Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
Changing of the Guard at Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
On October 23, Ted Nash – having toured the world playing alto, soprano and tenor saxophone, clarinet and bass…
Illinois Jacquet, the tenor saxophonist who is best known for his solo on Lionel Hampton’s “Flying Home,” died Thursday at his New York City home. He was 81.
Jacquet wrote his signature on jazz immortality in 1942 when, as a 19-year-old member of Lionel Hampton’s big band, he a took an incredible solo on Hampton’s “Flying Home.” He virtually built a career on that solo, which he claims came from divine inspiration, which ranks as one of the best improvisational performances in the 20th century.
Born in Boussard, La., on Oct. 31, 1922, Jacquet grow up in Houston, where he played in a band with his older brother, Russell, and worked in several bands around town before moving to Los Angeles in 1941. In L.A., he joined Hampton’s big band. His raw-boned tenor sound combined r&b bravado and jazz sophistication. He performed in the Jazz At The Philahramoic series, appeared in the jazz documentary, Jammin’ The Blues and in 1945 formed his own band. From the ‘50s to the present, Jacquet has recorded for many labels including Savoy, RCA, Mercury, Epic and Atlantic.
Into the ‘90s, Jacquet led one of the swingingest big bands on the scene still performing with the intensity that marked his ascendancy more than 50 ago.
As Ted Nash, left, departs the alto saxophone chair for LCJO, Alexa Tarantino steps in as the band’s first female full-time member.
Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
On October 23, Ted Nash – having toured the world playing alto, soprano and tenor saxophone, clarinet and bass…
Larry Appelbaum with Wayne Shorter in 2012.
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“This is one of the great gifts that Coltrane gave us — he gave us a key to the cosmos in this recording,” says John McLaughlin.
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“You’ve got to trust that inner child, keep exploring, even though people think it’s wrong,” says Fortner.
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Every week at the Village Vanguard fosters its own sound. No one really knows how the music might evolve by Sunday, but…
