WEBVTT - Quincy Jones and me

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<v Speaker 1>From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

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<v Speaker 1>It's Wednesday, November six. Results will start flowing in tonight

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<v Speaker 1>from the US election, and subscribers to The Australian will

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<v Speaker 1>be the first to know whether the next President of

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<v Speaker 1>the US will be Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. Join

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<v Speaker 1>us now at the Australian dot com dot au to

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<v Speaker 1>make sure you don't miss a thing. The former police

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<v Speaker 1>officer accused of murdering two men in Sydney has not

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<v Speaker 1>ended a plea to the charges against him. Bo Lamar.

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<v Speaker 1>Condon's lawyer has withdrawn from the case and he'll now

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<v Speaker 1>be represented by legal aid. The matter returns to court

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<v Speaker 1>at the end of the month. Quincy Jones, the most

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<v Speaker 1>influential musical figure of our age, has died at ninety one,

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<v Speaker 1>amid a world's worth of tributes. Our own Jasper Leikue,

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<v Speaker 1>who composed the Front's theme and edited this episode, reflects

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<v Speaker 1>on his own moment learning at the feet of the Master.

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<v Speaker 2>I would like to have you meet one of the

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<v Speaker 2>finest musicians that I've ever known, mister Quincy Jones.

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<v Speaker 1>That was Frank Sinatra in the sixties introducing someone whose

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<v Speaker 1>imprint on American music and therefore the music of the

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<v Speaker 1>entire world, is indelible. Quincy Jones has died at the

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<v Speaker 1>age of ninety one, leaving a musical legacy that spans

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<v Speaker 1>the story of this century and the last, from the

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<v Speaker 1>legends of jazz to the titans of popular music the

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<v Speaker 1>blossoming of hip hop.

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<v Speaker 3>Quincy had about ten careers in his lifetime.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Jasper Leak. He's part of our team here

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<v Speaker 1>at the front, but Jasper is also an incredibly accomplished

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<v Speaker 1>musician and producer in his own right. In the naughties,

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<v Speaker 1>Jasper moved from Sydney to New York as a jazz

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<v Speaker 1>obsessed twenty something with dreams of being where the magic happened.

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<v Speaker 1>He toured with some of the world's biggest acts. He

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<v Speaker 1>also weighted plenty of tables, and then he found himself

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<v Speaker 1>in the orbit of Quincy Jones. Jasper was music consultant

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<v Speaker 1>and supervisor on Netflix's twenty eighteen documentary Quincy, for which

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<v Speaker 1>Jasper received an Emmy nomination.

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<v Speaker 2>It started with a phone call from my friend Alan Hicks,

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<v Speaker 2>another Australian who'd already spent a year working as a

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<v Speaker 2>co director on the documentary with Quincy's daughter, Rashida Jones

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<v Speaker 2>Al called me with an idea to score the documentary,

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<v Speaker 2>but only using music from Quincy's pre existing catalog. I

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<v Speaker 2>love the idea, and I'd been secretly hoping for this

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<v Speaker 2>to happen, but it was one of those situations where

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<v Speaker 2>my immediate response was sheer terror.

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<v Speaker 3>How was I going to.

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<v Speaker 2>Capture the career of music's most legendary figure over a

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<v Speaker 2>two hour documentary?

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<v Speaker 1>Jasper said about listening to everything Jones had ever recorded.

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<v Speaker 2>I was handed a hard drive with Quincy's full discography

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<v Speaker 2>on it, and I knew the only way I'd get

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<v Speaker 2>comfortable with this huge task was to listen to everything

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<v Speaker 2>front to back.

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<v Speaker 3>It was the best job I've ever had.

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<v Speaker 2>I'd wake up in the morning and for eight hours

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<v Speaker 2>a day, I'd listen to Quincy's discography in chronological order,

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<v Speaker 2>which was an incredible education in itself, and as I listened,

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<v Speaker 2>I made the whole thing searchable. I set up a

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<v Speaker 2>spreadsheet and identified little snippets from all these tracks that

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<v Speaker 2>I imagined would come in handy during the editing process, and

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<v Speaker 2>I'd tag them all according to era.

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<v Speaker 3>Mood style and genre.

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<v Speaker 2>It was more than three thousand and songs across about

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<v Speaker 2>three hundred albums. So eventually, if al Or Rashida needed

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<v Speaker 2>music for a scene and asked me for something that

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<v Speaker 2>was introspective and bluesy from the fifties recorded by a

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<v Speaker 2>small ensemble, I could find it straight away. With the

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<v Speaker 2>exception of Quincy himself, I'm probably the only person who's

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<v Speaker 2>listened to his full discography, So I was learning at

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<v Speaker 2>the feet of the master. I knew who he was,

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<v Speaker 2>of course, but I became overwhelmed at the volume of

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<v Speaker 2>work that he'd produced in his lifetime. Not just the volume,

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<v Speaker 2>but how ambitious a lot of it was too, and

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<v Speaker 2>the genres he spanned. There were film scores with full orchestration,

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<v Speaker 2>records that were quite experimental. He did one gospel album

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<v Speaker 2>with Little Richard. Michael Jackson's Thriller is a great example

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<v Speaker 2>of Quincy's ambition.

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<v Speaker 3>It was a lot more than.

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<v Speaker 2>Taylor to write a great song and recorded in a

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<v Speaker 2>studio with a great band like Artistically, it was really

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<v Speaker 2>ambitious music video that was the longest music video ever

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<v Speaker 2>at the time. Quincy had the vision to bring that

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<v Speaker 2>team together, Rod Tempert and the songwriter with the director

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<v Speaker 2>John Landis who directed The Blues Brothers and choreographer Michael Peters.

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<v Speaker 2>Quincy achieved so much in his lifetime that you can

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<v Speaker 2>draw inspiration from him, but it'd be impossible to try

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<v Speaker 2>and model your career after his. He was beyond prolific.

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<v Speaker 2>I was trying to carve out this career for myself

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<v Speaker 2>as a musician, as a songwriter and a producer, but

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<v Speaker 2>when you see what he did with those elements, it

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<v Speaker 2>was beyond humbling.

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<v Speaker 1>While this was going on, Jasper's father, Bill Leak, died.

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<v Speaker 1>Bill was the Australian's legendary cartoonist and a celebrated artist

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<v Speaker 1>in his own right.

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<v Speaker 2>I spent a lot of time thinking about my dad

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<v Speaker 2>during work on the documentary, and something I loved about

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<v Speaker 2>the project was that it was Rashida's tend to tribute

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<v Speaker 2>to her father.

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<v Speaker 4>To have somebody who's created music that breast a certain

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<v Speaker 4>emotion and then to be able to pair about with

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<v Speaker 4>an emotional moment in his life as a real huge blessing.

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<v Speaker 1>He's Rashida Jones talking to The Hollywood Reporter about the documentary.

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<v Speaker 4>That being said, it's spanned so many decades and there's

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<v Speaker 4>so many different types of genres, and so the music

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<v Speaker 4>selection became essential to the storytelling.

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<v Speaker 1>Coming up how Jones helped Jasper find his own roots.

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<v Speaker 1>Join Beet for one of the most memorable nights of

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<v Speaker 1>the year as we honored the icon hit maker and

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<v Speaker 1>musical legend Quincy Jones. This was no ordinary eighty fifth

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<v Speaker 1>birthday party. It was a musical tribute to Jones at

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<v Speaker 1>a theater in downtown, LA with American Musical Royalty playing

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<v Speaker 1>in his honor, John Legend, LL Cool, j Gladys Knight,

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<v Speaker 1>Gloria Estefan.

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<v Speaker 2>There was an after party at a Hollywood bar, and

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<v Speaker 2>there was this extended jam session with people like Usher

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<v Speaker 2>was singing in the band and Herbie Hancock was playing keyboards.

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<v Speaker 2>Dave Chappelle got up and spoke, I mean, it was

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<v Speaker 2>the who's who of American culture in this little bar.

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<v Speaker 2>But Quincy was the last man standing. He always was

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<v Speaker 2>by that stage of his life. He'd given up drinking,

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<v Speaker 2>but he was nocturnal. He'd spend the night doing puzzles.

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<v Speaker 2>He never switched off.

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<v Speaker 1>Born in nineteen thirty three in Chicago, Quincy Jones was

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<v Speaker 1>directly descended from enslaved people.

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<v Speaker 2>One of the first times I met him, he asked

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<v Speaker 2>me about my own racial background. He said, I look

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<v Speaker 2>like a Richie, one of Lionel Richie's kids. He said,

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<v Speaker 2>you got some gumber going on, by which he meant

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<v Speaker 2>I looked like a mixture of a few different heritages.

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<v Speaker 2>Quincy was really into genealogy, ding his own family story.

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<v Speaker 2>I told him I didn't know a huge amount about

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<v Speaker 2>my mum's heritage. She's German, but she grew up in

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<v Speaker 2>children's homes and never found out who her biological father was.

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<v Speaker 2>Quincy leaned over and said, look into your roots, man.

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<v Speaker 2>I got my mum a DNA kit for a next birthday,

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<v Speaker 2>and it came back with the results that her jeans

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<v Speaker 2>were seventy five percent Western European twenty five percent West African,

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<v Speaker 2>which suggests her father was half West African. Our family's

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<v Speaker 2>theory is that maybe her father was an ex American

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<v Speaker 2>military person in Germany after the war.

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<v Speaker 1>Jones's mum was a talented singer who taught him her

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<v Speaker 1>love of music, and in his teens he was in

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<v Speaker 1>a band with a young friend, Ray Charles. By his

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<v Speaker 1>early twenties, Jones was a gifted young trumpet player and

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<v Speaker 1>an arranger with the Lionel Hampton Big Band, playing alongside

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<v Speaker 1>artists like Tommy Dorsey, Elvis Presley, and Dinah Washington.

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<v Speaker 3>That could have been it for him.

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<v Speaker 2>He was at the top of his craft, but before long,

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<v Speaker 2>Quincy became one of the world's most in demander arrangers.

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<v Speaker 2>He got a call out of the blue one day

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<v Speaker 2>from Frank Sinatra, which led to work with Sinatra and

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<v Speaker 2>the Count Bassi Orchestra.

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<v Speaker 1>From that moment on, Quincy Jones was at the center

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<v Speaker 1>of whatever was happening in music. He won twenty eight

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<v Speaker 1>Grammys from the Et soundtrack with Michael Jackson to Harry

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<v Speaker 1>Stiles's Album of the Year in twenty twenty three for

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<v Speaker 1>a baseline sample on the track Daydreaming. One of Jones'

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<v Speaker 1>last Grammys was in twenty nineteen, You Guys Are Ready

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<v Speaker 1>for That documentary Jasper worked on with his friend Alan.

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<v Speaker 5>The Grammy Goes Too, Quincy Jones.

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<v Speaker 1>Alan collected the award with Quincy's daughter, Rashida.

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<v Speaker 4>When my dad first watched the film, he said, I

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<v Speaker 4>wish I could live forever, and if anyone is going

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<v Speaker 4>to be able to be the first to do that,

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<v Speaker 4>I believe it's going to be hens.

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<v Speaker 5>So Dad, I hope you live forever. Thank you so much,

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<v Speaker 5>thank you, thanks.

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<v Speaker 1>For joining us on the front. Election results from the

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<v Speaker 1>US we'll start flowing from eleven am Australian Eastern daylight

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<v Speaker 1>time on Wednesday. Join us live at Beaustralian dot com

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<v Speaker 1>dot au