Willis "Gator" Jackson born 25 April 1932

Jackson was born in 1932 Miami. He began studying the piano at age ten, then added the clarinet, and made his professional debut at age fourteen on the tenor saxophone with local bands. Jackson studied theory and harmony at Florida A & M University. He was still a teenager when he gained notice playing with Cootie Williams’ band starting in 1948. Williams, one of the more acclaimed trumpet players in jazz, was attempting to adapt to a changing musical landscape which now included rock ‘n’ roll and made a legitimate effort to do so, largely using Jackson’s power on sax to accomplish that feat.

It was the 1949 single “Gator Tail” featuring Jackson’s blowing which gave him the nickname he’d carry with him forever more, though it was frequently shortened to “Gator” and in 1950 he signed his first contract under his own name for Apollo Records where he cut sides with such luminous sidemen as organist Bill Doggett and drummer Panama Francis, drawing a good deal of acclaim without scoring a hit. He invented the Jackson's Gator Horn, which is a long saxophone with a ball-shaped bell with small opening whose sound is a cross between soprano and alto saxophone and French horn and clarinet. 

Like most younger sax players Jackson was perfectly willing to honk and put on a show, a fierce competitor in the frequent on-stage “battles” that were a highlight of the chitlin’ circuit of the day, wherein two musicians would go toe-to-toe and let the crowd decide the winner. Even at this stage of his career he took a backseat to no one, even brashly claiming to have bested his idol, Illinois Jacquet, in a highly publicized bout. 

By the end of 1950 he’d met rising Atlantic star Ruth Brown, playing behind her – along with Cootie Williams, for whom he was still playing – and he and Ruth quickly became an item. During an era when there was little mainstream acknowledgement of the personal lives of black stars from stage, screen or music, Brown and Jackson were an exception, at least in music circles, traveling together on long tours and as rumours of their romance spread the trade papers played them up. 

The partnership fizzled when Brown discovered he was already married but the two later reconciled and Jackson released the bulk of his 1950’s output for Atlantic, including backing Brown on some of her biggest records. In 1955 when a fling between Brown and Drifters lead singer Clyde McPhatter resulted in her pregnancy, Jackson stood in as the father, despite initial protest, and treated the son, Ronald, as his own. The Brown-Jackson domestic union also ended quickly, but the rumours of them being married – which they were not – still persist today. 

As for Jackson’s professional life, he was a already pursuing a more diverse sound on record than most rock ‘n’ roll tenor sax maniacs, experimenting with organs and far-flung material in addition to his pure rock output. In addition he remained with Williams until the mid-1950’s, but after he and Brown ended their attempts at a relationship and with his interest in rock diminishing he moved on to Prestige Records in 1958 beginning a long relationship with the noted jazz label, releasing countless albums throughout the next decade which were very well received and elevated his stature well above what it had been as merely a modestly publicized sideman in rock. 

In the 1970’s he continued his eclectic output, including a lauded album called Bar Wars but by then the interest in jazz, and saxophone in any style for that matter, were on the wane and in the 1980’s his health began to fail him, at one point even having to sell his horn when he came upon hard times. 

However this happened to coincide with the beginning of the career revival of his old flame Ruth Brown while the two, unbeknownst to one another, had been just living blocks apart in New York. When Ruth saw Gator walking along the street one day, thin and frail, she barely recognized him but the two instantly reconnected over shared memories, spending an hour or two together a few times a week sitting and talking outside on stoops or park benches as he was on his way to or from dialysis treatment.

 Soon after he had a leg removed and it was only a short time later that he had heart surgery. He passed away a week later on October 25, 1987, at the age of 55. 

Though Jackson’s solo career had a number of excellent rock singles in addition to being a vital presence on stage and in the studio behind Brown and others for Atlantic during the 1950’s, that period forms just one aspect of his enormous legacy, not the biggest part maybe but surely the most vibrant part in a colourful life. 

(Edited from Spontaneous Lunacy, This Is My Story, The Willis Jackson Papers & Wikipedia)