Quincy Jones feat. Astrud Gilberto “Who Needs Forever?” The Deadly Affair Verve 1967

Media mogul and record producer Quincy Jones is one of the most recognizable names in popular culture, but few are aware of how extensive his résumé reads
outside the realm of pop music. During the ’50s and ’60s, the man was practically ubiquitous. As a young trumpeter, he toured with the likes of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie. He arranged for Duke Ellington and Ray Charles. He studied theory in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He also wrote over thirty scores for film and television, including the Poitier vehicle In the Heat of the Night (1967) and The Bill Cosby Show (1969). When factored in with the phenomenon that was Michael Jackson in the late ’70s and into the ’80s, Jones’ career has been incomparable in the music industry. His story isn’t based around a lucky industry connection or a string of right-place-right-time circumstances. Jones most certainly put in his work, and deserves every bit of success that he has earned over the decades. But enough of the history lesson; onto this week’s song.

Jones first began soundtrack work with acclaimed director Sidney Lumet on the psychological drama The Pawnbroker (1964). The film and score were such a sensation that the duo continued working together, resulting in the soundtrack to the spy thriller The Deadly Affair (1967). (Verve paired the two onto a single disc for a 1996 release.) Recorded during the height of the bossa nova craze, the latter is mostly known to bossa enthusiasts for the lone Astrud Gilberto contribution on the film’s signature tune “Who Needs Forever?” Many of the cues in the soundtrack are derived from various elements in the song, from the mysterious acoustic guitar at the introduction to the slinky sax solo at 1:49. Gilberto’s cool detachment is de rigeur for this sort of thing, but Jones is careful not to let the string arrangement compete with her, emphasizing certain phrases with punctuations from the woodwinds or flighty harp arpeggios. The suspenseful ending is the best part of the song, a resolution that arouses a sort of anxious calm, stoking the audience’s enthusiasm for the film (and the soundtrack).

“Who Needs Forever?” – Quincy Jones feat. Astrud Gilberto 3:10 (The Deadly Affair, Verve 1966)