Biography
Jean-Baptiste "Illinois" Jacquet (October 30, 1922 – July 22, 2004) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best known for his solo on "Flying Home," widely regarded as the first R&B saxophone solo.
Though he pioneered the honking tenor saxophone style that became a staple of jazz and early rock and roll, Jacquet was also a skilled and melodic improviser on both up-tempo numbers and ballads. He also played the bassoon, making him one of the few jazz musicians to do so.
Jacquet was born to Creole parents Marguerite Trahan and Gilbert Jacquet. His family moved from Louisiana to Houston, Texas when he was an infant, where he was raised among six siblings. His father led a part-time band, and Jacquet performed in it as a child, mainly on alto saxophone. His older brother Russell Jacquet played trumpet, and another brother, Linton, was a drummer.
At age 15, Jacquet joined the Milton Larkin Orchestra, a local Houston dance band. In 1939, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he met Nat King Cole and occasionally played with his trio. In 1940, Cole introduced Jacquet to Lionel Hampton, who was forming a big band in California. Hampton wanted Jacquet to join but requested he switch to tenor saxophone.
In 1942, at 19, Jacquet delivered a solo on the Hampton Orchestra's recording of "Flying Home," one of the first recorded honking tenor sax solos. The record became a hit, and the song became the highlight of live performances. Jacquet found the nightly demand exhausting. The solo was intricately woven into the arrangement and was played by all subsequent saxophonists in the band, including Arnett Cobb and Dexter Gordon, both of whom gained recognition for their renditions. It remains one of the rare jazz solos memorized and performed almost identically by everyone playing the tune. Jacquet left Hampton's band in 1943 to join Cab Calloway's Orchestra.
Jacquet appeared with Calloway's band in the 1943 Lena Horne film Stormy Weather. Early in his career, his brother Linton managed him on the chitlin circuit. Linton's daughter, Brenda Jacquet-Ross, sang in jazz venues around the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1990s and early 2000s with a group 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 and performed at the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert. In 1946, he moved to New York City and joined the Count Basie Orchestra, replacing Lester Young.
In 1952, Jacquet co-wrote "Just When We're Falling in Love" with Sir Charles Thompson and S. K. "Bob" Russell. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he continued performing, mainly in Europe, leading small groups. From 1981 until his death, he led the Illinois Jacquet Big Band.
