(SXSW) Impresario and multi-Grammy winning producer, composer and arranger Quincy Jones will deliver the keynote address at the 2009 South By Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference in Austin, TX on March 19th, 2009 it was announced today.A longtime humanitarian who produced and conducted the historic "We Are The World" recording benefitting Ethiopian famine relief, Jones is expected to discuss the power of music to influence and create positive change in the world and the responsibility of the artist to use their craft to bring people together for the betterment of mankind.
The South By Southwest Music & Media Conference takes place March 18 - 22, 2009 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. Quincy Jones' keynote anchors four days of panels, interviews, workshops, peer meetings and the trade show exhibition covering a wide variety of topics, addressing the concerns and interests of musicians, executives and music lovers. Daytime events flow into the world-renowned music festival, which showcases over 1700 acts on stages throughout downtown Austin.
Among Jones' current and upcoming projects include the recently released book "The Complete Quincy Jones: My Journey and Passions," a feature film documentary on Brazil's annual Carnival Festival which will benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Brazil's impoverished Favelas, a bio-pic mini-series on jazz great Louis Armstrong, a duets album with Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder, and a tribute album of his recordings featuring artists such as Usher, John Legend and Amy Winehouse, among others. He is also planning a chain of nightclub-restaurants based on his album Q's Jook Joint, with the first slated to open in Las Vegas in 2009.
Named by Time Magazine as one of the six most influential Jazz artists of the 20th Century, Quincy Jones' career has spanned six decades and encompassed the roles of composer, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, record producer, record executive, film and television producer, magazine founder, multi-media entrepreneur and humanitarian. As a master inventor of musical hybrids, Quincy Jones has shuffled pop, soul, hip-hop, jazz, classical, African and Brazilian music into many dazzling fusions, traversing virtually every medium, including records, live performances, movies, television and magazine publishing.
Among Quincy Jones' countless awards and accolades he is a 27 time Grammy Award winner (the most of any living musician) and is the all-time most nominated Grammy artist with a total of 79 nominations. He is the recipient of an Emmy Award; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award; 7 Academy Award nominations including one for Best Picture -- only African-American producer to do so; France's highest civilian honor the Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur; and was recognized as a Kennedy Center Honoree for his contributions to the cultural fabric of the United States. Most recently, Jones' vast contributions to music were recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts when he was named a Jazz Master, the nation's highest jazz honor.
