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RIP man....

My condolences to the Jackson family since it's a huge shock for anyone dying in your family. Michael broke so many barriers with his talent a true jetsetter who did things no one did before him. He was a great child star and few celebs whether actors,singers etc achieve success in terms of longevity. He had 11 no1 hits and a giant in terms of talent and box office draw. His later years people focused on his money and the lawsuits. I'll always remember him has a unique talent that was one of a kind.

He was the poster child for everything good and bad about pop celebrity. Great talent. As a child he was just remarkable...I Want You Back is one of the best songs of the era. I guess Human Nature may be my favorite of his solo career but he had tons of great ones. RIP

this is a bummer, somewhat ashamed to admit it but I always liked Billie Jean

Rip king of pop

Why? It's a great song. i jammed with some guys in a sort of soul funk band a year or so back and they played this tune as just a three piece--bass, guitar and drums. Take off a lot of gloss and his tunes were just funky as hell. when it first came out the original marketing plan was for the duet with Paul McCartney to be his ticket into the white market but Billie Jean was so infectious that the whole music loving populace embraced him. Just a wonderful tune. Great guitar shuck at the end.

Not taking anything away from him, but Quincy Jones was the real guy behind the legend.And I would rather see James Brown in concert. But as Dave and BNB said, the Thriller/BAD/Dangerous Albums were classics that even this old rock and roll hound had in his collection. Eddie Van Halen was the guy on the Thriller Guitar solo....

just got a text forward saying he died from food poisoning, apparently he ate a 9 year old weiner

f'd up

I didn't really dig the Bad and Dangerous albums. He had begun to lose it by then. The Jackson 5 stuff and Off the Wall were pretty good. Good point on Jones but he had a lot to work with in Jackson. Quincy didn't teach him to dance and perform and that is what he is most noted for.

OK I'll say it I was an Osmond fan. I remember in grade school debating my friend who will have more success and yes I took the Osmonds. They both had their own cartoon show I got up in the morning to watch. Both groups the Osmonds and Jacksons lasted a long long time in the business. The Jackson's had the better individual talent but for me the Osmonds were the more successful group that lasted longer. That Osmond tune Go Away Little Giirl I still get choked up when I here I hear it. Seriously, little Michael Jackson had such a special voice he was incredible. The Thriller album put him back on the map for many big hits in the 80's.

I would say Stevie Wonder is my all time fav,Mariah Carey but Michael Jackson had combination of dancing, singing,writing ability that is unsurpassed. Elvis was quite a showman the only other person has entertainer would rival Michael. It's rare but when a star of Jackson's ability dies you remember where you were. God bless Michael he left a mark forever.

You're right about Quincy Jones being the man behind the mojo. But you gotta give Mike some credit, because none of the other talent that Q worked with over the years had "it" quite like Mike did.

No one should be ashamed about liking 80s Mike. It's the 90s Mike that I'd be a little wary about. I'm a fan of all of his albums. Obviously, Thriller is in a class by itself, but I like them all. I'm probably a bigger fan of Dangerous than most people simply because when I was younger and my family would go on any excursion that meant being in the car for longer than 1 hour, usually my dad would playing Dangerous.

I was just playing some tunes on youtube of Michael Jackson in his early days. Wow, what a pure fantastic voice he had. It takes an incredible artist to constantly redo their image from the early days to the 80's. The funeral of Michael Jackson the world might come to a halt.Few people can be recognized all over the world and for all the supossed wrong doings I think most will always think of Michael's talent he gave the world.

This could be the biggest fuenral in history and I am pretty sure the public will be allowed to attend.What I mean is their might be a private viewing but on the Larry King show they were speculating the public will have their time also.

Whata shame. I always kinda liked dangerous, too. Even had the crazy zipper moon jackety back in the 80's~currently my group does a great reggea version of 'dont stop'.

That governor in SC is a happy man!

I did say Pudge, that I wasn't "taking anything away from MJ". But I am a little biased as I do adore Quincy Jones and the skill which he transformed talent into something special. MJ was struggling when Quincy took him under his wing, casting him in the "Wiz" and giving him the confidence and contacts to create his special niche in music.Without Quincy, there would have been no "Off the Wall", or "Thriller". His ability to take a person and transform them through his incredible production skills are legend. He did it with Sinatra , Miles Davis and a ton of other Jazz fellows.

As i have discussed here before, my Father-in-Law in France has had access to all the great Jazz musicians in the late 40's until the late-eighties, when most had died off. We've had the privilege of having dinner with Lionel Hampton,Dizzy and Quincy...and the stories they could tell...lol...MJ was an incredible talent, but without the guiding hand of Quincy and others he never would have risen to the heights he did.

I'm sure now they will be releasing Moonwalker on DVD now. I was 5 years old when I first saw that movie, and at the time thinking those special effects were super sweet. I'm wondering if the VHS is buried in some deep, dark corner of my parent's attic.

Interesting BB your father-in-law had access to all time great jazz musicians. I'd like to hear some of those stories or tidbits from the past greats since jazz is my other passion besides sports. Yes, Quincy played an intrical part in Jackson's career. You can't have the success without the other like ying and yang. Quincy already is herald has one of the greats if not the best. It's interesting timing means a great deal in life. MJ became a bigger star when MTV started doing vidoes so he was at the right spot at the right time. Couple that with MJ's showmanship,skills and the right person to guide him in Jones we have a great superstar. BB, you ever read Miles Davis autobiography book some pretty interesting stories.

I might disagree here, BB. I dont see how in the world MJ was 'struggling' when he was 5 years old he had 7 top 10 singles and travelled the world.. Yes, QJ did help MJ. BUt it's not like he took this raw, rough product and shined it up. You are forgetting that
for all his terrible traits, maybe Papa Joe hand more of a hand in this creation. Much like Ike had 'helped' Tina Turner so did Papa Joe. In all 'art' there is an element of pain and humiliation. I agree that QJ was a fantastic producer, but the product was already there, IMHO. All QJ did was look into it and put the pieces in place. Not to diss QJ, that man is a true artist and a musical genius. A marketing magnate...BUt you cant just take some 'American Idol' contestant and hand them over to QJ and reproduce what he did with MJ. Just my 2 cents.

On a side note, perhaps it's my middle aged butt talking, but I had to learn all the jazz standards in performing arts HS and college. Back then I hated them. I was wearing parachute pants and zippered jackets and thought that old crap was so 'uncool'. Now I have to play it alot, and I love it. And as uncool as it may seem, a fat middle aged guy in parachute pants aint cool, but a jazz musician is.

A short aside: I travelled to the Czech repub in 2000 on an 'artist exchange' for Dixieland Jazz. I went there, and 2 guys came to New Orleans...I met many guys in thier 50,60, and 70's that were forbidden to play that evil western music. They used to have to smuggle in the records from East Germany and perform them in speakeasies. THAT"S dedication. An old guy looked at me with broken english and tears in his eyes after one gig, and said 'this music, it give me the goose pimples', and pointed to his arm...NOw, I used to get and still receive no small amount of grief for playing such a 'corny' music, but I dont care..That guy taught me more about jazz then I had learned in 20 years.

Well Gus, Quincy didn't meet MJ when he was "only five years old". He first met him in 1977, when Jackson was 18-19 years old.

Up to that point there was a long dry spell concerning any true success.Sure he had the top ten singles, but it paled in comparison to what he would later do when a real producer got on board.

MJ was still very much tied to his brothers, and even though he wanted to go "solo", he was having a hard time finding a producer. He was struggling.

In fact Quincy said that after he cut a few Demos, the bigwigs said it was "too jazzy". But it was the mixing of the horns, and violins that made the arrangements spectacular. It is no accident that when Quincy left his side, the next albums didn't have the critical success .

Love the pics Gus....I can only "assume" you must have had the time of your life..

Cool that you've met Quincy. didn't he write and performer the theme to Sanford and Son which, BTW, was covered by Wet Willie later? In terms of contribution and sheer talent I always stand in Prince's corner against damn near anybody...but MJ was just so incredibly huge and accessible to so many people at one time that he holds some special ground. He hasn't really done much other than be famous for 20 years or more.

Yep BNB...that was "Streetbeater", by QJ. I really miss the good ole days of music, especially all the old Blues and Jazz guys that I've had the pleasure to see. I owe it all to my Father-in-Law and his Jazz friends. I arrived an ignorant punk in 1977, and now I know just a little compared to him.He has an incredible library of Jazz stuff, including a ton of the old 8mm home movies of the old Jazz guys playing at dinner parties in France. And when we went to the New Orleans Jazz fest, he had carte blanche to go say hello backstage to guys like Sonny Rollins and Wynton Marsalis . Another one of the benefits of living over here is the Blues and Jazz era continues to be a huge deal. I really liked MJ as well. But like you so wisely said, he has been a total non-factor for quite some time.

Did he ever meet Stan Getz,Paul Desmond, Brecker ,Adderley,Pete Christlieb,Gene Quill,Phil Woods? Sounds like he was into traditional jazz players which I love but I follow the contemporary players today also.

Nope Scout, he was (is) into all the guys before the 60's, though he did like a little Getz. He didn't like Parker and Coltrane all that much. Though he would never say that to some people...lol...he was very much a traditionalist. He knew Benny Carter very well. Also Johnny Hodges. He also knew Arnett Cobb and Paul Gonsalves.

OK, that period BB interesting. I've got a pic of me and a friend at Bird's grave in Kansas City where I used to live. It was like 2:00 AM we drove to Parker's grave with snow on the ground and 10 degrees out. Got my horn out and played some Bird tunes in honor of Bird. My hands barely moved since it was cold. Dizzy Gillispie used to go to Bird's grave also and play. You might already know this but I like to diagnose what makes musicians great. Obviously talent but more specifically how great of an ear does someone have to hear something and automatically play it back the first time. Parker had perfect pitch but also a photographic memory. He could hear tunes on radio going to the bathroom and come out and incorporate them in his solos without practicing them,ridiculous. Phil Woods was such a fan of Parker that he married his wife and when Woods met Parker the first time and Parker said something nice to Phil, Phil went out to his practice areas and blew Harlem Nocturne the whole night because he was blown away his idle said something good about him.

On a side note I saw Arturo Sandoval probablby the greatest trumpet player in the world give a lecture at a college here in Indiana. It was amazing his story which I'll give you the short version. Arturo grew up in Cuba and when his parents asked him what are you going to do for a living he said I'm going to be a musician. His parents thought what no you need something steady. Arturo went to the school's music teacher said I want to play trumpet and the teacher gave him a trumpet.The teacher said play something and a terrible harsh sound came out. A week later Arturo came back and the teacher asked play something Arturo again a terrible sound came out. The teacher said I'm sorry son you have no musical talent find something else to do. Arturo at that time was 11 yrs old walked home crying.His parents saw him at home and Arturo acted like nothing happened. Arturo then spent 6-8 hours a day practicing and became one of the greats. Arturo also started playing piano at 40 yrs old and is a monster on it.

Well this is supposed to be a thread for Michael Jackson time to go back to him. He'll always be among the best entertainers of all time in my book.

Europeans seem to appreciate that stuff more. Maybe it is because it is easier to come across blues players and so forth here? Who knows? i bet thos e8mm clips would be really neat to watch. i'm not really too versed in jazz. I know the names more than what they sound like. Kind of a pop music slob really. Music is in a weird place right now largely due to the chaos of the industry itself. Kind of like the Second Coming of Disco...but worse. Very fractured. There is, for example, a huge Dixieland scene in Budapest, Hungary. Diaspora? Exactly how was it your father-in-law knew these cats?

Good Stories!! I don't think MJ would mind if we talked up a few Jazz guys. I have always thought it was cool that we had some accomplished musicians on the site. Gus and BNB are pretty good from what I've heard. We could always have a "music appreciation thread", where anyone could post a tune now and then.

One of my Faves: Basie meets Clark Terry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpPehptG3yw

Ok I'll start a music appreciation thread then BB.