Listen Up The Lives of Quincy Jones (1990)

The extraordinary life of Quincy Jones one of the 20th centurys most influential and talented composers musicians and music producers provides the basis of this offbeat freeform documentary tribute With little regard for formal timelines and traditional documentary biography methods the film is an amazing patchwork of personal insights featuring a constellation of music stars including his longtime friend Ray Charles Miles Davis Frank Sinatra Herbie Hancock Ella Fitzgerald Michael Jackson Aretha Franklin Dizzy Gillespie and rappers Big Daddy Kane and Flavor Flav as well as politicians filmmakers and other important people Some of the most moving scenes involve Jones returning to his childhood home in Chicago and recounting honest and painful memories from his childhood Jones does not shy from discussing everything from his mothers mental illness to his marital problems to his serious health conditions He also looks frankly at his career