In 1958 Quincy Jones was working in Paris when he received a call on behalf of the princess of Monaco. Grace Kelly had convinced the principality to host a fundraising concert for the United Nations Refugee Fund and booked Frank Sinatra to perform – but she needed Jones’s help finding Sinatra a backing orchestra.
Within days Jones arrived on the French Riviera with 55 handpicked musicians for a less than appreciative Sinatra – who told Jones, his conductor: “You’ve heard the records; you know what to do.” During the concert, Sinatra made many deviations from the rehearsed show, but the orchestra never missed a beat. “Nice job, Q,” Sinatra told him afterward. Six years later Sinatra hired Jones to arrange a swing album with Count Basie that produced the signature Sinatra hit Fly Me to the Moon.
