It’s impossible to overstate the cultural significance of Quincy Jones, the legendary musician, composer, arranger, songwriter, and producer who died November 3 at the age of 91.
Over the course of his incredible career, Jones earned 28 Grammys; arranged records for Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald; composed “Soul Bossa Nova,” a.k.a. that fun little ditty that became the Austin Powers theme; spearheaded the recording of “We Are the World”; and propelled Michael Jackson to unprecedented levels of stardom by producing the albums Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), and Bad (1987). He was also scheduled to receive an honorary Oscar at this year’s Governors Awards later this month. And that’s just a brief synopsis of Jones’ contributions to the music industry.
Jones also left a mark on late-night TV history when he hosted Saturday Night Live on February 10, 1990. At the time, Jones was promoting his star-studded album Back on the Block, which had come out the previous November, and he arrived at Studio 8H with a slew of guest artists, including rappers Melle Mel, Big Daddy Kane, and Kool Moe Dee, as well as singers Tevin Campbell, Siedah Garrett, Al Jarreau, and Take 6. Quincy’s son, QDIII, was also in the house. This apparently set an SNL record for most credited musical guests in a single episode.
Jones also joined in the performances. He began his monologue by announcing that South African anti-apartheid activist and politician Nelson Mandela was just hours away from being released from prison. To celebrate the occasion, he chose to play “Manteca,” a song he claimed he’d written 27 years earlier, when Mandela was first arrested.
Jones said he had vowed never to perform the song in public while Mandela was behind bars. But now, with help from the Saturday Night Live Band and some extra horn players (more musical guests!), he could give it a debut airing.
After conducting the high-energy performance, a winded Jones revealed that he was only kidding. The song was written by Dizzy Gillespie—and Jones had performed it a couple months earlier.
Jones then said he actually wasn’t happy to be there hosting the show, as he’d stated at the top of his monologue, though he sure seemed like he was having a good time. (Including during a sketch that poked fun at “We Are the World,” the hit charity single Jones produced, and a fun take on Driving Miss Daisy featuring Jones and Toonces the Cat.)
During the show’s first music segment, Jones and his band of singers and rappers performed “Prologue (2Q’s Rap)”—featuring Jones and QDIII—and “Back on the Block.”
Jones and his collaborators returned later in the show for renditions of “The Verb To Be” and “Wee B. Dooinit.” Though no footage of either performance seems to have made its way to YouTube, the full episode is streaming on Peacock.
This was Jones’ first and only time hosting SNL, but not his last time dabbling in late-night sketch comedy. In fact, five years later, Jones was involved in creating a rival sketch comedy show. Having purchased the rights to MAD Magazine, he and David E. Salzman launched the Fox series MADtv in 1995.
MADtv ran for 14 seasons and helped to boost the careers of such well-known performers as Patton Oswalt and Keegan-Michael Key, among others. Would it ever have existed if Jones had not caught the sketch comedy bug with his SNL hosting gig? Some questions will just remain a mystery.
