Illinios Jacquet - The Soul Explosion

with Joe Newman, Ernie Royal, Russell Jacquet, Matthew Gee, Frank Foster, Cecil Payne, Milt Buckner, Wally Richardson, Al Lucas, Al Foster

In 1969, naming this album The Soul Explosion may have been a move designed to send it on a trip aboard the lucrative soul marketing train that was delivering heavy profits. But there was nothing deceptive about the title; Illinois Jacquet was a master of soul long before the commercial trend of the Sixties. His was not the superimposed soul that was so often manufactured in those days. It was the kind that billows up from inside and commands attention for its honesty and forthrightness. Jacquet had been distributing soul since before his celebrated debut with Lionel Hampton in 1941. And with this jumpin’ eight-piece band he reminded listeners why one of his nicknames was “The King.”