Willis 'Gator Tail' Jackson live on Ed Sullivan

Rare footage of the tenor sax great Willis 'Gator Tail' Jackson

[jimcoleman]

A little plug at the end from Ed for Alan Freed's 1956 Christmas Show at the Brooklyn Paramount . I was there

[nikolaigalen]

quite amazing! 1956! American TV! wow!

[FrankFox]

I believe that was Tommy Smalls Dr Jive who introduced him

[spib]

Rock! rock! rock! rock'n'roll!, terrific!!

[dm]

Did a piece of Jackson's horn 🎷 fly off as he ran off the stage?

[Kaceyweb]

With a name like “Gator Tail Jackson” I knew this shxt would be hilarious 🎷

[saxfish]

< He graduated from Bark-Lee !¡!>

[jonniewadd]

Make ya wonder where Peter Townsend of "The Who" got his stage presence!! ;)

[stevewhatever]

Fantastic but do we have a title of the tune?

[zootMKVI]

'uck me - takin' no prisoners there!

[kafenwar]

The birth of punk rock, NOT rock-and-roll.

[jonbecker]

I was wondering what Jackson was doing on the Sullivan show. The answer: playing the fool. (Willis Jackson was a serious musician, most of the time. Yet what he was performing here is sheer silliness.)