A musician, bandleader, composer, producer and much more, Quincy Jones, who died at 91 on Sunday in California, led many musical lives. Only supreme talent can explain his accomplishments, but there was another factor, too: a ferocious work ethic.
From childhood, he fought to learn the skills that would allow him to build a life in music. He first touched a piano at age 11 after breaking into a recreation center looking for food. Two years later, he persuaded a professional trumpeter to give him lessons every morning before school started.
But once he had acquired those musical foundations, he worked to expand the range of his skills at a dizzying speed. Over the decades that followed, Mr. Jones was presented with a steady stream of opportunities — sometimes simultaneously. He embraced them all, turning much of what he touched to gold, and remaking American music along the way in a career that endured for more than five decades.
These photographs show Mr. Jones both under and outside the spotlight, often helping other artists bring forth their best work. They also show the public side of him — a musical titan honored for his achievements.
Quincy Jones and the singer Lesley Gore working on the song “It’s My Party” circa 1956 in New York City.
Mr. Jones leading a band at the Konzerthaus in Vienna in 1960.
Mr. Jones guiding a session in a recording studio in 1963.
Mr. Jones and the singer Roberta Flack, circa 1973.
Mr. Jones posing in 1974.
Mr. Jones, left, with Duke Ellington, center, during the recording of the television special “Duke Ellington … We Love You Madly” at the Shubert Theater in Los Angeles in 1973.
Stevie Wonder and Mr. Jones during a recording of the song “Stop, Don’t Pass Go.”
Mr. Jones won six Grammy Awards in 1991 for his album “Back on the Block.”
Mr. Jones in Paris in 1988.
Mr. Jones leading student musicians at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1991.
Mr. Jones and Oprah Winfrey at the 1995 Academy Awards in Los Angeles, where he was given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Mr. Jones with President Obama in 2011, when Mr. Jones received the National Medal of Arts at the White House.
Mr. Jones onstage with Oprah Winfrey at his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.
Mr. Jones at a hand and footprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles in 2018.
Mr. Jones at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York in 2013.