Quincy Jones has been one of the most influential and important figures in modern music for over six decades, a true renaissance man wearing scores of musical hats including bandleader, solo artist, session player, songwriter, producer, arranger, composer, and record label executive. It doesn't stop there. He's also been an author, motion picture producer, and television producer, and the artists he's worked with, from
Frank Sinatra,
Miles Davis, and
Count Basie to
Michael Jackson,
Paul Simon,
Ray Charles,
Aretha Franklin, and countless others, make for a truly amazing and impressive pantheon. This set collects four of Jones' early jazz-based LPs in a two-disc set, 1959's
The Birth of a Band, 1960's
The Great Wide World of Quincy Jones, and 1961's
I Dig Dancers and
Around the World.