Dr Willis | fr

Jaik Willis lives in Chicago. Jaik Willis is f*cking brilliant. "Jaik is a hardcore troubador somewhere inbetween Steve Earle and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He has wandered around the USA like a modern minstrel, surfing sofas, car camping, and paying dues to sing the blues. It is a high energy solo show featuring Jaik's horn-like voice darting around a blistering broken-string approach to his acoustic flying V guitar, with original songs that are accessible, and message driven" - (Chicago Jams 2005) A nationally touring performer based in the Chicago area, Jaik has shared bills with artists such as the Drovers,...

The Willis Brothers were a country music ensemble from Oklahoma, consisting of several brothers. Three of the Willis brothers (James, Charles, and Joe) played together as teenagers from the early 1930s under the name Oklahoma Wranglers. They were regulars on Shawnee, Oklahoma station KGEF through the decade, but in 1939, Joe married and left the group. John (Vic) joined, and soon after the group moved to Kansas City, where they appeared on the Brush Street Follies through 1942. All three members fought in World War II separately, preventing them from continuing as a group until war's end, but in 1946...

Ralph Willis (1910 – June 11, 1957) was an American Piedmont and country blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. Some of his Savoy records were released under pseudonyms, such as Alabama Slim, Washboard Pete and Sleepy Joe. Biography Willis was born near Birmingham, Alabama. In the late 1930s, Willis moved to North Carolina and started to play along with musicians who were familiar with Blind Boy Fuller. Willis recorded his debut material in 1944, and continued until 1953, issuing fifty tracks via several record labels including Savoy, Signature, 20th Century, Abbey, Jubilee, Prestige, Par, and King Records. Similar to Gabriel Brown,...

Willis "Gator" Jackson (April 25, 1932 – October 25, 1987) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues 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 Jackson 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 that proved to an influence on the burgeoning soul jazz movement. During this era,...