[Dixielandjazz] Fw: llinois Jacquet Dies - 7/22/04

[Stan Brager]

----- Original Message ----- 

> Illinois Jacquet Dies 
> Date: July 22, 2004 
> Written By: Russell Carlson 
> www.downbeat.com
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> Illinois Jacquet, a saxophonist in the broad and
> forceful "Texas tenor" style who recorded what is
> popularly considered the first R&B sax solo, and who
> played with big-band leaders Lionel Hampton and Count
> Basie, died Thurs., July 22 in New York City of heart
> failure. He was 81. 
> 
> Besides being the major figure of the Texas-tenor
> school, which also included James Clay and Buddy Tate,
> Jacquet was responsible for two major developments in
> tenor playing. Building off brash, shouting sounds
> that had originally come from Lester Young's
> saxophone, Jacquet further developed and popularized
> the "honking" method of playing, which might best be
> heard in Jacquet's performances with producer Norman
> Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic tour. Jacquet also
> discovered the tenor's high-pitched altissimo range,
> which extended the instrument's range by two and a
> half octaves. 
> 
> Born Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet in Boussard, La.
> in 1922, he grew up in Houston, Texas, where he
> started on drums, switched to soprano saxophone and
> later took up alto. In 1940 Jacquet and his trumpeter
> brother, Russell, moved to L.A., where a jam session
> with Nat "King" Cole eventually led the saxophonist to
> a job in vibist Lionel Hampton's big band. 
> 
> In 1942 Jacquet cut the solo on the hit recording of
> Hampton's "Flying Home," which made the saxophonist
> famous. This is the solo that is known as the first
> recorded R&B sax solo. He left Hampton shortly
> thereafter and went on to play in the bands of Cab
> Calloway and Count Basie, and he later formed a group
> with his brother and bassist Charles Mingus. He joined
> Jazz at the Philharmonic as a featured soloist in 1946
> and stayed on for two years; he would return briefly
> in 1955. 
> 
> Beginning in the mid-'40s Jacquet led his own groups,
> on record and on tour, and included among his sidemen
> players like J.J. Johnson, Cecil Payne and Wild Bill
> Doggett. Two of his most-loved recordings are Bottoms
> Up (1968) and The Blues: That's Me! (1969), both made
> for the Prestige label. 
> 
> Jacquet remained active on the scene well into his
> 70s. He became an artist-in-residence at Harvard in
> the '80s, and performed on the SS Norway in 1997 for
> his 75th birthday. He is the subject of the 1991 film
> Texas Tenor: The Illinois Jacquet Story. 
>