THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS

Farewell to Illinois Jacquet, the last of the great big band sax players. They are re-running an NPR bio show on him down here - catch it if you can, it's worth it.

I know of four truly legendary jazz saxophone solos, and two were by Jacquet. (The others are Lester Young's final performance with Billie Holiday on "The Sound of Jazz", and Paul Gonsalves' transcendent 27 choruses at Newport with the Ellington band).

Jacquet broke into the music world in a big way in 1942, when he was only 19 years old, with his solo on Lionel Hampton's "Flying Home." It doesn't sound like much when you listen to it now, because you've heard so many jazz and rock soloes that were influenced by it. But its free, rhythmic, expressive quality was new at the time, and Jacquet made a career of getting the crowds crazy playing it.

Later on he played a wilder, screeching, honking solo for the "Jazz at the Philharmonic" series that inspired a generation of bad R&B and rock sax players.

In 1999 I picked up a live album by Wynton Marsalis and friends, covering Duke Ellington material. Great dance music. And there was Jacquet again, 57 years after "Flying Home," still blowing the sax in a big band, getting people up on their feet and dancing to the good stuff.

Saaaaa-LUTE!