Willis Jackson Quintet - Please Mr. Jackson (1959) [vinyl]

Willis "Gator" Jackson originally made a strong impression as a honking R&B player, first with the Cootie Williams Orchestra, then with his own popular bands. In 1959, starting with this Prestige set, Jackson made his mark on soul-jazz. Teamed with the up-and-coming organist Jack McDuff, guitarist Bill Jennings, bassist Tommy Potter and drummer Alvin Johnson, Gator is heard modifying his style a little (gone are most of the screams) in favor of swinging. He performs four group originals, "Come Back to Sorrento," and "Memories of You" with soulful feeling. ~ by Scott Yanow, AMG.

Prestige Records, PR 7162, 1959

Prestige/OJC Records, OJC-321, 1988

Recorded 25th May, 1959 at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey

Personnel:

Willis "Gator" Jackson - Tenor Saxophone

Brother Jack McDuff - Organ

"Wild" Bill Jennings - Guitar

Tommy Potter - Bass

Alvin Johnson - Drums

Tracks:

A1. Cool Grits {Bill Jennings, Jack McDuff, Willis Jackson} (8:33)

A2. Come Back To Sorrento {Ernesto De Curtis} (4:30)

A3. Dinky's Mood {Jack McDuff, Willis Jackson} (3:57)

B1. Please Mr. Jackson {Bill Jennings, Jack McDuff, Willis Jackson} (5:45)

B2. 633 Knocks {Bill Doggett, Bill Jennings} (5:20)

B3. Memories Of You {Andy Razaf, Eubie Blake} (6:06)

Total Time: 35:11

Credits:
Supervisor, Cover Photo - Esmond Edwards

Recording Engineer - Rudy van Gelder

Liner Notes - Jack Walker

With a deliberate note of the coolest of funk, MR. WILLIS JACKSON seems determined at the outset of this album to dispense with the gyrating, honking, disrobing, screaming caricature of an earlier - far less mature - Willis. It is, to be sure, an understandable caricature, for Willis Jackson in the past, has been one of the gyratingest, honkingest, screamingest, disrobingest of saxophonists. Indeed, Willis Jackson came along in an era when you had to "cut" Illinois Jacquet to "make it" and Willis Jackson was a determined young man.

The MR. JACKSON here in this album "PLEASE ...” is a far more mature musician and he's out to prove it. The theatrics of his youth - a perhaps necessary window - dressing for his then budding talent - are gone ... The honking and screaming - exciting to a generation gone - have given way to solid sounds. And Willis Jackson, the "Gator" of yesterday emerges as a worthy musician in this era of modern sounds. ~ excerpts by Jack Walker.