The Dude

Performer: Quincy Jones
Artist: James Ingram; Michael Jackson; Stevie Wonder; Patti Austin; Herbie Hancock; Cynthia Weil; Toots Thielemans
Producer: Quincy Jones
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Recorded at Westlake Audio, Los Angeles, California. An enormous commercial success, 1981's THE DUDE is a cross-cultural success blending jazz, Latin music, soul ballads, and straight pop into an admittedly slick but never over-produced or soulless stew. The album opens with a surprise; "Ai No Corrida" is a synthesizer-driven yet still funky Latin dance track written by Chaz Jankel of Ian Dury and the Blockheads, suggesting that unlike a lot of musicians his age, Quincy Jones kept his ears open to new music. The proto-rap title track accomplishes the same thing. The rest of the album is more conventional, with James Ingram and Patti Austin trading vocals on a smooth collection of tracks highlighted by the masterful love ballads "One Hundred Ways" and "Just Once," staples of adult-contemporary stations, and the haunting Stevie Wonder-penned instrumental "Velas." THE DUDE is an outstanding collection that was massively influential on the '80s R&B scene.

Quincy Jones has been one of the most influential and respected figures in music since the 1950s. His gifts as an arranger and producer have brought him a great deal of success including multi-platinum albums by Michael Jackson, his own high-profile label (Qwest), and magazine (Vibe). His endeavors into straight jazz recording are relatively few, but they bore some great fruit in the late '50s and early '60s.

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