Quincy Jones, One Hundred Ways | Throwback Vibez

In the 138^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “One Hundred Ways” by Quincy Jones featuring James Ingram. 

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez ! Throwback Vibez is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils ! All genres of music are welcome. In the 138^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “One Hundred Ways”, performed by Quincy Jones featuring James Ingram. 

“Love her today / Find one hundred ways.” Aww – how chivalrous, dedicated, and sweet to the nth degree, James Ingram! “One Hundred Ways” appears as the seventh track on the 1981, Quincy Jones album, The Dude.  The Dude added to Jones’ Grammy hardware (he’s won 28 Grammys), while the late Ingram, the vocalist on “One Hundred Ways,” won the Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male. Take one listen to “One Hundred Ways,” and it’s plain to hear why it was Grammy-worthy and helped propel The Dude to platinum status .  The record itself was pop hit, peaking respectably at no. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982.

“In your arms tonight

She’ll reflect

That she owes you the sweetest of debts

If she wants to pay

Find one hundred ways.”

It should be noted that neither Jones nor Ingram penned “One Hundred Ways.” Jones is responsible for the incredibly lush, smooth production. The sound is idiomatic of the refined, quiet storm brand of R&B that ruled in the 1980s. As for the songwriting, those honors belong to Benjamin Wright, Kathy Wakefield, and Tony Coleman. All three writers did a fabulous job of composing thoughtful, love-driven lyrics, and tuneful melodies.  The harmonic progression that underlies is sweet too, leaning into jazz extending beyond the standard I-IV-V . Of course, it is Ingram, the perfect artist to perform “One Hundred Ways” that brings it to life.  Does he ever perspire as he lends his expressive, nuanced pipes to Wright, Wakefield, and Coleman’s epic song? I don’t believe so. Love never sounded so lit in his hands as it does on the R&B gem, “One Hundred Ways”!

Quincy Jones • The Dude • UMG Recordings, Inc. • 1981

Quincy Jones, One Hundred Ways: Throwback Vibez No. 138 (2023) [: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; UMG Recordings, Inc.; John Alan Sperry, PIRO via  Pixabay]