Julius Wechter (May 10, 1935 – February 1, 1999) was an American musician and composer who played the marimba and

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

. He also played various percussion instruments. He composed the song " Spanish Flea" for

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...

and was leader of the Baja Marimba Band.

Biography

Born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Wechter played

(vibes) and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

for the Martin Denny group in the 1950s. In the early 1960s, he moved on to

movie A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

soundtracks and

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

, as well as session work for the likes of

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

, the Monkees, Sonny & Cher, and various

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter who is best known for pioneering recording practices in the 1960s, followed by his trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. S ...

productions. His Beach Boys contributions include the climactic

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

during the choruses of " Do You Wanna Dance?" and prominent vibraphone on " Let's Go Away for Awhile". He began his long and successful association with Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass when he played percussion on the Tijuana Brass's first hit, " The Lonely Bull", in 1962. He later composed " Spanish Flea". Playing marimba and vibes on many of the songs on Alpert's subsequent albums in the 1960s, as well as writing at least one song on most of those albums, Wechter contributed much to the Tijuana Brass sound and style without receiving public credit for it at the time. Encouraged by Alpert, Wechter formed the Baja Marimba Band and was quite successful. The "BMB" placed four chart songs in Billboard's Top 100, and many more on its Easy Listening Top 40. When the band disbanded in the mid 1970s, Wechter turned his attention to TV and movies again, scoring the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

film '' Midnight Madness''. He continued to play with Herb Alpert, joining his touring version of the Tijuana Brass in the mid 1970s. In his later years, he devoted himself to psychology, earned a master's degree, and served as vice president of the Southern California chapter of the Tourette Syndrome Association. Wechter died at his home in California of lung cancer, at the age of 63, a day after his song "Spanish Flea" was used in ''

the Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' episode " Sunday, Cruddy Sunday".

Selected compositions

*1964: Up Cherry Street *1965: Spanish Flea *1966: Brasilia *1966: Bean Bag (with Herb Alpert) *1966: Blue Sunday *1967: Shades Of Blue *1967: Flea Bag *1968: Panama *1968: Flyin' High *1970: Robbers and Cops

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wechter, Julius 1935 births 1999 deaths American percussionists Musicians from Chicago The T-Bones members The Wrecking Crew (music) members Marimbists American vibraphonists 20th-century American musicians American session musicians Deaths from lung cancer in California Musicians from Los Angeles 20th-century American male musicians