Illinois Jacquet put out some great, great stuff for sure. I love listening to these guys and try to pick up on the things they do/use that in our own playing. Illinois Jacquet used lots of those 1 note riffs/licks, goes to show that solos don’t have to be complicated to sound great! Big Jay Mcneely used a lot of 1 note licks/riffs too. I was watching an interview of Big Jay on youtube (pasted it below) and he was talking about how he loved listening to players like Sonny Stitt, Coleman Hawkins, etc. I’m guessing Big Jay got his inspiration for those 1 note licks/riffs from players like Illinois Jacquet, but not sure on that, but just goes to show how even legendary Sax players like Big Jay had their own players who they loved to listen to, learned from them, etc.. Big Jay brings out lots of good points in this interview.

I remember reading something along those lines about King Curtis too. I listen to King Curtis all the time and there are songs of his that definately have an Illinois Jacquet type of style to them. I just wish I could have seen those guys live in Concert. About a year ago I spoke to an older gentlemen here whose a guitar player and we were talking about Blues/Music. I told him who the players were that I liked to listen to the most and he said he saw King Curtis live in Memphis years ago. I asked how was it and he told me that King Curtis had the best Rock and Roll/Blues sound on the Sax that he had ever heard and that he was even better to hear live v.s. a recorded session! That’s pretty amazing 🙂