Wyble, Jimmy (25th January 1922-16 January 2010)

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.

In January 2010 he passed away from heart failure at his home in Altadena, California. He was 87 years old.

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)

Sources:

Wyble, Jimmy (25th January 1922-16 January 2010)

Navigate Feenotes

Search Feenotes

Please donate to keep the site alive