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.