1. The part where Quincy Jones says that Marlon Brando slept with James Baldwin, Marvin Gaye, and Richard Pryor
Marchese: Maybe not the cha-cha.
Jones: [Marlon] Brando used to go cha-cha dancing with us. He could dance his ass off. He was the most charming motherfucker you ever met. He’d fuck anything. Anything! He’d fuck a mailbox. James Baldwin. Richard Pryor. Marvin Gaye.
Marchese: He slept with them? How do you know that?
Jones: [Frowns.] Come on, man. He did not give a fuck! You like Brazilian music?
2. The part where Quincy Jones says he dated Ivanka Trump, whose father is a "crazy motherfucker."
Jones: …I used to date Ivanka, you know.
Marchese: Wait, really?
Jones: Yes, sir. Twelve years ago. Tommy Hilfiger, who was working with my daughter Kidada, said, “Ivanka wants to have dinner with you.” I said, “No problem. She’s a fine motherfucker.” She had the most beautiful legs I ever saw in my life. Wrong father, though.
3. The part where Quincy Jones just shakes his head when asked if U2 still make good music.
Marchese: Is U2 still making good music?
Jones: [Shakes head.]
4. The part where Quincy Jones says The Beatles were "the worst musicians in the world"
Marchese: What were your first impressions of the Beatles?
Jones: That they were the worst musicians in the world. They were no-playing motherfuckers. Paul was the worst bass player I ever heard. And Ringo? Don’t even talk about it. I remember once we were in the studio with George Martin, and Ringo had taken three hours for a four-bar thing he was trying to fix on a song. He couldn’t get it. We said, “Mate, why don’t you get some lager and lime, some shepherd’s pie, and take an hour-and-a-half and relax a little bit.” So he did, and we called Ronnie Verrell, a jazz drummer. Ronnie came in for 15 minutes and tore it up. Ringo comes back and says, “George, can you play it back for me one more time?” So George did, and Ringo says, “That didn’t sound so bad.” And I said, “Yeah, motherfucker because it ain’t you.” Great guy, though.
5. The part where Quincy Jones says Microsoft co-founder and sports mogul Paul Allen plays guitar just like Jimi Hendrix
Marchese: Were there any rock musicians you thought were good?
Jones: I used to like Clapton’s band. What were they called?
Marchese: Cream.
Jones: Yeah, they could play. But you know who sings and plays just like Hendrix?
Marchese: Who?
Jones: Paul Allen
Marchese: Stop it. The Microsoft guy?
Jones: Yeah, man. I went on a trip on his yacht, and he had David Crosby, Joe Walsh, Sean Lennon—all those crazy motherfuckers. Then on the last two days, Stevie Wonder came on with his band and made Paul come up and play with him—he’s good, man.
6. The part where Quincy Jones says he knows who killed Kennedy
Marchese: You sure seem to know a lot.
Jones: I know too much, man.
Marchese: What’s something you wish you didn’t know?
Jones: Who killed Kennedy.
Marchese: Who did it?
Jones: [Chicago mobster Sam] Giancana. The connection was there between Sinatra and the Mafia and Kennedy. Joe Kennedy—he was a bad man—he came to Frank to have him talk to Giancana about getting votes.
Read the entire interview at Vulture, and hope to God that we get a new one of these every week. All school textbooks on 20th century American history should be written, in the first-person, by Quincy Jones.Follow Alex Robert Ross on Twitter.Marchese: I’ve heard this theory before, that the mob helped win Illinois for Kennedy in 1960.
Jones: We shouldn’t talk about this publicly. Where you from?