Biography
Saxophonist Little Willie Jackson focused primarily on swing jazz while performing as a sideman, yet the recordings released under his leadership explored the Los Angeles fusion of jazz and jump blues that helped shape the emergence of R&B during the closing years of the 1940s. Blind from birth, Jackson collaborated with pianist Joe Liggins in the Creole Serenaders during their mid-1930s tenure in San Diego. Toward the close of that decade both musicians relocated to Los Angeles, and by the middle of the 1940s they had assembled the Honeydrippers. In 1945 the ensemble scored an R&B chart-topping success with “The Honeydripper,” a track widely viewed as an early bridge between swing-era styles and the coming rise of rhythm & blues and rock & roll, although historical credit for the hit has remained attached to Liggins. Jackson contributed occasional vocals to the Honeydrippers, including the 1946 Exclusive release “Walkin’.”
Modern Records signed the Honeydrippers without Liggins in 1947, placing Jackson in the dual role of frontman and saxophonist. Before the impending musicians’ strike took effect, he cut roughly two dozen masters for the label by year’s end. Those sessions yielded six singles issued on Modern across 1947 and 1948; like much of the company’s early catalog, the sides occupied a stylistic midpoint between swing and jump blues while incorporating a strong boogie element. Among Modern’s roster of artists working in that vein, Jackson remained more firmly rooted in jazz and farther from blues conventions, drawing much of his material from compositions that had originated in the early 1930s or before. He recorded “I Ain’t Got Nobody,” “Muddy Water,” “St. Louis Blues,” and “There’ll Be Some Changes Made”—several of which stayed unreleased for more than five decades—sometimes adopting phrasing reminiscent of Cab Calloway. Other selections, such as the instrumentals “Jackson’s Boogie” and “Watts Local,” leaned toward a contemporary, blues-inflected boogie approach. “Black and Blue,” also associated with Louis Armstrong, carries an additional layer of social resonance: reportedly commissioned for a Broadway production of the same title at the behest of gangster Dutch Schultz, the song was intended to address the dangers faced by Black Americans.
Jackson’s final solo outing, “Who Put the Lights Out,” appeared on the Personality label in the mid-1950s and featured pianist Christine Chatman. He rejoined Joe Liggins & the Honeydrippers for an album in 1962 and recorded another LP with Liggins at the end of the decade for Johnny Otis’s Spectrum imprint. His performing career extended at least through 1983, when he appeared in a Legends of the Rhythm & Blues concert in Los Angeles.
Modern Records signed the Honeydrippers without Liggins in 1947, placing Jackson in the dual role of frontman and saxophonist. Before the impending musicians’ strike took effect, he cut roughly two dozen masters for the label by year’s end. Those sessions yielded six singles issued on Modern across 1947 and 1948; like much of the company’s early catalog, the sides occupied a stylistic midpoint between swing and jump blues while incorporating a strong boogie element. Among Modern’s roster of artists working in that vein, Jackson remained more firmly rooted in jazz and farther from blues conventions, drawing much of his material from compositions that had originated in the early 1930s or before. He recorded “I Ain’t Got Nobody,” “Muddy Water,” “St. Louis Blues,” and “There’ll Be Some Changes Made”—several of which stayed unreleased for more than five decades—sometimes adopting phrasing reminiscent of Cab Calloway. Other selections, such as the instrumentals “Jackson’s Boogie” and “Watts Local,” leaned toward a contemporary, blues-inflected boogie approach. “Black and Blue,” also associated with Louis Armstrong, carries an additional layer of social resonance: reportedly commissioned for a Broadway production of the same title at the behest of gangster Dutch Schultz, the song was intended to address the dangers faced by Black Americans.
Jackson’s final solo outing, “Who Put the Lights Out,” appeared on the Personality label in the mid-1950s and featured pianist Christine Chatman. He rejoined Joe Liggins & the Honeydrippers for an album in 1962 and recorded another LP with Liggins at the end of the decade for Johnny Otis’s Spectrum imprint. His performing career extended at least through 1983, when he appeared in a Legends of the Rhythm & Blues concert in Los Angeles.