Back on the Block

Infobox Album | Name = Back on the Block
Type = Album
Artist = Quincy Jones

---

| Released = November 8, 1989
Recorded = 1989
Oceanway Record One
Lighthouse Studios
Westlake Audio
(Los Angeles, California)
Digital Recorders
(Nashville, Tennessee)
Tarpan Studios
(San Rafael, California)
Genre = R&B, black pop, jazz, hip hop, fusion
Length = 57:54
Label = Qwest
Producer = Quincy Jones
Reviews =
*Allmusic rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:zl5a8qttbtb4 link]
*"Ebony" (favorable) [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n4_v45/ai_8325319/pg_1 link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|2|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/quincyjones/albums/album/197670/review/5942967/back_on_the_block link]
*Warr.org Rating|2|5 [http://www.warr.org/quincy.html#BOTB link] | Last album = "The Dude"
(1980)
This album = "Back on the Block"
(1989)
Next album = "Q's Jook Joint"
(1995)|

"Back on the Block" is a 1989 Grammy Award-winning studio album produced by the American jazz and pop arranger Quincy Jones. [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:zl5a8qttbtb4 allmusic { Back on the Block > Overview }] ] It features many famous and important musicians and singers, including Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson, Luther Vandross, Ice-T, Tevin Campbell and Ray Charles.

Fitzgerald had previously recorded with Jones on her 1963 album "Ella and Basie!", which is revered as one of her greatest recordings. Fitzgerald is featured on the tracks "Jazz Corner of the World" (where she is introduced in rap style by Big Daddy Kane), "Birdland" and "Wee B. Dooinit", where she scats alongside Sarah Vaughan and Bobby McFerrin.

Overview

By 1989, the great jazz artists featured on this record were past their respective physical and creative peaks, and their performances on this otherwise exhilarating album merely highlight their respective ages. This was to be the last studio recording that Ella Fitzgerald made, a milestone not lost on her biographer Stuart Nicholson, who noted that Ella had come full circle with this album, her last recording echoing the throwaway pop hits that Norman Granz had promised to rescue her from when he created Verve. It was also Sarah Vaughan's last album.

Multiple singles were lifted from the album and found success on Pop and R&B radio, including "I'll Be Good To You", "I Don't Go For That", "The Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite)", and "Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me)". "Tomorrow" is noteworthy for introducing a young Tevin Campbell to the music scene. "Back on the Block" won the 1991 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Track listing

Chart history

Billboard Music Charts (North America) – "Back on the Block"
*1989: Billboard 200 – #9
*1989: Top Contemporary Jazz Albums – #1
*1989: Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – #1

Credits

Recorded in 1989, in Hollywood, Los Angeles:

* Ella Fitzgerald - Vocals
* Take 6
* Chaka Khan
* Bobby McFerrin
* Melle Mel
* Ray Charles
* Big Daddy Kane
* Ice-T
* Luther Vandross
* Sarah Vaughan
* Al Jarreau
* Dionne Warwick
* Barry White
* Syreeta Wright
* Grandmaster Melle Mel
* Al B. Sure!
* Tevin Campbell
* Alvin Chea
* Andraé Crouch
* Kool Moe Dee
* Nadirah Ali
* Maxi Anderson
* Peggie Blu
* McKinley Brown
* Sandra Crouch
* Geary Faggett
* Voncielle Faggett
* Geary Lanier Foggett
* Ken Ford
* Jania Foxworth
* Siedah Garrett
* Tammie Gibson
* Rose Banks
* El DeBarge
* Cedric Dent
* Chad Durio
* Jim Gilstrap
* Jackie Gouche
* Alex Harris
* Howard Hewett
* Reggie Green
* Jennifer Holliday
* Pattie Howard
* James Ingram
* David Thomas
* Mervyn Warren
* Charity Young
* Shane Shoaf
* Alfie Silas
* Perry Morgan
* Phil Perry
* Tyren Perry
* Derrick Schoefield
* Mark Kibble
* Edie Lehmann
* Tiffany Johnson
* Clif Magness
* Donovan McCrary
* Howard McCrary
* Claude McKnight
* Jean Johnson McRath
* Miles Davis - Trumpet
* Dizzy Gillespie
* Gary Grant
* Bill Reichenbach Jr. - Trombone
* Jerry Hey - Trumpet, Arranger, Keyboards
* James Moody - Alto saxophone
* Gerald Albright - Alto saxophone, Vocals
* Paul Jackson Jr. - Guitar
* Michael Landau
* Randy Lukather
* Steve Lukather
* George Benson - Guitar, Vocals
* George Johnson - Guitar, Vocals (bckgr)
* Neil Stubenhaus - Bass guitar
* Louis Johnson
* Nathan East
* Ollie Brown - Percussion
* Harvey Mason, Sr.
* Paulinho Da Costa
* J.C. Gomez
* John Robinson
* Bruce Swedien
* Bill Summers - Percussion, Hinedewho
* Michael Boddicker - Synthesizer
* Jorge Calandrelli
* Randy Kerber
* Rhett Lawrence
* David Paich
* Michael Young
* Greg Phillinganes
* Ian Underwood
* Steve Porcaro
* Joe Zawinul - Vocals, Synthesizer
* Larry Williams - Keyboards, Saxophone
* George Duke - Keyboards, Fender Rhodes
* Herbie Hancock - Keyboards, Synthesizer Pads
* Sheila E. - Timbales, Soloist
* Glen Ballard - Arranger
* Rod Temperton
* Jesse Jackson - Narrator
* Quincy Jones - Arranger, Drums, Vocals, Korg M1
* Ian Prince - Arranger, Keyboards
* Caiphus Semenya - Arranger, Conductor, Vocal Arrangement

ee also

*Quincy Jones discography

References