Willis 'Gator' JACKSON

 ⬇️WILLIS 'Gator' JACKSON⬇️ 

DISCOGRAPHY 1959-2002 (15CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Willis "Gator" Jackson (April 25, 1932 – October 25, 1987) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Born in Miami, Florida, Jackson joined Duke Ellington alumnus Cootie Williams's band in 1949 as a teenager, after being discovered by Eddie Vinson.

During the 1950s he participated in R&B and jazz recordings, primarily as a session musician. He also toured as leader of the backing band of singer Ruth Brown, whom he married. Jackson joined Prestige Records in 1959, making a string of jazz albums which proved to an influence on the burgeoning soul jazz movement.

During this era, Jack McDuff and Pat Martino became famous through association with Jackson. Jackson's main influences were Lester Young and Illinois Jacquet.

Jamaican ska innovator Prince Buster has cited Jackson's song "Later for the Gator" as one of the first ska songs.

Jackson died in New York one week after heart surgery, in October 1987, at the age of 55.

Eddie 'Lockjaw' DAVIS

⬇️ EDDIE 'Lockjaw' DAVIS ⬇️

(Edward Davis)

DISCOGRAPHY 1955-2012 (43CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Edward Davis (March 2, 1922 – November 3, 1986), who performed and recorded as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.

Davis played with Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder, Andy Kirk, Eddie Bonnemere, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie, as well as leading his own bands and making many recordings as a leader. He played in the swing, bop, hard bop, Latin jazz, and soul jazz genres. Some of his recordings of the 1940s also could be classified as rhythm and blues.

His 1946 band, Eddie Davis and His Beboppers, featured Fats Navarro, Al Haig, Huey Long, Gene Ramey and Denzil Best.

In the 1950s he was playing with Sonny Stitt, while from 1960 to 1962 he and fellow tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin led a quintet. From the mid-60s, Davis and Griffin also performed together as part of The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, along with other, mainly European, jazz musicians.

Davis may be heard playing on the 1973 CBS album Ella Fitzgerald at the Newport Jazz Festival Live at Carnegie Hall on the song "Young Man with a Horn".

Lou DONALDSON

⬇️ LOU DONALDSON ⬇️
DISCOGRAPHY 1952-2012 (41CD/DVD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Lou Donaldson (born November 1, 1926) is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.

His first recordings were with the Charlie Singleton Orchestra in 1950 and then with bop emissaries Milt Jackson and Thelonious Monk in 1952, and he participated in several small groups with other jazz luminaries such as trumpeter Blue Mitchell, pianist Horace Silver, and drummer Art Blakey.

In 1953, he also recorded sessions with the trumpet virtuoso Clifford Brown, and Philly Joe Jones. He was a member of Art Blakey's Quintet and appeared on some of their best regarded albums, including the two albums recorded at Birdland in February 1954 Night at Birdland.

He has recorded in the bop, hard bop, and soul jazz genres. For many years his pianist was Herman Foster.

Sam 'The Man' TAYLOR

⬇️ SAM 'The Man' TAYLOR ⬇️

DISCOGRAPHY 1957-2015 (35CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Sam Taylor (July 12, 1916 – October 5, 1990) best known as the tenor saxophonist Sam "The Man" Taylor, was an American jazz and blues player, whose honking style set the standard for tenor sax solos in both rock and roll and rhythm and blues.

Taylor attended Alabama State University, where he played with the Bama State Collegians. He worked with Scatman Crothers, Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Buddy Johnson, Louis Jordan, and Big Joe Turner. He was one of the most requested session saxophone players in New York recording studios in the 1950s.

Taylor also replaced Count Basie as the house bandleader on Alan Freed's 'Camel Rock 'n Roll Dance Party' radio series over CBS.

Taylor's saxophone solo appeared on Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll". He also played on "Money Honey", recorded by Clyde McPhatter with The Drifters in 1953, and on "Sh-Boom" by The Chords.

During the 1960s, he led a five-piece band, the Blues Chasers. In the 1970s, he frequently played and recorded in Japan.

Taylor died in 1990 in Lexington, Tennessee.

Don WILKERSON

⬇️ DON WILKERSON ⬇️
(6CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Don Wilkerson (c. 1932–18 July 1986) was an American soul jazz / R'n'B tenor saxophonist born in Moreauville, Louisiana, probably better known for his Blue Note Records recordings in the 1960s as bandleader with guitarist Grant Green. Prior to signing with the label, he worked frequently with Cannonball Adderley. Some of his earliest recording were done in the 1950s as a sideman for Amos Milburn and Ray Charles.

In Houston in the early 1970s, he played in the Sonny Franklin Big Band with Tom Archia, Arnett Cobb, and his bandmate from the Ray Charles band, Joe Bridgewater, with guest appearances by Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. Many of the band's arrangements were done by Cedric Haywood

The archetypal big-toned Texas tenor of Don Wilkerson was unfortunately not documented on record as much as the quality of his music deserved; he was an excellent, earthy soul-jazz saxophonist capable of playing blues, ballads, bop, swing, and gospel-tinged R&B. Wilkerson was born in Moreauville, LA, in 1932, and first learned the alto sax; by his teens, he had moved to Houston and was accomplished enough on tenor to play with R'n'B outfits headed by Amos Milburn and Charles Brown.

Wilkerson played on some of Ray Charles' earliest recording sessions in the mid-'50s, taking memorable solos on classics like "I Got a Woman," "This Little Girl of Mine," and "Hallelujah I Love Her So." He also led a band in Miami for a short time, and participated in numerous jam sessions with Cannonball Adderley. Adderley produced Wilkerson's first recording session, a 1960 date for Riverside titled The Texas Twister.

After another short stint with Charles, he signed with Blue Note and recorded three stellar, soulful albums over 1962-1963: Elder Don, Preach, Brother!, and Shoutin', all of which featured Grant Green on guitar. Unfortunately, none was very successful, and Wilkerson didn't record any further as a leader. He remained in Houston for most of his life and passed away on July 18, 1986.