It takes a special artist to go from arranging showtunes for Frank Sinatra to shepherding Michael Jackson to record the best-selling album of all time to producing a hit television show for rapper Will Smith. But that’s Quincy Jones in an amazing nutshell, as the new Netflix documentary on his life by his daughter Rashida shows.

Jones is over 80 now and showing the effects of a lifetime of hard living. But the documentary skillfully transitions between shots of Jones today — still irascible, engaging, funny, and enthusiastic — with clips recorded of Jones from the 1960s and 1970s, enabling the viewer to capture the essence of the man even with the passage of time.

It also highlights his incredible and often-behind-the-scenes career. He started life in Chicago’s dangerous South Side, with a mother later committed to a mental institution and a life of hardscrabble poverty. But he found music through the trumpet and became a skilled jazz musician, playing with the bebop greats of his day.

He learned music arrangement and was subsequently recruited by Frank Sinatra to produce his songs with a full orchestra. From there he recorded his own jazz albums (including penning what would later become the featured tune for the Austin Powers movies) and numerous film and television scores. He molded Michael Jackson into stardom in the 1980s, producing the best-selling album Thriller with his handpicked band and composers. Oh and by the way, he also discovered Oprah Winfrey for the movie Color Purple, which he helped produce and conceptualize.

Through it all, the documentary shows him surrounded by family but also the failures of his numerous marriages. And it shows in painful intimacy his more recent health challenges.

The documentary is enjoyable viewing for any music fan and those interested in twentieth century popular culture. Jones has lived an amazing life, and his influence and work still shape our culture today. The documentary is a fitting tribute to his enduring — and ongoing — legacy.