Flying Home

"Flying Home" is a 32 bar AABA jazz composition most often associated with Lionel Hampton. The song was reportedly developed around a tune Hampton whistled as he nervously waited for his first flight on an aircraft^[1]. It was first recorded by the Benny Goodman Sextet in 1939 featuring solos by Hampton and Charlie Christian.

Several other groups subsequently recorded the tune, however the most famous version is a lively 1942 recording by Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra, featuring a tenor sax solo by Illinois Jacquet

Illinois Jacquet solo

In 1942, at age 19, Jacquet soloed on the Hampton Orchestra's version, one of the very first times a honking tenor sax was heard on record. The record became a hit. It was a jazz classic, as well as what can be considered one of the first rock and roll records. The song immediately became the climax for the live shows and Jacquet became exhausted from having to "bring down the house" every night. The solo was built to weave in and out of the arrangement and continued to be played by every saxophone player who followed Jacquet in the band, notably Arnett Cobb and Dexter Gordon, who achieved almost as much fame as Jacquet in playing it.

It is one of the very few jazz solos to have been memorized and played very much the same way by everyone who played the song. The solo helped influence and define the honking and wailing style of saxophone playing that became a feature of early Rhythm and Blues music.

Recognition

Flying Home is mentioned in the Autobiography of Malcolm X^[2] and in 1996 it won a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

Appearances in film^[3]

• The Atomic Cafe
• Memphis Belle
• A League of Their Own
• Malcolm X (film)
• The Hudsucker Proxy
• Mona Lisa Smile

Web sources

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