Jacquet Brings Jazz to Life

Jazz for Life

Phillips Brooks House/Oxfam America

Sanders Theater--tonight

Renowned saxophonist, Jean Baptiste "Illinois" Jacquet stands out among the artists to perform in the annual Phillips Brooks House-sponsored Jazz for Life concert tonight at Sanders Theater.

A performance to raise funds for Oxfam America, an organization which devotes its efforts to disaster relief and to raising America's awareness of the homeless and hunger problems, tonight's show will highlight the talents of the Harvard Jazz Band, the Veritones and the Radcliffe Pitches. Jacquet will serve as the master of ceremonies in addition to giving a performance.

Director of the Harvard Jazz Band Tom Everett describes Jacquet as "...one of the great balladeers of the swing style. He represents one of the major stylists of the elements of be-bop, the new music of the 40's while retaining his own style and personality, which makes him a very exciting performer."

"His sound concept on the saxophone is an extension of Coleman Hawkins and can be described as robust and virile," Everett says.

Jacquet's performance tonight may include cuts from his newest album "Jacquet's Got It," which was recently nominated for a Grammy. "It's a hard swinging band that can be danced to or listened to. This album is stamped with his enthusiasm for music," Everett says.

Douglas A. Townsend '89, an organizer of the event, says, "It [the concert] shows the concern that Harvard students have for this cause but also the concern that Harvard students have about jazz. We don't have a lot of forums for jazz and this event provides the opportunity for talented musicians to get together and play what they love to play."

Townsend says that jazz lends itself very easily to working for public service organizations and raising social consciousness.

"Jazz has always been associated with Black consciousness," Townsend says. "Jazz was one way to express their problems with society. One of the reasons that musicians get involved with jazz is because it [jazz] goes beyond the music, it has often had social implications."

Social issues including concern for the homeless and the hungry has drawn well-known personalities including author Alice Walker and jazz musician Don Braden '85 to serve as masters of ceremonies for the Jazz for Life concert since the event's inception six years ago.

The concert tonight is distinguished by the fact that it will mark a special sort of homecoming for Jacquet because it is here that he found the inspiration to start the big band which plays on "Jacquet's Got It". Through the efforts of the Harvard Jazz Band and the Office for the Arts, Jacquet appeared as a part of the the Learning From Performers series in 1982.

Jazz percussionist Joyce Kouffman brought Jacquet here again in 1983 and 1984 as an Artist-in-Residence. Jacquet performed with the Harvard Jazz Band in 1987 at the band's 15th reunion concert.

"Illinois Jacquet attributes his experience at Harvard of working with the student jazz musicians for inspiring him to convert a long nurtured hope of forming his own big band into a reality," says an Offce of the Arts at Harvard-Radcliffe press release.

Jacquet decided to form his band because he was inspired by the enthusiasm and eagerness of members of the jazz band at Harvard. "The decision to form his band was made on the morning of a concert crowning his residency here at Harvard. As he was walking along the Charles, [Jacquet said he was] swept up in the `enthusiasm the young musicians demonstrated, [he] couldn't help being pleased by their eagerness,'" says an Office of the Arts release.

Cathy McCormick, acting director of the Office for the Arts, says that at the reunion concert Jacquet was electrifying as he played to a sold-out Sanders Theater. "He brought down the house with a rendition of the theme song "Flying Home," Mc Cormick says.