One of the low points of his career. I was ashamed of being a Prince fan after that display of selfish egotism.

But the thing is, Quincy tried to lick the lollipop and Prince pulled it away. ....To me, that was embarrassing on Quincy's behalf, not Prince's.

looby said:

homesquid said:

Prince made an ASS of himself. It was embarrassing. One of the low points of his career. I was ashamed of being a Prince fan after that display of selfish egotism.

But the thing is, Quincy tried to lick the lollipop and Prince pulled it away. ....To me, that was embarrassing on Quincy's behalf, not Prince's.

forgot that

homesquid said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

Quincy is still mad that P never showed up at the "We Are The World" sessions..or the time he put his lollipop in his face at that awards show years ago.

Prince made an ASS of himself. It was embarrassing. One of the low points of his career. I was ashamed of being a Prince fan after that display of selfish egotism.

How? Like, for real, how did he make an ass of himself? He just didn't want to join the session, so what? He didn't do out of malice. He just didn't swing that way. He offered a guitar part and his own song. So I guess he kinda participated.

We are the world was done with good intentions, but it's cringey as hell in retrospect. Didn't even surprise me when Latoya said that MJ wrote the whole damn thing, it's as cringey as Heal the world which he wrote too.

purplethunder3121 said:

What the hell was going on in Quincy's head at that moment? He made an ass of himself diving for that lolli pop

purplethunder3121 said:

I dunno, that dive makes Quincy look a bit nicer in my eyes.
At least capable of self-irony.

I like to see it as a "sorry for the shit I said", in some way.
He played ball, it looked like he meant "I'm a sucker for Prince".
He could have kept his head up.

Game Blouses fo sho.
He went for it. Still trying to make him sing that boyscouts refrain,
after all these years. But long ago, there was a man, Amen.

I think Quincy's comments were fair tbh. I know the "purple army" often likes to imagine that Prince was the best at everything. That's silly though, he never needed to be that, it was never the point. We do him a disservice by exaggerating his talent, because it is already awesome enough that he covered many instruments competently enough to compose, arrange, perform, and produce great songs.

He got a lot better as an instrumentalist over the course of his 40 year career of course, but like any musician he had limitations. He understood these limitations which is why he surrounded himself with better players throughout his career and harnessed their talent and contributions.

We have to remember - Quincy worked with the best session players in the business. Of course if you are used to working with world-class pianists, bassists, drummers and guitarists, you'll have have a much more balanced view of Prince's capacity across those instruments. The point is though, he was good enough on all those instruments to service his music. That's incredible enough already, he never needed to be a virtuoso on any instrument.

[Edited 7/18/20 23:44pm]