Illinois Jacquet - Bottoms Up

Illinois Jacquet (1922-2004) is one of jazz's great saxophonists and his fiery tenor solo on Lionel Hampton's Flying Home in 1942 directly influenced such R&B honkers and shouters as Big Jay McNeely, Joe Houston, Rusty Bryant and Red Prysock.

Bottoms Up, the title track from a 1968 Jacquet album on Prestige, had been in the sax man's repertoire for more than two decades, making its first appearance in 1946 on an Apollo label 78. The track had been recorded in Los Angeles the previous year.

Although the jazz world was continuing to evolve around Jacquet in 1968 (avant-garde jazz was starting to have considerable influence), his own playing had changed little over the years, as you can hear in the updated version of Bottoms Up from the Prestige LP. The MP3 is actually taken from a DJ 45 single, which, since the tune is quite short, contained the full album track.

Bottoms Up



The Bottoms Up Prestige album is widely available on both CD (used copies are cheap) and as a download. Do yourself a favour: add this one to your collection.