Born on October 31, 1922, in Broussard, Louisiana, Jean Baptiste Illinois Jacquet, at the age of 19 on the very first recording of his career, spawned an entirely new style and sound for the tenor saxophone. His classic solo on “Flying Home” recorded with the Lionel Hampton Band at Decca Records in New York City, on May 26, 1942, catapulted Jacquet to international fame and the solo became more famous than the song itself. All saxophonists learned to play Jacquet’s solo, every band recorded it, and people all over the world were humming this most famous solo in jazz history.
Flying Home - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2ou_Rylr90
Two years later, on July 2, 1944, while improvising with Nat King Cole on piano and Les Paul on guitar for a benefit concert at the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, Jacquet began to play a range of notes not regularly heard on the tenor saxophone. With an innovational use of harmonics in a creative impulse, Jacquet expanded the upper register of the tenor saxophone by two and a half octaves.
The Juilliard School of Music awarded Illinois Jacquet an Honorary Doctorate of Music degree on May 21, 2004. As he told President Polisi, “This is the happiest day of my life.” The Illinois Jacquet Scholarship in Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School has been established to honor his memory. The foundation is now looking to expand this scholarship program, and they need your support in this endeavor.
This event is a collaboration with Networking For Change, Aquarian Media Group, Two Gals Event Planning, Bonfire Grill and Bar and the Illinois Jacquet Foundation. Live Music provided by ZUZA and by Mr. Jeremy Lappitt.
Please join us for this happy hour event! For more information go to:
http://www.facebook.com/2GalsEvents#!/events/266695970033764/
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