Although he was a pioneer of the honking tenor saxophone that became a regular feature of jazz playing and a hallmark of early rock and roll, Jacquet was a skilled and melodic improviser, both on up-tempo tunes and ballads.

The song immediately became the climax for the live shows and Jacquet became exhausted from having to "bring down the house" every night.

In the earlier years of Jacquet's career, his brother Linton Jacquet managed him on the chitlin circuit[3] Linton's daughter, Brenda Jacquet-Ross, sang in jazz venues in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1990s to early 2000s, with a band called the Mondo Players.

[citation needed] In 1944, Jacquet returned to California and started a small band with his brother Russell and a young Charles Mingus.

In 1946, he moved to New York City, and joined the Count Basie orchestra,[5] replacing Lester Young.

[9][10] Jacquet died in the home he shared with his long time partner, Carol Scherick, in Queens, New York, of a heart attack on July 22, 2004.

Despite a superficial rawness, the style is heard in jazz players like Arnett Cobb, who also became known for playing "Flying Home" with Hampton, as well as Sonny Rollins, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Jimmy Forrest.

After booking his band to play at the Rice Hotel, he protested against management's rule that African Americans should enter the premises through an alley door.

Segregation had to come to an end.Jazz producer Norman Granz, who had been a social activist himself, made arrangements for the star-studded Philharmonic band to play an engagement at Houston's Music Hall on October 5, 1955.

Jacquet played saxophone, accompanying Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, and Buddy Rich.

There were no advanced sales of tickets, while Granz removed all of the "white" and "black" signs which indicated segregated facilities within the venue and hired some off-duty Houston police officers for security.

Despite Granz's precaution, five officers of the Houston Vice Squad stormed Ella Fitzgerald's dressing room with firearms drawn.

[11] In 2008, The Chapel of the Sisters in Prospect Cemetery was restored and re-dedicated as the Illinois Jacquet Performance Space on the grounds of York College in Jamaica, Queens.