Ultimate Collection (Fewer Tracks)
11/26/2002
Lyrics from Ultimate Collection (Fewer Tracks)
All Music Guide Review
In 1974, Quincy Jones, who already had a wide range of musical credits behind him, opted to enter the R&B mainstream by hiring vocalists and overseeing recordings in a commercial vein released under his name. The first of them was Body Heat, which went gold, and Jones followed with a series of records including 1981's million-selling The Dude and the 1990 Album of the Year Grammy-winner Back on the Block. Meanwhile, he switched record labels, leaving A&M for his own Warner-distributed Qwest in the early '80s. That has tended to make the assembly of a comprehensive best-of difficult, but Universal's Hip-O reissue division specializes in licensing material from other labels to construct its Ultimate Collection releases, and this one borrows seven out of 18 tracks from Qwest to add to Jones' A&M hits, making it the definitive one-disc compilation of Jones' pop/R&B recordings of 1974-1999. Jones himself participated in the selection, which does not strictly follow chart rankings, since a couple of R&B Top 20 hits ("I Don't Go for That" and "Slow Jams") are missing, while a few non-chart items are included. To get more songs in, the singles edits have been used in many cases. But all the major hits are here. The chronological sequencing allows an appreciation of how Jones' approach changed over the years. The '70s stuff, which holds up surprisingly well, is tasty R&B, much of it groove-oriented, up-tempo music. By the late '80s, however, there are a lot of big, bland ballads that showcase superstar vocalists (Ray Charles, Barry White, etc.) and sound self-important. Like his protégé, Michael Jackson, who went from the rocking "Billie Jean" to the messianic "Man in the Mirror" in the same period, Jones seems to have begun believing his press clippings, and his work suffered accordingly. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Ultimate Collection (Fewer Tracks) Track Listing
Credits of Ultimate Collection (Fewer Tracks)
- Donald Waldrup
- Trombone
- Paulette McWilliams
- Vocals, Vocals (Background)
- Arthur Maebe
- French Horn
- Johnny Mandel
- String Arrangements, Synthesizer Arrangements, Brass Arrangement
- Harvey Mason, Sr.
- Drums
- Myrna Matthews
- Vocals (Background)
- Yolanda McCullough
- Singer
- Mike Melvoin
- Synthesizer, Piano (Electric), Piano, Keyboards
- Sidney Muldrow
- French Horn
- Jack Nimitz
- Saxophone
- David Paich
- Keyboards
- Robert Payne
- Trombone
- Leon Pendarvis
- Horn Arrangements
- Jerry Peters
- Keyboards
- Greg Phillinganes
- Synthesizer, Handclapping, Fender Rhodes, Piano (Electric), Piano, Keyboards
- Steve Porcaro
- Programming
- Ian Prince
- Keyboards
- Bernard "Pretty" Purdie
- Drums
- Melvin "Wah Wah" Ragin
- Guitar
- Alan Raph
- Trombone (Bass)
- Paul Riser
- Assistant Arranger
- John "J.R." Robinson
- Drums, Handclapping
- Frank Rosolino
- Trombone
- Zachary Sanders
- Singer
- Sahib Shihab
- Saxophone
- Clifford Solomon
- Sax (Tenor)
- Neil Stubenhaus
- Bass
- Bruce Swedien
- Drums, Drums (Snare)
- Tamia
- Vocals
- Richard Tee
- Organ, Keyboards, Piano (Electric), Synthesizer, Piano
- Rod Temperton
- Vocal Arrangement, Synthesizer Arrangements
- David Tofani
- Saxophone
- Ian Underwood
- Synthesizer, Programming, Synthesizer Programming
- Harold Vick
- Saxophone
- Gerald Vinci
- Concert Master
- Ernie Watts
- Flute, Saxophone
- Chauncey Welsch
- Trombone
- Kirk Whalum
- Saxophone
- Carolyn Willis
- Vocals (Background)
- David Wolinski "Hawk"
- Clavinet, Synthesizer Bass, CS-80
- Syreeta Wright
- Vocals (Background)
- Snooky Young
- Trumpet
- Aaron Zigman
- Synthesizer
- Jimmy Richardson
- Flute, Saxophone
- Leon Ware
- Vocals, Vocals (Background)
- A. Scott Galloway
- Liner Notes
- Eric Dawkins
- Vocals (Background), Vocal Arrangement
- Bill Ross
- String Arrangements
- Ollie Brown
- Percussion
- Carol Friedman
- Cover Photo, Tray Photo
- Greg Ross
- Art Direction, Design
- Dana Smart
- Compilation Producer
- Geary Chansley
- Photo Research
- Jim McCrary
- Photography
- Gavin Lurssen
- Mastering
- Reggie C. Young
- Trombone
- QDIII
- Drum Programming
- Steve Woolard
- Research Assistant
- Donovan McCrary
- Vocals (Background)
- Shane Shoaf
- Vocals (Background)
- Frank Floyd
- Singer
- Alex Harris
- Vocals (Background)
- Tiffany Johnson
- Vocals (Background)
- Pat Lawrence
- Compilation Producer
- Bill Eaton
- Singer
- George Bohanon
- Trombone
- Robin Schwartz
- Licensing
- Charity Young
- Vocals (Background)
- McKinley Brown
- Vocals (Background)
- Michele Horie
- Project Coordinator
- Brendan Morris
- Tape Research
- Judith Bright
- Compilation Production Assistant
- Chad Durio
- Vocals (Background)
- Thomas D. Graham, II
- Sound Design
- Dennis Coffey
- Guitar
- Fred Jackson
- Saxophone
- Tevin Campbell
- Vocals
- David Foster
- Piano, Piano (Electric)
- Arthur Adams
- Guitar
- Rose Banks
- Children's Choirmaster
- Bruce Dukov
- Concert Master
- Ralph MacDonald
- Percussion, Conga
- David T. Walker
- Guitar
- Tyren Perry
- Vocals (Background)
- Charles May
- Vocals
- Bobbye Hall
- Percussion
- Al B. Sure!
- Vocals, Vocals (Background)
- Tom Bahler
- Trumpet, Vocals (Background), Singer, Director, Arranger
- Max Bennett
- Bass
- Rory Bennett
- Producer, Synthesizer Programming, Drum Programming
- David Blumberg
- Arranger
- Roger Bobo
- Tuba
- Michael Boddicker
- Synthesizer, Vocoder, Synthesizer Programming
- Aubrey Bouck
- French Horn
- Oscar Brashear
- Trumpet
- Ray Brown
- Producer
- Alex Brown
- Vocals (Background)
- Ray Brown
- Trumpet
- Bridgette Bryant
- Vocals (Background)
- Robbie Buchanan
- Piano, Piano Arrangement, Synthesizer Strings
- Chaka Khan
- Vocals
- Vivian Cherry
- Singer
- Jeff Clayton
- Saxophone
- John Clayton
- Arranger, Conductor
- Paulinho Da Costa
- Percussion
- Dave Grusin
- Synthesizer, Keyboards, Piano (Electric), Piano
- Casey Cysik
- Vocals (Background)
- El DeBarge
- Vocals, Vocals (Background)
- James DeBarge
- Vocals (Background)
- C.J. DeVillar
- Sound Design
- Henry Diltz
- Cover Photo, Tray Photo
- David Duke
- French Horn
- Melvin Dunlap
- Bass
- Chuck Findley
- Trombone, Trumpet
- Bruce Fisher
- Vocals
- Jania Foxworth
- Vocals (Background)
- Steve Gadd
- Drums
- James Gadson
- Drums
- Eric Gale
- Guitar
- Jim Gilstrap
- Vocals, Vocals (Background)
- Gary Grant
- Trumpet
- Lani Groves
- Singer
- Erik Hanson
- Drum Programming, Synthesizer Programming
- Jerry Hey
- Trumpet, Producer, Horn Arrangements, String Arrangements, Synthesizer Arrangements, Associate Producer, Arranger
- Kim Hutchcroft
- Synthesizer, Saxophone, Flute
- Paul Jackson, Jr.
- Guitar
- Anthony Jackson
- Bass
- George Johnson
- Guitar, Vocals, Vocals (Background)
- Greg "Doc" Johnson
- Guitar
- Virgil Jones
- Trumpet
- Randy Kerber
- Keyboards
- Jesse Kirkland
- Vocals, Vocals (Background)
- Abraham Laboriel
- Bass
- Bill Lamb
- Trumpet
- Yvonne Lewis
- Vocals (Background)
- Charles Loper
- Trombone
- Steve Lukather
- Guitar
- Al Jarreau
- Vocals, Vocal Effect
- Patti Austin
- Vocals (Background), Concert Mistress, Vocal Arrangement
- Siedah Garrett
- Vocals (Background), Children's Choirmaster
- Gwen Guthrie
- Singer
- James Ingram
- Vocals, Vocals (Background)
- Billy Preston
- Synthesizer, Keyboards, Piano (Electric), Piano
- Minnie Riperton
- Vocals
- Luther Vandross
- Singer
- Barry White
- Vocals
- Gerald Albright
- Saxophone
- Pete Christlieb
- Saxophone, Sax (Tenor)
- Jimmy Cleveland
- Trombone
- Buddy Collette
- Flute, Saxophone
- Jon Faddis
- Trumpet
- Herbie Hancock
- Synthesizer, Keyboards, Piano (Electric), Fender Rhodes, Arp 2600, Piano
- Bob James
- Synthesizer, Piano, Keyboards, Piano (Electric)
- Quincy Jones
- Trumpet, Keyboards, Producer, Vocal Arrangement, Synthesizer Arrangements, Compilation Production Assistant, Rhythm Arrangements, Liner Notes, Vocals (Background), Arranger
- Ernie Krivda
- Saxophone
- Hubert Laws
- Flute, Reeds, Saxophone
- Bill Perkins
- Flute, Saxophone
- Bill Reichenbach Jr.
- Trombone
- Jerome Richardson
- Flute, Saxophone, Reeds
- Tom Scott
- Saxophone
- Bud Shank
- Flute, Saxophone
- George Young
- Saxophone
- Howard Johnson
- Saxophone
- Chuck Rainey
- Bass
- Grady Tate
- Drums
- Phil Upchurch
- Guitar
- Bill Watrous
- Trombone
- Tommy Johnson
- Tuba














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