Quincy Jones honoured with top French award

 American record producer and musician Quincy Jones -- the winner of a whopping 27 Grammys -- was Monday bestowed with the Order of Arts and Letters, one of France's top cultural honours, AFP reports.

The 81-year-old Jones, who in 2001 received the Commander of the Legion of Honour, France's highest civil award, paid rich tribute to the country that once again decorated him.

"It's thanks to France that jazz is what it is today," Jones said after receiving the award from former culture minister Jack Lang.

"Even though I'm American, France is in my heart."

The jazz trumpet player and producer has worked with the biggest names in showbiz from Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand, Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Henri Salvador, Ray Charles, Count Basie, Duke Ellington down to Michael Jackson in a six-decade-long career.

Jones, who is popularly known as "Q", worked in Paris in the 1950s.