Texas Tenor: The Illinois Jacquet Story (DVD)

Label: EFOR Films, 1991
Series: Rhapsody Films
Total time: 60 minutes
Featuring Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Clark Terry, Harry Edison, Dorothy Donegan


This documentary does a creditable job of exploring the life and times of little-known jazz and R&B saxophone legend Illinois Jacquet. He has played with most of the greats, and he almost single-handedly developed a rompin' stompin' sound that has been a feature of great R&B ever since.

A virtuoso performer with masterful phrasing, he became a star in the 1940s under the tutelage of Lionel Hampton, who suggested that he change from alto to tenor sax and then gave him the opportunity to record an epochal solo in "Flying Home." In addition to past and current performance and backstage footage, many jazz and R&B greats comment on Jacquet's playing and his place in music history. Some jazz-knowledgeable reviewers have lauded it as one of the best movies ever made about jazz.


Titles:

• That Tone    
• Louisiana Blues    
• Flying Home    
• Swinging at the Savoy    
• St. Albans, New York     
• Jazz at the Philharmonic    
• Big Band     
• I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance
  
  
  

Rhapsody DVD Films Series:

• Chester Zardis - Legendary New Orleans Musicians
• Herbert Danska: Sweet Love, Bitter
• Texas Tenor: The Illinois Jacquet Story
• The Kansas City Jazz Story
• Eddie Jefferson - In Concert
• Sonny Criss / Les McCann - In Concert
• Coleman Hawkins - After Hours / Jazz Dance
• Portrait of Pee Wee Russell / Baby Laurence