Illinois Jacquet - Loot to Boot

Give the Blues a Boot!

I've owned the CD, Loot To Boot by Illinois Jacquet for a couple of years, having purchased an earlier version on cassette. This version, is a bargain at under $8 for 57 minutes of great music.

Illinois Jacquet has had a long and successful career. Breaking in with Lionel Hampton's band in the 40's, he's carved out a nice career in jazz and R&B as a tenor player with a big, gruff, "Texas" sound.

Joining him on 5 of the tracks are Jimmy McGriff on organ, Buddy Rich on drums and B. Cranshaw on bass and George Freeman on guitar. Kenny Barron plays on some of these on electric piano. The final 3 cuts are seemingly organ/sax/drum trios with Illinois, Wild Bill Davis on organ and an uncredited drummer.

Most of the cuts are medium tempo and are blues or at leased blues-based originals, although the standards, Soft Winds, Sweet Georgia Brown and It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing are included.

Sweet Georgia Brown is the clear highlight of this CD. Jacquet opens with a tremendous stop time (i. e. nobody else playing but him) opening chorus that's much more improvisation than song melody, at a brisk tempo, then follows it with additional great choruses. It Don't Mean A Thing is second, as Jacquet and the Davis share hard-charging, swinging solos. Soft Winds is also very good. His big sound is evident throughout this CD. Before this CD, I was aware of his stature as a well-respected jazzman. I wasn't really aware how his sound had developed since the 40s into a blues-based, more powerful sound. Soundwise, he's clearly out of the gruff, breathy Coleman Hawkins school, but he's added tonal elements and ideas from R&B work. I also wasn't aware of his fluid technique. On balance, this is great tenor playing, even with some repetition in his solo ideas, due mostly to the similarity of the pieces.

The players on the first 5 cuts, except for Freeman, play competently for the most part, although only Jacquet and McGriff sound consistently inspired. It sounds like guitarist Freeman, in his solos and the comping, was having an off-day. I expected better from a player of his caliber. Cranshaw sound also is lacking. It's clearly an electric bass and it sounds that way. I don't know the technical explanation, but it sounds like there isn't enough decay in the notes. They run into each other and just don't sound like good jazz bass. It can be done - I play with a player who is electric only, but he gets a tremendous, jazz bass sound.

The last 3 cuts are quite good, in part because there are not a lot of other players cluttering the solos. Jacquet and Davis are on top of their game.

The All Music Guide thinks that this was likely recorded between 1966 and 1970. Sonny Lester is the producer. He's put a lot of low-cost cassettes out on his own label, LRC, and has gotten producer credit on several CDs, including, oddly enough, a Jimmy McGriff CD that includes some of the first 5 cuts.

This gets 4 stars, as great straight-ahead playing by a great player. Having it available at a bargain price is a bonus! January 1, 2003

Happiness!

Yes, Jacquet is it! Illinois is one of the greatest exponents of jazz, this heroic music. To me this is the output of a strong, happy and uncomplicated man who enjoys his life and his music. The setting of this disc is very much "down home" with Jimmy McGriff's roaring Hammond B-3. The late Joe Henderson once remarked about that instrument that "it's hard to compete with all that juice", but to Jacquet this is obvously no probem - he just seems to thrive on it! Purists may prefer his "Bottoms Up" or "The King!" albums (I myself did for quite a while), but heavens, how does this one groove! It seems to get better every tine I listen to it! Just Jacquet's a cappella statement of the "Sweet Georgia Brown" theme is worth the investment. It is a mystery to me that I'm the first person to review this album. Hurry and buy it before it is out of print! August 29, 2001

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