The Dude (Store Exclusive Magenta LP)

Nominated for 12 Grammy Awards, including a win for Jones for Producer of the Year, Quincy's 1981 album, “The Dude,” was simply one of the most rigorous realizations of his talents: orchestration, arranging, sequencing, his ear for anticipating new sounds, and the assembly of a knockout team of musicians, writers, and engineers. Quincy's work bridged, fusing genres in ways others couldn't, and with his versatile moods and complex arrangements, The Dude is a unique blend of bebop, jazz, funk, pop balladry, and dance, with hints of African syncopation and quiet storms that provided a connection to the then-emerging hip-hop scene. With Jones in the bag, an elite band of musicians formed, including Herbie Hancock, Greg Phillinganes, and Stevie Wonder on keyboards, Louis Johnson on bass, Jerry Hey on horn, Syreeta Wright and Michael Jackson on backing vocals, and Patti Austin and James Ingram delivering stellar vocal performances. Engineer Bruce Swedien was on the team, and Rod Temperton wrote four of the album's nine tracks. Between Toots Thielemans' atmospheric and sharp harmonica, the delicacy and tenderness of Ingram's signature baritone, Austin's razor-sharp technique and instinctive sensuality, and Stevie Wonder's funk composition, "Betcha Wouldn't Hurt Me," it's an album that makes you want to groove, dance, and fall in love.