Quincy Jones

How can you not like a record that is wrapped in such an elegant sleeve? On this 1965 outing, Q merges his jazz chops with pop flair, employing some blaring big band rock 'n' roll swagger on hits by the Stones and Tom Jones. The big Mod era hit that truly fits Q like a glove is Ramsey Lewis' "The 'In' Crowd" and he makes the most of it. Q even turns the beautiful bossa nova theme "The Gentle Rain" into an easy listening number with a slight Nashville country feel (country production was big with black audiences during the '60s).