One Of Ones: Lessons From Quincy Jones

Though I once wrote an entire book about Michael Jackson, I only ever managed to interview his most significant collaborator—superproducer Quincy Jones—once. My discussion with Jones, who made his name as a jazz musician before producing pop classics including Thriller and Bad, centered around the unlikely topic of electronic dance music.

In his succinct wisdom, Jones managed to sum up EDM’s challenge, at least as it stood back in 2015, rather perfectly.

“It is a fad right now,” he told me in the ...