Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet (October 30, 1922 – July 22, 2004) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He is best known for his solo on "Flying Home," which is considered the first R&B saxophone solo. He also co-wrote the jazz standard "Don'cha Go 'Way Mad."

Although he helped create the honking tenor saxophone style that became a common part of jazz and early rock and roll, Jacquet was also able to play creatively and beautifully on both fast-paced songs and slow, emotional pieces. He also played the bassoon, which was rare among jazz musicians.

Early life

Jacquet's parents were Creoles of color named Marguerite Trahan and Gilbert Jacquet. When he was a baby, his family moved from Louisiana to Houston, Texas, and he grew up there with five brothers and sisters. His father sometimes led a band. As a child, Jacquet played music with his father's band, mainly using the alto saxophone. His older brother, Russell Jacquet, played the trumpet, and another brother, Linton, played the drums.

At age 15, Jacquet joined the Milton Larkin Orchestra, a dance band in Houston. He went to Wheatley High School. In 1939, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he met Nat King Cole. Jacquet sometimes played with Cole's trio. In 1940, Cole introduced Jacquet to Lionel Hampton, who had returned to California and was forming a big band. Hampton wanted to hire Jacquet but asked him to switch from the alto saxophone to the tenor saxophone.

Career

In 1942, when he was 19 years old, Illinois Jacquet played a solo on the Hampton Orchestra's recording of "Flying Home." This was one of the first times a tenor saxophone with a distinctive sound was heard on a record. The recording became very popular. The song quickly became the highlight of live performances, and Jacquet grew tired from playing it every night. His solo was designed to integrate into the musical arrangement and was later played by many saxophone players who followed him in the band, including Arnett Cobb and Dexter Gordon. These musicians also received much attention for performing the solo. The solo is one of the few jazz solos that has been memorized and played in nearly the same way by all musicians who performed the song. Jacquet left the Hampton band in 1943 and joined Cab Calloway's Orchestra.

Jacquet performed with Calloway's band in Lena Horne's movie Stormy Weather (1943). In the early years of his career, his brother, Linton Jacquet, managed him on the chitlin circuit. Linton's daughter, Brenda Jacquet-Ross, sang in jazz venues in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1990s and early 2000s with a band called the Mondo Players.

In 1944, Jacquet returned to California and formed a small band with his brother Russell and a young Charles Mingus. Around this time, he appeared in the Academy Award-nominated short film Jammin' the Blues with Lester Young. He also performed at the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert. In 1946, Jacquet moved to New York City and joined the Count Basie orchestra, taking Lester Young's place.

In 1949, Jacquet co-wrote the instrumental "Black Velvet" with Jimmy Mundy and recorded it the same year. Al Stillman added lyrics to the song, and it was later recorded that year by Harry James as "Don'cha Go 'Way Mad." The song has since been performed by many artists, including Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.

In 1952, Jacquet co-wrote "Just When We're Falling in Love" with Sir Charles Thompson and S. K. "Bob" Russell. He continued to perform, mostly in Europe, in small groups throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He led the Illinois Jacquet Big Band from 1981 until his death.

Jacquet became the first jazz musician to be an artist-in-residence at Harvard University in 1983. He played "C-Jam Blues" with President Bill Clinton on the White House lawn during Clinton's inaugural ball in 1993. Jacquet's final performance was on July 16, 2004, at the Lincoln Center in New York.

Personal life

Jacquet was first married to Jacqueline Jacquet. His second marriage was to Barbara Jacquet, a well-known person from a wealthy family. This marriage ended in divorce, and they had a daughter named Pamela Jacquet Davis. Jacquet practiced the Catholic religion.

Death

Jacquet passed away in the home he lived in with his long-time partner, Carol Scherick, in Queens, New York, due to a heart attack on July 22, 2004. He was 81 years old. A memorial service took place at Riverside Church, and he is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York City.

Influence

His solos from the early and mid-1940s and his performances at the Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series helped shape the way saxophones were played in rhythm and blues and rock and roll. These styles are still used in jazz today. His playing included loud, high-pitched sounds and deep, low notes on the tenor saxophone. Although his style seemed rough at first, it influenced other musicians like Arnett Cobb, who played "Flying Home" with Hampton, as well as Sonny Rollins, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, and Jimmy Forrest.

Activism

Jacquet challenged Jim Crow laws in Houston. After arranging for his band to perform at the Rice Hotel, he objected to the hotel's rule that African Americans must enter through an alley door. He told the hotel managers that if they did not allow his all-black orchestra to use the main entrance, he would cancel the show. The Rice Hotel agreed to stop following the Jim Crow rule for Jacquet's band.

After leaving Houston to tour the United States and other countries, Jacquet thought about how he would return.

Jazz producer Norman Granz, who also worked to improve social conditions, arranged for a famous group called the Philharmonic band to perform at Houston's Music Hall on October 5, 1955. Jacquet played the saxophone and joined other musicians, including Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, and Buddy Rich. Granz and Jacquet worked together to remove Jim Crow practices from the event. They did not sell tickets in advance, took down signs that separated areas by race, and hired some Houston police officers who were not on duty for security. The performance was open to all people, regardless of race, though challenges still occurred. Despite Granz's efforts, five officers from the Houston Vice Squad entered Ella Fitzgerald's dressing room with guns. Jacquet and Gillespie were playing a dice game, which the officers used as a reason to arrest them, along with Ella Fitzgerald and her assistant. This was part of a planned event, as the group was quickly taken to a police station where photographers were waiting. After paying their fines, they returned to the Music Hall, where the band performed the second part of the concert without the audience knowing what had happened.

Memorial

In 2008, The Chapel of the Sisters in Prospect Cemetery was restored and rededicated as the Illinois Jacquet Performance Space. It is now located on the grounds of York College in Jamaica, Queens.

Discography

• 1951 Battle of the Saxes (Aladdin LP-701 [10"]) – performed with Lester Young
• 1951 Illinois Jacquet: Collates (Mercury/Clef MGC-112 [10"])
• 1952 Illinois Jacquet: Collates, No. 2 (Mercury/Clef MGC-129 [10"])
• 1953 Jazz By Jacquet (Clef MGC-167 [10"])
• 1953 Jazz Moods By Illinois Jacquet (Clef MGC-622)
• 1954 Illinois Jacquet And His Tenor Sax (Aladdin LP-708 [10"]; Aladdin LP-803 [rel. 1956]; Imperial LP-9184/LP-12184 [rel. 1962])
• 1954 The Kid and the Brute (Clef MGC-680; Verve MGV-8065) – performed with Ben Webster
• 1955 Illinois Jacquet [septet] (Clef MGC-676; Verve MGV-8061) – performed with Harry "Sweets" Edison
• 1956 Jazz Moode (Clef MGC-700; Verve MGV-8084) – a collection of MGC-112, MGC-129, MGC-622
• 1956 Port Of Rico (Clef MGC-701; Verve MGV-8085) – a collection of MGC-129, MGC-167, MGC-622
• 1956 Groovin' with Jacquet (Clef MGC-702; Verve MGV-8086) – a collection of MGC-112, MGC-129, MGC-167, MGC-622
• 1956 Swing's the Thing (Clef MGC-750; Verve MGV-8023) – Note: Re-released on CD in 2005 by Lone Hill Jazz (LHJ-10228)
• 1959 Illinois Jacquet Flies Again (Roulette SR-52035) – Note: Re-released on CD in 2005 by Lone Hill Jazz (LHJ-10229)
• 1962 Illinois Jacquet And His Orchestra (Epic BA-17033) – performed with Roy Eldridge – Note: Re-released on CD in 2005 by Lone Hill Jazz (LHJ-10229)
• 1963 The Message (Argo LPS-722) – performed with Kenny Burrell – Note: Re-released on CD in 2005 by Lone Hill Jazz (LHJ-10230)
• 1964 Desert Winds (Argo LPS-735) – performed with Kenny Burrell – Note: Re-released on CD in 2005 by Lone Hill Jazz (LHJ-10230)
• 1964 Bosses of the Ballad: Illinois Jacquet And Strings Play Cole Porter (Argo LPS-746) – Note: Re-released on CD in 2005 by Lone Hill Jazz (LHJ-10231)
• 1965 Spectrum (Argo LPS-754) – Note: Re-released on CD in 2005 by Lone Hill Jazz (LHJ-10231)
• 1966 Go Power! [recorded live at 'Lennie's On-The-Turnpike' in West Peabody, MA] (Cadet LPS-773) – performed with Milt Buckner, Alan Dawson – Note: Re-released on CD in 2005 by Lone Hill Jazz (LHJ-10232)
• 1968 Bottoms Up: Illinois Jacquet On Prestige! (Prestige PR-7575) (CD reissue: Original Jazz Classics OJC-417)
• 1968 The King! (Prestige PR-7597) (CD reissue: Original Jazz Classics OJC-849)
• 1968 The Last Blues Album Volume 1 (Groove Merchant, 1974)
• 1968 What's New!!! (Roulette, 1966)
• 1968 Buddy Tate and His Buddies (Chiaroscuro, 1973)
• 1968 String Along with Basie (Roulette, 1960)
• 1968 Half a Sixpence (Dot, 1967)
• 1968 Bluesin' Around (Columbia, 1962 [released 1983])
• 1968 With Joey DeFrancesco: Where Were You? (Columbia, 1990)
• 1968 With Modern Jazz Quartet: MJQ & Friends: A 40th Anniversary Celebration (Atlantic, 1994)
• 1978 Live At Schaffhausen, Switzerland: March 18, 1978 (Storyville Records; UPC: 4526180360506)
• 1978 Toronto 1947 (Uptown Records; UPC: 026198277321) – performed with Leo Parker
• 1978 Live In Berlin 1987 (Squatty Roo Records; UPC: 686647021204)
• 1978 Live In Burghausen 1996 (Squatty Roo Records; UPC: 686647022102)
• 1978 2002 The Illinois Jacquet Story [recorded 1944–1951] (Proper BOX 49)