Illinois Jacquet?crazy name, crazy guy!?is the undefeated tenor sax heavyweight whose career has been spent bringing cheering audiences to their feet. From his take-no-prisoners solo on Lionel Hampton’s 1942 hit “Flying Home” through to the present, this tenor master anticipated everything from R&B and rock via Jazz At The Philharmonic gladiatorial face-offs to the equally frenetic free jazz of Pharoah Sanders. In contrast, the smooth blues of “Black Velvet” reveals that it wasn’t all honk and stomp from this undisputed innovator. Unmissable.
Advertisement