One For All

The next day Jack Heard, HPD chief, would tell the Post the officers were a bit "overzealous" in the raid and that "they could have used the manpower to more advantage elsewhere." However, he also announced he had no formal plans to investigate the incident. On October 24, 1955, Granz had the charges against himself, Fitzgerald and Henry dismissed, as they were merely onlookers (though watching a dice game under Texas law was a fineable offense). Not fully satisfied, Granz spent more than $2,000 in legal fees to get Jacquet and Gillespie cleared.

It would be a few years before Jacquet would return to Houston, but he says that delay was due to his schedule, not any resentment toward his hometown.

Illinois Jacquet still takes the sax to otherworldly levels.

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• Norman Granz
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Whatever the debacle, the JATP concert did open the door to integrated Houston audiences. The events of that night have taken on legendary proportions among older local jazz musicians. The consensus is that the show was the first major concert in Houston with a nonsegregated audience. After that performance Houston became more relaxed toward integrated audiences, and when JATP returned in 1956 (sans Jacquet), it played to a mixed audience without police interference or racial strife.

"Houston is a hell of a city," Jacquet says. "It's always been a hell of a city, but it had its habits, and segregation was one of those bad habits. I'm proud of what I did because I had no choice. If you're not going to do anything about it, then you don't care about where you came from. I wanted to do if for the younger people that were coming up. Whatever I could do to improve our standards of life, I thought that was the appropriate thing to do, and it worked."

Indeed it did.

Da Camera of Houston presents the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, which performs Friday, November 19, at 8 p.m. at Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center. For ticket information, call Da Camera of Houston at 1(800)23-DACAM.