Jacquet Burning Hot in Massachusetts
Jacquet cuts loose with the kind of raw energy that made him a bandstand legend, no studio polish required.
Illinois Jacquet recorded Go Power! (1966) live in Massachusetts with drummer Alan Dawson, and what you hear is pure tenor saxophone combustion. Jacquet plays with that thick, blues-soaked tone of his — sometimes honking, sometimes singing through the horn — over a rhythm section that pushes hard and refuses to settle. The energy feels completely live: there's no overdubbing, no second takes smoothing away the rough edges. You get the sense of a man in his element, playing to an audience, feeding off their presence.
By 1966 Jacquet was already a veteran, known for honking tenor work and a wild stage presence that went back to the bebop era. This is not him reinventing himself or chasing trends. It's him doing what he'd always done — blowing hard, swinging fierce, sometimes pushing toward the brink of chaos and pulling back just before he loses the listener. Dawson keeps him honest on drums, locking in tight but never playing it safe. The rhythm section drives without showboating.
For anyone wanting to hear Jacquet in his power — not in a studio session polishing phrasing, but actually playing, actually commanding a room — this captures it. The live setting strips away any pretense. You're hearing a saxophonist at work, and the work is loud, direct, and uncompromising.
Who's playing
Illinois Jacquettenor saxophone
Alan Dawsondrums
