Back in 1989, I picked up this album produced by Quincy Jones, called Back on the Block. “The album features legendary musicians and singers from across three generations, including Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Joe Zawinul, Ice-T, Big Daddy Kane, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson, Luther Vandross, Dionne Warwick, Barry White, Take 6, Bobby McFerrin, Al Jarreau, Al B. Sure!, James Ingram, and El DeBarge.”
The album went to #9 on the Billboard album charts and was so eclectic that it hit #1 on both the Top Contemporary Jazz Albums and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.
The first single of the collection was I’ll Be Good To You, featuring Ray Charles and Chaka Khan. It was a hit, #18 on the US pop charts, and #1 for two weeks on the rhythm and blues charts in 1990.
I was in a doctor’s office back in October 2015 which played surprisingly good, and eclectic music. I hear I’ll be Good To You, but it’s surely not the Quincy version. It turns out that it was by The Brothers Johnson, who I’ve mentioned on this blog before.
How did I miss this version, written by the Brothers Johnson (George and Louis) and Sonora Sam, and produced by Quincy? It got up to #3 for three weeks in 1976, as well as #1 on the r&b charts.
I’ll Be Good To You:
Quincy Jones, Ray Charles & Chaka Khan
The Brothers Johnson
The Brothers Johnson
The Brothers Johnson on Midnight Special
Quincy Jones turns 83 on March 14.
I often wonder if Lesley Gore’s 1976 LP Love Me By Name, produced by Q, would have done better if A&M had released track 1, “Sometimes,” on which the Brothers Johnson were prominently featured, as the single, instead of track 4, “Immortality,” on which they weren’t. (A&M eventually passed a 3:25 edit of “Sometimes” around in promo form, but I don’t think it ever got a full release.)
“Back on the Block” is one of the most extraordinary albums I’ve ever heard—but I didn’t even know about it until I moved to New Zealand in 1995. So, it’s not surprising that I never knew there was a video to this song. And, it’s kind of awesome. But, I don’t know the Brothers Johnson version. Actually, I knew them mostly because of “Stomp!” (as well as the “Strawberry Letter #23” that you blogged about before).