Listening to Prestige 449: Willis Jackson

It's later for the Gator, as Willis Jackson finds himself in a romantic, sentimental mood for this outing,  He's working in a quartet setting, giving him space to express this side of himself, and he does it expertly and with feeling.

His pensive mood apparently extended to meditation on religious matters, because he included two spirituals with the set, "Motherless Child" and "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen." a later compilation of these and some other ballads, Gentle Gator, omits the spirituals. And gentle though the mood may have been, it was apparently lusty enough that selection, "Nancy (With the Laughing Face"), the tribute to Frank Sinatra's first wife written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Phil Silvers, is also include on a Prestige compilation album, Lusty Moods, the lust apparently inspired by the mention of a woman's name, since that's the common thread in all the song titles. And one of the selections,  was perhaps not moody enough, because it was saved for a Prestige LP, Really Groovin'.

Mickey Roker was raised in Philadelphia, where he was mentored by Philly Joe Jones and another Philly drummer. As he related it to Ethan Iverson in a 2011 interview:

we used to have jam sessions right here in this house [the family home in Philadelphia, where he still lived in 2011].  With a piano over there.  My uncle bought a piano.  The drums would be set up right here and the bass would be over there.  Every Sunday we would have jam sessions with cats like McCoy, Kenny Barron, Arthur Harper, Reggie Workman.  An alto player named “C” Sharpe. Odean Pope used to come. Philadelphia cats, you know.  The drummer that inspired me the most was Eddie Campbell.  Boy, that cat could play, man.  He could take an idea and just wring it out. And he would be smiling all of the time.

Roker's first New York recording was with Gigi Gryce for Prestige, three in all. He was at the

beginning of a career that would find him one of the most sought-after drummers on the scene, recording most frequently for Blue Note.

Ethan Edwards produced. The Moodsville album was called In My Solitude.