Jimmy Wyble

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Jimmy Wyble
Birth name James Otis Wyble
Born January 25, 1922
Port Arthur, Texas
Died January 16, 2010
Los Angeles, California
Genres Jazz, Western swing
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Guitar
Years active 1940s2010
Associated acts Bob Wills, Benny Goodman
James Otis Wyble (January 25, 1922 January 16, 2010) was an American guitarist
noted for his contributions to jazz and Western swing.

Contents [hide]
1 Career
2 Discography
2.1 As leader
2.2 As sideman
3 References
4 External links
Career[edit]
A native of Port Arthur, Texas, Wyble worked in his early years for a radio station
in Houston. He and guitarist Cameron Hill played Western swing in a band led by
Burt "Foreman" Phillips. The sound of two guitars attracted Bob Wills, another fan
of Western swing, and he hired both men for his band, the Texas Playboys.[1][2][3]

Wyble's music career was interrupted by World War II. He served in the Army from
1942 to 1946, and he returned to music after he came home. Although he continued to
play in Western swing bands, his interest in jazz surfaced on his debut album, The
Jimmy Wyble Quintet (1953). Soon after, he worked with Barney Kessel and Benny
Goodman, and played with Red Norvo for eight years, including on a tour of
Australia accompanying Frank Sinatra.[1][2][3]

Wyble took a job as a studio musician in Los Angeles during the 1960s, working as a
guitarist for movies and television. Wyble played guitar on movie soundtracks,
including The Wild Bunch, Ocean's Eleven, Everything You Always Wanted to Know
About Sex and Kings Go Forth, and played on TV shows such as The Flip Wilson Show
and Kraft Music Hall. On the side, he took classical guitar lessons from Laurindo
Almeida, then taught guitar to other students, among them Larry Koonse,[1] Howard
Roberts, and Steve Lukather.[2]

In the 1970s he developed a two-line contrapuntal approach to guitar and composed

numerous etudes in this style. Many of these pieces were published in
Classical/Country (Howard Roberts-Playback, 1973), The Art of Two-Line
Improvisation (PMP, 1979), and Concepts for the Classical and Jazz Guitar (Mel Bay,
2000).

During the 1980s, he left the music business to take care of his ailing wife. He
returned to performing in 2005. Larry Koonse, his former student, issued the album
What's in the Box (2007) with compositions by Wyble based on his book of etudes.
Wyble was a teacher and performer until his death in 2010.[1]
Discography[edit]
As leader[edit]
The Jimmy Wyble Quintet (1957)
Jimmy Wyble & Love Brothers (1977)
Diane (2003)
As sideman[edit]
With Red Norvo

1957 The Forward Look

1962 The Red Norvo Quintet
With Benny Goodman

1959 In Stockholm 1959

1959 The Sound of Music
1960 Swing, Swing, Swing
With others

1958 I'll Sail My Ship Alone, Moon Mullican

1979 Extensions, The Manhattan Transfer
1988 Cool It Baby, The Treniers
1988 Hey Sister Lucy, The Treniers
1997 Live in Australia 1959, Frank Sinatra
2003 King of Lone Star Swing, Bob Wills
2004 Art of Tony Rizzi, Tony Rizzi
2005 West Coast Jazz, Shorty Rogers[4]
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b c d Yanow, Scott (2013). The great jazz guitarists : the ultimate
guide. San Francisco: Backbeat. pp. 207208. ISBN 978-1-61713-023-6.
^ Jump up to: a b c Chadbourne, Eugene. "Jimmy Wyble". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 April
2017.
^ Jump up to: a b "Passings: Jimmy Wyble, Edith Diaz". Los Angeles Times. 25
January 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
Jump up ^ "Jimmy Wyble | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 April 2017.