Montreux lets Good Times Roll with Quincy Jones

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Veterans Al Jarreau, Nana Mouskouri and Petula Clark as well asemerging stars Ledisi, Angelique Kidjo and Paulo Nutini took turnssinging hits which he made over the decades.
His Grammy-winning goddaughter Austin introduced her coy renditionof "Makin' Whoopee" by telling Jones, a thrice-married father ofseven in the front row: "You know a lot about this." She laterteamed up with Chaka Khan for a moving duo of "Miss Celie's Blues(Sister)," from the film The Color Purple.
"Mood for Love" by James Moody, "Let the Good Times Roll" byRahsaan Patterson, "In the Heat of the Night" by Simply Red singerHucknall and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" by Mouskouri were amonghighlights before all joined in a "Ai No Corrida" finale.
"No words can describe the emotions I feel -- all these talented,loyal, giving people," Jones told a sell-out crowd at StravinskiAuditorium in the Swiss town along Lake Geneva.
The nearly six-hour concert ended at two in the morning on Tuesdaywith dozens of performers singing "Happy Birthday" to the legendknown as "Q" who admitted to health problems.
"I've had two aneurysms, but I'm glad God wasn't ready to take me.I stopped drinking six months ago or I would never have survivedthis," said the African-American who was born in Chicago on March14, 1933.
The gala celebration, assembled by Montreux founder Claude Nobs andfeaturing the Swiss army big band, was billed as the main event ofthe two-week summer jazz festival, one of Europe's mostprestigious.
Jones, who co-produced the festival from 1991-93, bringing MilesDavis back to Montreux for a last concert months before his deathin 1991, called it "the Rolls Royce of festivals."
Babyshambles is confirmed for Tuesday night at Miles Davis Hall.Its frontman, British rock star Pete Doherty, was released fromprison in early May after serving 29 days of a 14-week sentence forbreaching his probation terms. He has been in and out of court inconnection with his battle with drug abuse.
"BIGGEST PRODUCER OF 20TH CENTURY"
"Quincy is the biggest producer, composer and arranger of the 20thcentury. Nobody can match the spectrum of music -- African, Blues,Gospel, Brazil," Nobs said.
"We went into his catalogue of albums which is an absolute treasure-- Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, DukeEllington, Billie Holiday -- and got arrangements out of vaults.Some have not been played in 30 years," he said.
Jones, among the three biggest Grammy winners of all times with 27Grammys, told reporters that he had no plans to retire and wascurrently working on nine movies and three albums.
He is best known as the producer of the album Thriller by iconMichael Jackson, and as the producer and conductor of "We Are TheWorld," the 1985 hit single written by Jackson and Lionel Hamptonthat raised money for Ethiopian famine relief.
He recalled getting a break at 16 by lying about his age to workwith Hampton in Seattle, adding: "We grew up quick."
Jones opened his main rehearsal to the public for 60 Swiss francs($59.35), while concert seats cost up to 380 Swiss francs. Some$50,000 in rehearsal proceeds will go to his Listen Up Foundation,which helps children.
He voiced concern for Amy Winehouse, the British singer strugglingagainst drug addiction and a troubled personal life, whom he met atNelson Mandela's 90th birthday party in London.
"She kissed my hand and said she knew all my records. I felt apersonal connection to her," he said. "Her father was there, but Istill asked her 'Why are you messing up your life?"'
"I understand this girl," Jones said, comparing Winehouse to hiseldest daughter Kidada with actress Peggy Lipton. "She's so sweet,I felt the same conflict between temper and talent as with NaomiCampbell, who also keeps me busy."
Reuters/Nielsen