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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZJACQUET, Illinois(b Battiste Illinois Jacquet, 31 October 1922, Broussard LA; d 22 July 2004 NYC) Tenor sax. He grew up in Texas; his father played bass. The name was pronounced JaKET but is friends called him 'Jacket'. On the West Coast '41; he joined Lionel Hampton and played a famous solo on 'Flyin' Home'; with Cab Calloway '43-4, Count Basie, '45-6, then led his own excellent small groups and occasionally bigger bands recording (always with good sidemen) for Philo, Apollo, Metro, Savoy, Aladdin and RCA, compiled on The Complete Illinois Jacquet Sessions 1945-1950 on a limited-edition four-CD/six-LP Mosaic set '96 (a compilation of the Victors on Bluebird by the 'Black Velvet' band is apparently also already out of print). He toured with JATP (Flying Home on a Verve CD) and appeared in the famous short film Jammin' The Blues '44 with Lester Young; his early reputation as an extrovert honker pleased the crowds, but he was a solid Texas tenor influenced by Herschel Evans (of the Basie band) and always played beautiful ballads. He surprised NYC audiences playing bassoon in the mid-'60s (on Argo tracks '63); toured Europe '70s with Milt Buckner and Jo Jones, worked with a Buddy Rich combo in NYC '74 etc; appeared at the Canteen in London early '80s with Slam Stewart and played a lovely version of Duke Ellington's 'I Didn't Know About You'. He formed a big band and played at the North Sea Jazz Festival '88, made album Jacquet's Got It! on Atlantic. Many reissues in and out of print included anthologies on Verve, Illinois Jacquet '62 on Columbia; two-disc Argo reissues Illinois Jacquet from '63 (plays bassoon), With Wild Bill Davis '73 and Jacquet's Street '76 on Classic Jazz; on Prestige/OJC: Bottoms Up '68, King!, big-band Soul Explosion and Blues: That's Me! all '69. The Comeback '71 on Black Lion had Buckner and Tony Crombie; Jacquet's Street on French Black and Blue label had two mid-'70s sessions with Jo Jones and Buckner. |