Pop : Talent-Rich Lineup Gives Jones a ’50 Years’ Tribute

It was somehow appropriate that “Quincy Jones . . . The First 50 Years” began Saturday night at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium with a loose, swinging blues prelude by the onstage big band.

Jones’ enormous success through five decades as a record, television and film producer, and as a composer, publisher and media mogul, has sometimes tended to obscure his solid roots in jazz--roots that have enhanced everything he’s done, from his film scores to his record production for artists ranging from Lesley Gore to Michael Jackson.

The tribute, taped for a television special, was loosely structured around biographical sequences narrated by, among others, Oprah Winfrey and Beau Bridges, occasionally with large video-screen projections illustrating various stages of Jones’ career. But the real essence of the evening was the long lineup of artists, some of whom had direct connections with the 64-year-old subject of the celebration, some of whom didn’t.

It made sense, for example, to feature Stevie Wonder, and have a chorus sing “We Are the World.” And the Tap Dogs, the cast of “Stomp” and the inimitable Savion Glover beautifully locked into the driving rhythmic flow that has been the foundation of so much of Jones’ music and production.

Chaka Khan, Tamia and Tevin Campbell added strong touches of soul and R & B. Gore’s rendering of “It’s My Party” underscored Jones’ startling shift from writing for Count Basie to producing rock.

But three of the program’s highlights came unexpectedly: Singer and daughter Jolie Jones took another step forward in her rapidly burgeoning career with a hard-driving romp through “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby.” Cuban vocalist Albita--on hand to illustrate Jones’ Latin American connection--stormed across the stage with a performance that was sheer rhythmic heat. And Jones’ longtime friend Ray Charles, in a video clip, sang a touching “My Buddy.”

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Best of all, there was an extraordinary sequence toward the close in which Nancy Wilson sang “Do Nothing ‘Til You Hear From Me,” Little Richard rocked with “Let the Good Times Roll,” and Smokey Robinson wrapped his ethereal tenor around “Fly Me to the Moon.”

But some of the choices were enigmatic. Why was Patti Austin singing “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” (by Michel Legrand and the Bergmans), rather than one of Jones’ superb film songs? Why was Bernadette Peters singing “I’m a Fool to Want You”? And what about the questionable production decision to pick perky saxophonist Dave Koz to symbolize the jam sessions of Jones’ youth?

All in all, though, it was a well-produced, talent-rich program. Poet Maya Angelou, at the close, summed it up by telling him, “Keep on cookin’, honey.”

To which Jones added: “The only thing I can say is that old will always be 15 years more than I am.”