Illinois Jacquet

Swing's the Thing [Mono] Illinois Jacquet High quality edition

With an 80-second solo on Lionel Hampton's 'Flying Home', tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet inspired a generation of young saxophonists. With practically just one song in 1942, at the tender age of 19, he defined a formative style. Wherever he played, the man from Louisiana was a great swing player, a gifted improviser and a brilliant showman. No wonder, since music was part of Jean-Baptiste 'Illinois' Jacquet's life from an early age: at the age of three, he began learning to tap dance in his father's big band, and later played drums and saxophone. Count Basie hired him in 1946 to play in his band, with which he recorded numerous hits, and he became the figurehead of the 'Jazz at the Philharmonic' concert series in the 1950s.

On Swing's The Thing, Jacquet is joined by trumpeter Roy Eldridge, pianist Jimmy Jones, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Jo Jones. The title of the album, recorded in 1956 in mostly mono, was not chosen by accident by producer Norman Granz. Jimmy Jones on piano provides delicate chords for an irresistibly swinging tenor saxophone. The assembled musicians confirm their excellence as balladeers with the soulful 'Harlem Nocturne'.

This recording is part of a series of 25 Verve reissues on Analogue Productions. The original Analogue tapes are re-edited by senior mastering engineer George Marino at Sterling Sound in New York. Many of the tapes have been sent to other labels as copies for decades, but Sterling Sound works so closely with Universal Music, the owners of the Verve label, that they occasionally make an exception. The hybrid SACDs sound excellent and clearly outshine earlier digitisations.

We recommend the use of "L'Art du Son" CD/DVD conditioner for even more sonic improvement.