He is a guitarist and composer born James Otis Wyble in
Port Arthur, Texas to a Cajun family who began playing while young and had
his own guitar when he was twelve, receiving tuition and later playing at
parties with someone who worked with his father at a local oil
refinery.He joined up with a
string band from his local area, The Sears Jubileers, and performed on
local radio.He moved to
Houston after his graduation and began to play in a band with the fiddler
Buddy Ray and sometimes performed at a Houston radio station and was
occasionally asked to do work with the staff band. He was taken on as part of Bob
Wills' Texas Playboys and with him he made many appearances in concert and
on recordings.In 1941 he was
taken into military service and spent a year or so with the US Army in a
brass band in San Antonio.On
his return to civilian life he worked in the Les Crumbaker dance band and also
got together with his friend, the guitarist Cameron Hill and played what
has been termed "the twin guitar sound".He, Cameron and Buddy Ray went to Los Angeles and played
in a club that several jazz musicians frequented as well as the bandleader
Barney Kessel, who was a teacher of his for a short time.At the same time they became
acquainted with a pianist who had worked with Bob Wills and his Texas
Playboys and through him they managed to get a chance to meet and play for
him in 1943.This immediately
got them hired and soon touring the West Coast of America and recording.Before long he was a main performer
on the hit song "Roly Poly" and many of the others that followed.He left the band in 1945 to return
to Houston to enter the Conservatory of Music there and after just one
semester returned to Los Angeles after a request to work with Spade Cooley
and also studied with George Van Eps.In 1953 he released his debut album as a leader, The Jimmy Wyble
Quintet and also did studio session with artists such as Barney
Kessel.He was taught
classical guitar by Laurindo Almeida, who he also recorded the movie score of
The Littlest Outlaw with in 1955.In 1956 he became a member of Red Norvo's band and
performed with them for the next 9 years, including at The Sands in Las
Vegas and on a tour of Australia with Frank Sinatra.He also made several recordings and
internationally toured around the same time with Benny Goodman.The 1960s came around and he moved into the field of
session music, which continued for the next decade or so, and he was also a
musician on TV programmes such as The Phyllis Diller Show and The
Flip Wilson Show.He has
performed on many movie soundtracks such as Oceans Eleven and The
Wild Bunch and was featured on film and on the soundtracks of several
with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.He also worked on television with artists such as Glen Campbell and
Jerry Reed and further movies with the Sons of the Pioneers. During several
years in the 1970s he was also heard as a member of Tony Rizzo's Five
Guitars.The albums he has
appeared on are many and a few of them include his own Diane, Jimmy
Wyble & Love Brothers, and Etudes as well as Swing,
Swing, Swing, Vols. 1-5 by Benny Goodman, Extensions by The
Manhattan Transfer, Forward Look by Red Norvo, West Coast Jazz
by Shorty Rogers, Cigareets, Whuskyand Cool, Cool Water by The Sons
of the Pioneers, Live in Australia 1959 by Frank Sinatra with the
Red Norvo Quintet and King of Lonestar Swing and Take Me Back to
Tulsa by Bob Wills.As a teacher,
his own students have included Steve Lukather and possibly Duane Eddy and
as an author/co-author he has published the books The Art of Two-Line
Improvisation, Concepts for Classical Guitar and Jazz Guitar and Jazz
Duets.
The Manhattan
Transfer Recordings
Body and Soul (Edward Heyman/Johnny
Green/Robert Sour/Frank Eyton)
Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone (Marius
Constant/Jay Graydon/Alan Paul)
