20 Years in 27 Days: A Marriage in Music
Day #7: Quincy Jones feat James Ingram—“One Hundred Ways”
by Mark Anthony Neal
The funny thing about falling in love, even from the perspective of a 16-year-old, is that music that mattered little to you before, suddenly takes on great importance. Such was the case with Quincy Jones’ The Dude.
Released in 1981, two years after Jones industry changing collaboration with Michael Jackson , The Dude represented the height of Jones critical and commercial powers; it earned two Grammy awards, with Jones also winning for Producer of the Year in 1982. Like many of Jones’ Soul-Jazz-Pop hybrids the recording featured his regular musical collaborators including his God-daughter Patti Austin and a relatively unknown vocalist named James Ingram. The Dude was Ingram’s break out effort, singing lead on Jones “Just Once,” and “One Hundred Ways.” By the end of 1982, Ingram was a fixture on the pop charts with his duet with Patti Austin “Baby Come to Me,” which was cross-marketed via a story line on ABC’s General Hospital.
It was “One Hundred Ways,” that was in my head the morning of June 28, 1982. It was the last day of school and Gloria and I (along with two of her friends) were going on our first “date” after school. So after school we trekked to the McDonald’s across the street from the old Yankee Stadium and Macombs Dam Park (where the new Yankee Stadium currently stands). All I had was fries, too self-conscious of eating in front of the girl, as we chatted about the summer, knowing that we likely wouldn’t see each other until the following August. Two months is a long time in the life of teen-agers—two months that we would not survive.
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| Macombs Dam Park |
At the time “One Hundred Ways” struck such a chord in me, because it was all about the myriad ways that one can show affection. At 16, I was limited to about three of those “one hundred ways”; in many ways my relationship with this woman over the last 23 1/2 years (including19 years and 10 days of marriage) has been about realizing the full range of those “one hundred ways.” It’s a struggle, but that’s what lasting relationships are all about.
