Illinois Jacquet - The Blues That's Me

with Wynton Kelly, Tiny Grimes, Buster Williams, Oliver Jackson

This exposition of the passion, swing, and heart that radiate from the soul of Illinois Jacquet brought the tenor saxophone master together with an older musician equally steeped in the blues tradition and three younger men whose rhythm section work seemed custom-made for the two veterans. Jacquet, Tiny Grimes, Wynton Kelly, Buster Williams, and Oliver Jackson demonstrated that when the common language of jazz is shared, generational differences evaporate.

In addition to offering Jacquet’s lusty tenor, this album unveiled one of the major musical surprises of the 1960s, his mastery of the bassoon, an instrument well up on the list of unlikely jazz instruments. Jacquet’s "’Round Midnight" on bassoon is one of the highlights of the recording.