_____As with most performers who have enjoyed great popular success, Illinois Jacquet's reputation has seen many ups and downs. One of his most recent high-profile appearances was sharing a tenor saxophone with President Clinton, and you can't get much higher than that. But his initial fame was closely bound up with the then Los Angeles-based Norman Granz. As well as taking part in Granz's informal sessions with Nat 'King' Cole at Billy Berg's, Illinois Jacquet's participated in one of Norman Granz's first independent recordings, which he sold to the Disc label under the name of the King Cole Quintet. Illinois Jacquet was also an added starter for Granz's 1944 short film "Jammin' the Blues", which immortalized the image of Lester Young.

_____His appearance in the very first "Jazz at the Philharmonic" [JATP] concert, however, was the event which sealed Illinois Jacquet's reputation, thanks to its subsequent issue on record. In the notes to the tenor saxophonist's very first 10-inch LP, Norman Granz called him:

"...not only one of the important components of our organization but one who, in a sense, helped form our organization and, in turn, was helped by it..."

"...We were doing a benefit for the city of Los Angeles, they had a race riot there. And Norman Granz put these musicians together. We had a record strike - we weren't allowed to make any records at that particular time, and the Army [AFRS] made a record for the fighting soldiers in Europe. After the war, they released these records, and they become a big success for Jazz at the Philharmonic, And that record ("Blues" part 2, featuring Jacquet's solo) is the one that really kicked it off..."

_____What earned his populist appeal, however, was the riff-like insistence of his "Flying Home" solo and the high harmonics of "Blues - Part 2" in what was then called the 'freak' register. ("...They used to call me all sorts of things..." says Jacquet.) The ability to control these may have come from his study of the soprono saxophone at high school in Houston, Texas, but it seems likely that the unstoppable swing of his improvisations stems from his experiences tapdancing with his family, in a group of four brothers, which he was doing from the age of three.

_____Illinois Jacquet's fame in the late Forties was such that he signed a three-year contract to record for a major company, (RCA Victor), and it was only after this that Norman Granz's label was able to take on the original-JATP star. The affiliation lasted seven years, while Illinois Jacquet remained a solid popular attraction and an enormous influence on every r&b tenor player (whether the guy was Bill Haley or such session men as the young King Curtis, another Texan). Only towards the end of the decade, as the rock & roll industry got into high gear, was he overtaken by its less welcome side-effects.

_____Meanwhile, the sessions surveyed here present several aspects of Illinois Jacquet's expertise, including the ways in which his instrumental jazz overlapped with popular sounds aimed at the nation's jukeboxes. Each of the first eleven tracks here was issued as a single, and it's interesting to note Norman Granz's early-Fifties choice of words from that first LP:

"...Jacquet's qualities are all obvious, simple, and real. He swings like mad and that, after all, is one of the basics of jazz..."

_____The contributions of the accompanying personnel in this set are hardly negligible. Illinois Jacquet's comments about the 1956 session ("...Throughout the world, everywhere we go, they used to walk up to me with this particular album to sign...") says much for the work of Roy Eldridge and Jo Jones. But the preceding date with pianist Carl Perkins and trumpeter Harry 'Sweets' Edison (like Jo Jones, still a member of the Count Basie band during Illinois Jacquet's stint with Count Basie) is hardly less impressive. Count Basie himself, of course, guested on organ for the session that produced the tenorist's biggest hit of the Fifties, "Port of Rico", which was significant in establishing the popularity of the tenor-and-organ combination. Filling the organ role on the '58 "Flying Home" was an old buddy from Texas and the Milt Larkin band of twenty years earlier, the still active Wild Bill Davis. Throughout this period Illinois Jacquet was, except for tours with JATP, reassembling the octet that is heard on "Heads" or putting together larger bands, as on the "Boot 'Em Up" session.

_____And among the sidemen, hear the very recognizable backing of Art Blakey on two tracks, including Illinois Jacquet's assault on the Ben Webster classic, "Cotton Tail". There's a story about this band, where a backstage argument took place between baritonist Leo Parker and the leader as to who was 'the most' at playing the freak high notes - an argument settled by Art Blakey bringing down his tom-tom on Illinois Jacquet's head. This compilation proves above all else that, while showmanship undoubtedly won over fans, Illinois Jacquet has absolutely no need of such tactics to prove his undeniable musicianship.

...from Brian Priestley.

Illinois Jacquet: a bio
____________Jean Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was born in Boussard, Louisiana on Hallowe'en 1922. One of the great tenors, Illinois Jacquet's 1942 "Flying Home" solo is considered the first R&B sax solo, and spawned a full generation of younger tenors (including Joe Houston and Big Jay McNeely) who built their careers from his style, and practically from that one song.

_____Illinois Jacquet, whose older brother Russell Jacquet (1917-1990) was a trumpeter who sometimes played in his bands, grew up in Houston, and his tough tone and emotional sound defined the Texas tenor school. After playing locally, he moved to Los Angeles where, in 1941, he played with Floyd Ray. He was the star of Lionel Hampton's 1942 big band ("Flying Home" became a signature song for Illinois Jacquet, Lionel Hampton, and even Illinois Jacquet's successor Arnett Cobb), and also was with Cab Calloway (1943-1944) and well featured with Count Basie (1945-1946). Illinois Jacquet's playing at the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert (1944) included a screaming solo on "Blues" that found him biting on his reed to achieve high-register effects; the crowd went wild. He repeated the idea during his appearance in the 1944 film short "Jammin' the Blues".

_____In 1945, Illinois Jacquet put together his own band, and both his recordings and live performances were quite exciting. He appeared with JATP on several tours in the 1950s, recorded steadily, and never really lost his popularity. In the 1960s, he sometimes doubled on bassoon (usually for a slow number such as "'Round Midnight") and it was an effective contrast to his stomping tenor. In the late '80s, Illinois Jacquet started leading an exciting part-time big band that only recorded one album, an Atlantic date from 1988. Through the years, Illinois Jacquet (whose occasional features on alto are quite influenced by Charlie Parker) has recorded as a leader for such labels as Apollo, Savoy, Aladdin, RCA, Verve, Mercury, Roulette, Epic, Argo, Prestige, Black Lion, Black & Blue, JRC, and Atlantic.

...from Scott Yanow.