Willie E. Jackson Jr. (September 9, 1912 – February 13, 2001), known as Little Willie Jackson, was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

, bandleader and occasional vocalist.

Life and career

Jackson was born in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. He was blind, and took up the saxophone and

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

. By the mid 1930s he was based in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, where he played with pianist

Joe Liggins Joseph Christopher Liggins, Jr. (born Theodro Elliott; July 9, 1916 – July 26, 1987) was an American R&B, jazz and blues pianist and vocalist who led Joe Liggins and his Honeydrippers in the 1940s and 1950s. His band appeared often on the ''B ...

in the Creole Serenaders. He and Liggins then moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, and in the early 1940s they formed the Honeydrippers, a band that took its name from the song "The Honeydripper", which became a number one R&B hit in 1945. Jackson was credited with both

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

and

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

on the recording. Jackson also occasionally sang with the Honeydrippers, as on the 1946 single "Walkin'".Biography by Richie Unterberger, Jackson recorded several tracks as bandleader with the Honeydrippers, for

Modern Records Modern Records (Modern Music Records before 1947) was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and John Lee ...

in 1947, when the company needed to record material to issue during the 1948

American Federation of Musicians The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a 501(c)(5) labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in New York City, ...

recording ban. According to critic

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...

, they "straddled the line between the swing and jump blues eras, with a hefty dose of boogie... ut Jackson was closer to jazz (and further removed from blues) than most..." Several of his recordings were versions of jazz songs first recorded in the 1920s or earlier, such as "

I Ain't Got Nobody "I Ain't Got Nobody" (sometimes referred to as "I'm So Sad and Lonely" or "I Ain't Got Nobody Much") is a popular song copyrighted in 1915. Roger A. Graham (1885–1938) wrote the lyrics, Spencer Williams composed it, and Roger Graham Music Publi ...

," and "

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

," often in a style similar to

Cab Calloway Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist ...

. Jackson continued to perform with Liggins and to record occasionally in the 1950s and 1960s, though the band's style became outmoded with the advent of rock and roll. His final recordings were in 1969, with Liggins on tracks recorded for

Johnny Otis Johnny Otis (born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes; December 28, 1921 – January 17, 2012) was an American singer, musician, composer, bandleader, record producer, and talent scout. He was a seminal influence on American R&B and rock and roll. He ...

' Blues Spectrum label. In 1983, Jackson appeared with Liggins at a "Legends of Rhythm & Blues" show recorded for TV in Los Angeles.Ted Carroll, "Little Willie Jackson: 'Jazz Me Blues'", ''Ace Records''
Retrieved 3 December 2016 A compilation of Jackson's recordings for Modern was issued by Ace Records in 2000. He died in Los Angeles in 2001.

References

External links

Little Willie Jackson at Discogs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Little Willie 1912 births 2001 deaths American male saxophonists American rhythm and blues musicians Jump blues musicians 20th-century American saxophonists 20th-century American male musicians