Qwest TV

AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME

Despite the growing popularity of jazz, its many fans around the globe have been deprived of a dedicated SVOD platform featuring high-quality image and sound, mobile access, curated content, and personalized recommendations.

Until now.

#FROMBEPOPTOLAPTOP

At Qwest TV, we seek out a horizon where jazz, now entering its second century, never ceases to evolve.

Connoisseurs of jazz are known for being open and eager to learn about other musical tendencies and cultures. To be ‘in the know’, to respect the creative freedom that jazz itself incarnates, requires an eclectic taste. Speak to a lover of jazz, and the breadth of her or his musical knowledge will astound you.

From Billie Holiday to Esperanza Spalding, from Sun Ra to Kamasi Washington, from Bill Evans to Flying Lotus through to Ravi Shankar’s soaring sitar solos, the traditions of Cuban Santería, and the magnetic voice of Angolese singer Bonga, Qwest TV will reflect a live music that has never been so alive.

Qwest TV will serve not only as a treasure trove of the jazz tradition but also as a trailblazing springboard for new talent.

VISION QWEST

Hard work, diversity, openness towards others, mutual respect and consideration, cooperation, and improvisation are the values that Qwest TV seeks to promote.

An impresario in the broadest and most creative sense of the word, Quincy Jones’ career has encompassed the roles of composer, artist, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, record company executive, magazine founder, multi-media entrepreneur, humanitarian, investor, and record, film, and TV producer. As a master inventor of musical hybrids, he has shuffled pop, soul, hip-hop, jazz, classical, African, and Brazilian music into many dazzling fusions, traversing virtually every medium, including records, live performance, movies, and television.

After earning a degree in information technology and communication, in 2003 Reza Ackbaraly was placed in charge of the new Jazz & World Music department at the French cable channel MEZZO. Ackbaraly aired more than 2,000 titles and helped produce more than 800 hours of original content in top festivals and clubs around the globe. He is also musical programmer for the prestigious Jazz à Vienne festival in France and La Petite Halle in Paris. Reza Ackbaraly is also one of the youngest members of the Académie Charles Cros.

Ackbaraly’s insatiable desire to break down barriers between musical genres and promote the power of improvisation associated with jazz lead him to meet one of his heroes, Quincy Jones, in 2015. It was during this encounter that Qwest TV was born.

Branding Jones & Ackbaraly’s new SVOD platform “Qwest TV” is no coincidence: throughout the 1990’s, Jones served as the guiding force behind his own Qwest Records, which boasted artists such as New Order, Tevin Campbell, Andre Crouch, Patti Austin, James Ingram, Siedah Garrett, Frank Sinatra and George Benson. The release of the Boyz N The Hood soundtrack album was among the most successful soundtrack recordings of 1991, and Qwest Records also released soundtrack albums from the major motion pictures, Sarafina! and Malcolm X. Jones also co-founded and served as Chairman and CEO of Qwest Broadcasting, a minority controlled broadcasting company which purchased television stations in Atlanta and New Orleans, establishing it as one of the largest minority owned broadcasting companies in the United States.