Monday, August 6, 2012

Illinois Jacquet

Jacquet's albums are well worth studying because he was backed by some of the greats, including Papa Jo Jones, Shadow Wilson and Art Blakey (to name but a few).

He was probably best known for his solo on Lionel Hampton's Flying Home (and Hamp was a killer drummer too when he was not playing vibes).

If you are new to Illinois Jacquet (or want to add to your music library), I recommend these two albums:

Kid & Brute / Swing's the Thing / Flies Again, which contains five albums on two CDs.

And a four CD set titled Quadromania

Between those two sets you will have a wide ranging collection of his music. His story is interesting and is well told in this short tribute video:

Here are three live clips of Jacquet with Papa Jo Jones and Milt Buckner circa 1970s:



With the great Shadow Wilson on drums:


Backed by Art Blakey:

One last clip with Alan Dawson on drums backing him:

Do check out my post on Louis Jordan as well. There are striking similarities in the musical paths Illinois and Louis took.

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