Is It Love That We're Missin'

The Story Behind "Is It Love That We're Missin'" by Quincy Jones (feat. The Brothers Johnson)

A Master Producer Building His Own Artistic Platform

By late 1975, Quincy Jones had already established himself as one of the music industry's most respected producers and arrangers, a genuinely accomplished figure increasingly using his own recorded output to showcase both his considerable orchestral arranging talents and his eye for promising emerging vocal talent. This single arrived during that productive stretch of Jones's career, featuring rising vocal duo The Brothers Johnson prominently within a genuinely sophisticated soul and funk production.

A Sophisticated Blend of Funk Groove and Vocal Showcase

"Is It Love That We're Missin'" combined Jones's characteristically sophisticated arranging sensibility with a genuinely infectious funk groove, giving The Brothers Johnson considerable room to showcase their distinctive vocal chemistry within a lushly produced instrumental framework built by one of the era's most accomplished studio arrangers. That collaborative approach reflected Jones's broader career pattern of pairing his own considerable production talents with promising younger performers still establishing their own recording identities.

A Modest but Meaningful Chart Presence

Commercially, "Is It Love That We're Missin'" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 11, 1975, and climbed gradually to reach its peak position of number 70 during the chart week of November 22, 1975, spending ten weeks on the chart overall. That gradual, extended chart presence reflected steady, if modest, mainstream radio interest, achieved alongside considerably stronger R&B chart performance that better reflected the song's core audience appeal.

Building Toward The Brothers Johnson's Own Breakthrough

This single's modest pop chart presence carried genuine significance as an early platform for The Brothers Johnson, whose collaboration with Jones on this recording helped establish the working relationship and mutual artistic trust that would soon lead directly to Jones producing their own considerably more commercially successful solo recordings. That collaborative foundation proved genuinely consequential, launching a partnership that would generate substantially greater commercial success for the duo in the years immediately following this release.

Part of Jones's Broader Mid-1970s Production Renaissance

This single arrived amid a broader mid-1970s stretch when Jones was consistently producing some of the era's most sophisticated funk and soul recordings, applying his considerable orchestral arranging background to contemporary rhythm-driven material in ways that distinguished his productions from more straightforward contemporary funk records. That distinctive production sensibility gave Jones's mid-1970s output a genuinely recognizable sonic signature, blending jazz-informed arrangement sophistication with unmistakably danceable rhythmic foundations.

A Stepping Stone Within Two Significant Careers

Within the broader arc of both Jones's and The Brothers Johnson's respective careers, this recording represented a genuinely important stepping stone, an early collaborative success that helped validate the creative partnership before their subsequently more commercially dominant work together. That developmental significance gives the recording lasting historical interest beyond its own comparatively modest chart performance.

A Showcase for Vocal Chemistry and Arranging Craft

The single also served as an effective early showcase for The Brothers Johnson's distinctive vocal chemistry, qualities that Jones clearly recognized and would continue developing across their subsequent collaborative recordings throughout the remainder of the decade. That vocal chemistry combined with Jones's sophisticated arranging sensibility to create a genuinely compelling recording that pointed clearly toward the duo's imminent commercial breakthrough.

A Producer's Ear for Undiscovered Talent

Jones's decision to feature The Brothers Johnson so prominently on this recording reflected a broader talent-scouting instinct that had already served his career well across numerous prior projects, an ability to identify promising vocal and instrumental talent well before that talent achieved widespread mainstream recognition on its own. That instinct would prove especially prescient in this particular case, as the duo's subsequent solo output under Jones's continued production guidance quickly outpaced this initial collaborative single in overall commercial impact. Retrospective accounts of Jones's mid-1970s creative output frequently cite this specific pairing as an early example of the kind of mentorship-driven collaboration that would become an increasingly defining feature of his broader production legacy in the years that followed.

An Early Chapter in a Consequential Creative Partnership

Press play and hear a master producer and a promising young vocal duo forging the creative partnership that would soon generate considerably greater commercial success for both parties.

"Is It Love That We're Missin'" — Quincy Jones (feat. The Brothers Johnson)'s singular moment on the 1970s charts.