Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. 2.2 lin. ft.

Summary

1. The Willis Jackson Papers consist principally of holograph musical compositions, mainly instrumental parts, composed and arranged by Jackson and others.

Donor/Sponsor

1. Schomburg NEH Automated Access to Special Collections Project.

Subject

1. Jackson, Willis
2. Jazz
3. Jazz musicians -- United States
4. Popular music -- United States
5. African American musicians

Genre/Form

1. Musical scores.

Call number

1. Sc MG 332

Language

1. English

Note

1. Photographs transferred to Photographs and Prints Division.
2. Phonograph records transferred to Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.

Source (note)

1. Watson, James L.

Biography (note)

1. Willis "Gator Tail" Jackson, composer, arranger and saxophonist, was born in 1932 in Miami, Florida.

Processing action (note)

1. Accessioned
2. Cataloged

Author

1. Jackson, Willis.

Title

1. Willis Jackson Papers, 1955-1984.

Biography

1. Willis "Gator Tail" Jackson, composer, arranger and saxophonist, was born in 1932 in Miami, Florida. 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, and later worked and toured with Cootie Williams, Dinah Washington and Jackie Wilson, among others. He formed various groups including the Willis Jackson Organ Quartet and the Willis Jackson Orchestra and utilized a rhythm and blues sound as well as jazz. His invention, the Jackson's Gator Horn, is a saxophone used for ballads whose sound is a cross "between soprano and alto [saxophone] and French horn and clarinet." He died in 1987.

Connect to:

1. Finding Aid

Research call number

1. Sc MG 332