A cadre of titles from the discography of the late Quincy Jones - spanning nearly 25 years of his storied career - are coming back into print on physical formats thanks to the shared efforts of Universal' Music Group's teams in America and Japan.

Coming June 6 are new SHM-CD pressings of seven of Jones' LPs: This is How I Feel About Jazz (1957), The Quintessence (1962), Big Band Bossa Nova (1962), Walking in Space (1969), Body Heat (1974), Mellow Madness (1975), Sounds...and Stuff Like That!! (1978) and The Dude (1981). Each will be packaged in the usual style, as part of UMG's "All of Jazz" series: LP-style mini jackets with obi strips and plastic envelopes. Additionally, Walking in Space and Body Heat will be pressed on 180-gram vinyl by UMe alongside two further favorites from Jones' discography: 1971's Smackwater Jack and 1973's You've Got It Bad, Girl.

Jones was only 23 years old when he began recording the sessions to This is How I Feel About Jazz, his second album as bandleader. But he already had a formidable tenure as a trumpeter, arranger and music director for the likes of Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie and Harold Arlen. This is How I Feel About Jazz was produced by the formidable Creed Taylor and featured several big band ensembles featuring heavy hitters like brass masters Zoot Sims, Urbie Green and Phil Woods; flautist Herbie Mann; Hank Jones on piano and bass from Charles Mingus. It balanced Jones' originals with a handful of standards and jazz covers including Cannonball Adderley's "Sermonette" and Arlen's "A Sleepin' Bee." Jones would record for Taylor's Impulse! label just once, on 1962's The Quintessence, another exercise in big band styles.

By the time Jones released Big Band Bossa Nova for Mercury Records, he was already making a splash as the label's vice-president, the first Black man to hold such a position. This exciting genre exercise kicked off with one of Jones' most enduring early originals: "Soul Bossa Nova," known to fans generations later as the title theme to Mike Myers' trilogy of Austin Powers films. Q split the rest of the '60s as a star presence in everything he did: he'd produce the pop hits "It's My Party" and "You Don't Own Me" for Lesley Gore; arranged for Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and countless others; and even branched out into film scoring, picking up his first Oscar nomination for 1967's In Cold Blood and triumphing with soundtracks to films like The Pawnbroker and In the Heat of the Night.

1969's Walking in Space was the start of a new professional chapter for Jones, who decamped from Mercury to A&M Records. Breaking slightly free from the traditions of jazz, he invited talent from songwriter Valerie Simpson (who sang the title track) to harmonica player Toots Thielmans. 1971's Smackwater Jack would lean further into pop with covers of the title track (a deep cut from Carole King's Tapestry) and Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," while also offering two of Jones' more formidable TV themes: the throwback action jazz of Ironside and the upbeat "Hikky Burr" from The Bill Cosby Show. You've Got It Bad, Girl, released in 1973, repeated the formula, with takes on Stevie Wonder ("Superstition" plus the title track, both from Wonder's landmark Talking Book (1972)), a medley tribute to Aretha Franklin and Roberta Flack that combined "Daydreaming" and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," and even The Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer in the City." An even more enduring TV theme was featured here: "The Streetbeater," the lovable, loping hummer from the hit sitcom Sanford and Son.

Jones' mid-'70s works represented another important shift in direction: around 1974's Body Heat, he'd take on the mantle of producer even more than bandleader, thanks in part to a pair of surgeries to treat a life-threatening brain aneurysm that would sideline him from playing trumpet forever. Body Heat, then, would feature more vocals (Bernard Igher's "Everything Must Change," Leon Ware and Minnie Riperton duetting on "If I Ever Lose This Heaven") and more originals co-written by Quincy ("Boogie Joe the Grinder"). The result was Jones' first Top 10 album, and follow-ups Mellow Madness and Sounds...and Stuff Like That!! perfected the formula even further. (Nearly every track on Sounds... was sung by heavy hitters including Ashford & Simpson, Chaka Khan, a protégée of Jones' named Patti Austin, and first-call backing vocalist Luther Vandross, who would break out as a solo artist in the following decade.)

Still balancing producing and film scoring - he won an Emmy for his work on the blockbuster miniseries Roots in 1977 - Jones leaned into production even further, overseeing Michael Jackson's Off the Wall and works by The Brothers Johnson. The stage was set for one of his biggest works as a soloist, although an unquestionable group effort. 1981's The Dude synthesized Jones' jazz, soul and pop sides, with vocals mostly shared between Austin and another discovery of Jones', impassioned soul singer James Ingram. His vocals on "Just Once" and "One Hundred Ways" yielded a pair of Top 20 singles, and The Dude not only went platinum but took home four Grammy Awards, along with one for Jones for Producer of the Year. It seemed that Quincy Jones couldn't get any bigger - at least, until he and Jackson went another round on 1982's Thriller. He remained one of the music business' pre-eminent figureheads (and an amazing interviewee) up to his passing in 2024 at the age of 91.

Pre-order links for all titles are available below. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

This is How I Feel About Jazz (originally released as ABC-Paramount 149, 1957 - reissued Universal UCCU-5927 (JP), 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The Quintessence (originally released as Impulse! A-11, 1962 - reissued Universal UCCU-5624 (JP), 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Big Band Bossa Nova (originally released as Mercury MG-20751, 1962 - reissued Universal UCCU-5764 (JP), 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Walking in Space (originally released as A&M SP-3023, 1969 - reissued Universal UCCU-5914 (JP), 2025)

SHM-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Smackwater Jack (originally released as A&M SP-3037, 1971 - reissued A&M/UMe, 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

You've Got It Bad, Girl (originally released as A&M SP-3041, 1973 - reissued A&M/UMe, 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Body Heat (originally released as A&M SP-3617, 1974 - reissued Universal UCCU-6302 (JP), 2025)

SHM-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Mellow Madness (originally released as A&M SP-4526, 1975 - reissued Universal UCCU-6303 (JP), 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Sounds...and Stuff Like That!! (originally released as A&M SP-4685, 1978 - reissued Universal UCCU-6304 (JP), 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The Dude (originally released as A&M SP-3721, 1981 - reissued Universal UCCU-46059 (JP), 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)