Released in October 1971 on A&M Records, Smackwater Jack is a celebrated studio album by Quincy Jones
that masterfully blends jazz, soul, funk, and cinematic scoring. The "TQMP" and "FLAC" tags in your query refer to a specific digital release—likely a high-fidelity rip from The Quality Music Project (TQMP) —delivered in the Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)
format, which preserves bit-perfect audio quality from the original master. Album Overview
This album is often cited as one of Jones' most diverse and funkiest works, bridging the gap between his earlier orchestral jazz and the soul-funk sound that would later define his production work for artists like Michael Jackson. It reached on the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart in 1971. Hikky Burr (Theme From "The Bill Cosby Show")
Why are audiophiles searching for a FLAC of the TQMP? Because owning the physical disc is prohibitively expensive. Quincy Jones - Smackwater Jack 1971 TQMP -FLAC-
A Near Mint (NM) copy of the 1971 TQMP Smackwater Jack with its obi and original inner sleeve last sold on Discogs for $1,450 in 2022. A sealed copy fetched $2,800 at a Tokyo auction in 2019. Why so much? Because most of these pressings were destroyed in a warehouse fire in Osaka in 1973. Out of an estimated 500 pressed, fewer than 200 are believed to exist today.
Thus, for 99.9% of listeners, the only way to hear the TQMP sound signature is through a needle-drop—a high-quality vinyl rip transferred to FLAC.
There is no legal commercial download of the TQMP FLAC. Quincy Jones’ estate has never licensed these Japanese pressings for digital release. Therefore, the only legitimate way to acquire this file is to:
Avoid any file labeled “TQMP” that is under 300MB for the full album. A true 24/96 FLAC of this 38-minute album should be around 1.2GB. Released in October 1971 on A&M Records, Smackwater
| Track | Notable Features | Why FLAC matters here | |-------|----------------|------------------------| | Smackwater Jack | Wicked wah-wah guitar (Eric Gale), biting brass, socially conscious lyrics about vigilante justice. | The guitar’s envelope filter sweeps and brass section decay are easily muddied in lossy formats. | | You’ve Got a Friend | Radical reharmonization of Carole King’s classic; gospel-tinged piano, flutes, and a funk backbeat. | Subtle stereo panning of backing vocals and woodwinds requires full resolution. | | Brown Ballad | Slow, smoky blues with soulful flugelhorn; showcases Jones’s arranging depth. | Quiet passages reveal tape hiss—a fidelity marker for analog-source FLACs. | | What’s Going On | A pre-Motown cover (Marvin Gaye’s version was still in production!). Quincy’s version features spoken word and dissonant strings. | The bass clarinet and contrabassoon low frequencies benefit from FLAC’s extended low-end accuracy. |
Yes, for:
No, if:
If you ever find an original TQMP vinyl of Smackwater Jack, the runout groove will be hand-etched with “TQMP-1103” and a small, stamped kanji character meaning “precision.” Avoid any file labeled “TQMP” that is under
This brings us to the last part of the keyword: -FLAC-. You will find MP3s of Smackwater Jack everywhere—Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube. Those are sourced from the generic US digital master, which is compressed, limited, and lifeless.
The TQMP FLAC is different. FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) preserves the exact bitstream of the needle-drop. When we talk about a TQMP FLAC, we are talking about a rip that meets strict criteria:
What to listen for in the FLAC:
Listen to the first 30 seconds of "Smackwater Jack" (the title track). On a standard CD, the kick drum is a flat thud. On the TQMP FLAC, the kick drum has three-dimensional depth—you hear the beater strike, the shell resonance, and the room decay. Next, listen to the hi-hat on "What’s Going On." The US press has sibilance distortion at 2:45; the TQMP FLAC renders the brass without any harshness.
Seek out the TQMP FLAC if you want a transparent, archival-grade digital copy of the original Smackwater Jack vinyl or early CD. The mastering is true to the 1971 aesthetic—punchy, warm, and dynamic. Just verify the rip log for confidence, and enjoy one of Quincy Jones’s most adventurous, groove-laden albums in its full, unadulterated resolution.
TL;DR: TQMP = trusted ripping group; FLAC = lossless; this release delivers authentic 1971 sound without modern compression. Essential for jazz-funk fans.