Texas Tenor: The Illinois Jacquet Story

This isn't a film about a singer from the Lone Star state: "Texas Tenor" is a style of playing the saxophone designed to bring out its big sound and biggest volume.This documentary does a creditable job of exploring the life and times of little-known jazz and R&B saxophone legend Illinois Jacquet. He has played with most of the greats, and he almost single-handedly developed a rompin' stompin' sound that has been a feature of great R&B ever since. A virtuoso performer with masterful phrasing, he became a star in the 1940s under the tutelage of Lionel Hampton, who suggested that he change from alto to tenor sax and then gave him the opportunity to record an epochal solo in "Flying Home." In addition to past and current performance and backstage footage, many jazz and R&B greats comment on Jacquet's playing and his place in music history. Some jazz-knowledgeable reviewers were disappointed by this documentary, while others lauded it as one of the best movies ever made about jazz.