Willis 'Gator Tail' Jackson, R&B tenor sax star, died on 25th October 1987
Willis Jackson was born in Miami, Florida, on April 25th 1932, and as a youngster learning the tenor saxophone was a fan of the music of Lester Young and Illinois Jacquet during the early ‘40s. He played locally for a while and was discovered during the late ‘40s by the great alto saxophonist Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, then with the Cootie Williams Band (Williams himself having established his reputation with Duke Ellington). Jackson joined Willaims’ band in 1948 when still in his teens, and earned his nickname for the honking solos he played on Williams’ hit from that year “Gator Tail” for which Jackson shared the composing credit with his boss. He continued with Williams on and off until 1955, but in 1950 he also started making records with his own band. He married Ruth Brown in the early ‘50s, and not surprisingly featured on many of her records during their eight-year marriage. Although he never had hits under his own name, his distinctive sax sound and solos feature on a large number of successful R&B jukebox hits from the 50s. In 1959 he joined Prestige records and over the next 5 years made a string of jazz albums which influenced the developing crossover soul/jazz/funk market, and helped him create a long-term career as a club attraction, and he continued working through the ‘70s and ‘80s, especially with organ-based groups. He died in 1987 aged just 55. Acrobat has an album of his work from the 40s and 50s on catalogue – for details click here. 
