Quincy Jones: "The Dude"

By Maximillian Muhammad

Who else could work with James Ingram, Patti Austin and Michael Jackson...among the many talents on this record...and have a sound all to themselves? Only Q, of course. Cuts like "Ai no Corrida," "Razzamatazz" and the title cut get things rolling, not to mention "Betcha Wouldn't Hurt Me." On the slow laid-back side, "The Dude" featured two ballads that would rule pop music for some time to come and be redone a few times: "Just Once" and "One Hundred Ways."

No one can assembly talent like Q. This is still the best of his solo albums from the 80s till now. He paved the way for many and this record shows who the producer is and who's the real Dude when it comes to music. Anyone whose anyone pays Q a visit at one time or another and this was the start of something new and something old. But with Q it's always fresh.