James Otis Wyble (January 25, 1922 – January 16, 2010) was an American guitarist noted for his contributions to

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

Western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United States, South among the region's Western music (North America), Western string bands. It is dan ...

Career

A native of Port Arthur, Texas, Wyble worked in his early years for a radio station in Houston. He and guitarist Cameron Hill played

in a band led by Burt "Foreman" Phillips. The sound of two guitars attracted

Bob Wills James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although S ...

, another fan of Western swing, and he hired both men for his band, the Texas Playboys. 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 Barney Kessel (October 17, 1923 – May 6, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Known in particular for his knowledge of chords and inversions and chord-based melodies, he was a member of many prominent jazz groups a ...

and

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...

, and played with

Red Norvo Red Norvo (born Kenneth Norville; March 31, 1908 – April 6, 1999) was an American musician, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone as jazz instruments. His reco ...

for eight years, including on a tour of Australia accompanying

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

. 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 ''The Wild Bunch'' is a 1969 American epic Revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang on th ...

'', ''

Ocean's Eleven ''Ocean's Eleven'' is a 2001 American heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh from a screenplay by Ted Griffin. The first installment in the ''Ocean's'' film trilogy, it is a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film of the same name. The fil ...

'', '' Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex'' and ''

Kings Go Forth ''Kings Go Forth'' is a 1958 black-and-white World War II film starring Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood. The screenplay was written by Merle Miller from the 1956 novel of the same name by Joe David Brown, and the film was directed ...

'', and played on TV shows such as ''

The Flip Wilson Show ''The Flip Wilson Show'' is an hour-long variety show that originally aired in the US on NBC from September 17, 1970, to June 27, 1974. The show starred American comedian Flip Wilson; the program was one of the first American television programs s ...

'' and ''

Kraft Music Hall ''The Kraft Music Hall'' was a popular old-time radio variety program, featuring top show business entertainers, which aired first on NBC radio from 1933 to 1949. Radio ''The Kraft Program'' debuted June 26, 1933, as a musical-variety progra ...

''. On the side, he took classical guitar lessons from

Laurindo Almeida Laurindo Almeida (September 2, 1917 – July 26, 1995) was a Brazilian guitarist and composer in classical, jazz, and Latin music. He and Bud Shank were pioneers in the creation of bossa nova. Almeida was the first guitarist to receive Gra ...

, then taught guitar to other students, among them Larry Koonse,

Howard Roberts Howard Mancel Roberts (October 2, 1929 – June 28, 1992) was an American jazz guitarist, educator, and session musician. Early years Roberts was born in Phoenix, Arizona to Damon and Vesta Roberts, and began playing guitar at the age of 8 - a ...

Howard Alden Howard Vincent Alden (born October 17, 1958) is an American jazz guitarist born in Newport Beach, California. Alden has recorded many albums for Concord Records, including four with seven-string guitar innovator George Van Eps. Early life How ...

and

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...

. In the 1970s he developed a two-line

contrapuntal In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

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 Mel Bay (February 25, 1913 – May 14, 1997) was an American musician and publisher best known for his series of music education books. His '' Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords'' remains a bestseller. Biography Early life Melbourne E. Bay was bo ...

, 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 at age 87 in 2010.

Discography

As leader

* ''The Jimmy Wyble Quintet'' (1953) * ''Jimmy Wyble & Love Brothers'' (1977) * ''Classical/Jazz: Live On Tape'' (Jazz Chronicles, 1977) * ''Diane'' (Vantage, 2003)

As sideman

With

* ''Hi-FIve'' (RCA Victor, 1957) * ''Red Plays the Blues'' (RCA Victor, 1958) * ''Windjammer City Style'' (Dot, 1958) * ''Norvo... Naturally!'' (Rave 1962) * ''Midsummer Night's Songs'' (RCA 1974) With others *

, ''The Sound of Music'' (EMI, 1959) * Benny Goodman, ''Benny Goodman Swings Again'' (Columbia, 1960) *

Bob Harrington Robert Maxon Harrington (January 30, 1912, Marshfield, Wisconsin – August 20, 1983, Kona, Hawaii) was an American jazz vibraphonist. Harrington was also adept at drums and piano in addition to vibraphone. He played with Charlie Barnet in the ...

, ''Vibraphone Fantasy in Jazz with Bob Harrington'' (Imperial, 1957) * Bob Harrington, ''Jazz a La Carte'' (Crown, 1963) *

Jackie Kelso John Joseph Kelson Jr. (February 27, 1922 – April 28, 2012), known professionally as Jackie Kelso, was an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, and clarinetist. Biography Born in Los Angeles, California, Kelson was the eldest child of John Josep ...

, ''Dirty Old Men'' (Jazz Chronicles, 1970) *

The Manhattan Transfer The Manhattan Transfer is a Grammy award–winning vocal group founded in 1969 that has explored a cappella, vocalese, swing, standards, Brazilian jazz, rhythm and blues, and pop music. There have been two editions of the Manhattan Transfer, ...

, ''

Extensions Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * Ex ...

'' (Atlantic, 1979) *

Oscar Moore Oscar Frederic Moore (December 25, 1916 – October 8, 1981) was an American jazz guitarist with the Nat King Cole Trio. Career The son of a blacksmith, Moore was born in Austin, Texas, United States. The Moore family moved to Phoenix, Ariz ...

, Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow, ''Swing Guitars'' (Verve/Norgran, 1993) *

Shorty Rogers Milton "Shorty" Rogers (born Milton Rajonsky; April 14, 1924 – November 7, 1994) was an American jazz musician, one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played trumpet and flugelhorn and was in demand for his skills as an arran ...

, ''Shorty Rogers and His Giants Vol 2 the Rarest'' (RCA 1983) *

Sons of the Pioneers The Sons of the Pioneers are one of the United States' earliest Western singing groups. Known for their vocal performances, their musicianship, and their songwriting, they produced innovative recordings that have inspired many Western music perf ...

, ''Western Country'' (Granite, 1976) *

Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during ...

, ''Dinah Sings Some Blues with Red'' (Capitol, 1985)

References

External links

Jimmy Wyble at The Music's Over
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyble, Jimmy 1922 births 2010 deaths American country guitarists American male guitarists American jazz guitarists American session musicians United States Army personnel of World War II Guitarists from Texas 20th-century American guitarists Country musicians from Texas Jazz musicians from Texas 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians