Illinois Jacquet - Swing's The Thing (1956) [2012 SACD+ DSD64]

Illinois Jacquet’s 1956 album Swing’s The Thing features Roy Eldridge, Jimmy Jones, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Jo Jones. Throughout his career, Jacquet, who was born of a Sioux mother and a Creole father, played marvelous swing music. He was famed for his imaginative improvisations and gave brilliant shows with the Count Basie orchestra and at a number of Jazz At The Philharmonic concerts. The man from Louisiana performed swing at every live appearance – no wonder, then, that Norman Granz chose this theme as the title of the present recording, which was set down in October 1956. This time, however, Jimmy Jones on the piano was not responsible for providing the background for a vocal soloist; rather he delivers airy chords for the swinging tenor sax. That all musicians are superb interpreters of ballads is testified to in “Harlem Nocturne,” where Illinois Jacquet’s sound can best be described as “soulful.”

Tracks:

01. Las Vegas Blues
02. Harlem Nocturne
03. Can’t We Be Friends
04. Achtung
05. Have You Met Miss Jones
06. Lullaby of the Leaves

Personnel:

Illinois Jacquet, tenor saxophone
Ray Brown, bass
Roy Eldridge, trumpet
Herb Ellis, guitar
Jimmy Jones, piano
Jo Jones, drums