Legendary guitarist Jimmy Wyble graces Spokane jazz scene with concert and clinic at Ella’s

Legendary guitarist for Red Norvo, Bob Wills, Benny Goodman, and many other world-class acts, Jimmy Wyble visited Spokane for a concert and clinic at Ella’s Supper Club the last weekend in March, courtesy of the Jazz Guitar Society of Spokane.

Soft spoken, humble, and gentle, Jimmy Wyble, 86, is a rare soul who is so full of kindness and love, he immediately befriends everyone he meets. His self-deprecating humor and his quiet ways are awe-inspiring. Everyone was deeply touched by his presence at downtown Spokane’s favorite jazz gathering place.

Jimmy Wyble, playing at the Jazz Guitar Society of Spokane’s guitar clinic at Ella’s.

The beginning of Wyble’s fame comes from his early years with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, the most famous band in western swing, but he was already melding jazz into country as early as 1942 when he was playing with Cameron Hill, the second man in the “twin guitars” of Wills’ group.

Wills hired Wyble away from KTRH Houston radio bandleader Foreman Phillips, who coined the term “western swing.” Hill and Wyble played twin 1943 Epiphone Emperor guitars with DeArmond pickups bought for $1,100 in Hollywood with money from Wills. Bob Wills wanted the men to play the prettiest guitars so they’d look their best on tour. Wills also bought all the cowboy uniforms that were the group’s signature style.

Wills’ band caused a sensation in 1944 with an appearance on The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn., that is still talked about. Wills had two vocalists and 17 instrumentalists, one of whom was drummer Monte Mountjoy. This was at a time when drums were forbidden on the Opry stage.

“They made Monte sit behind a thin curtain so he could still see Bob’s direction, but he was obscured from the audience. It certainly made a stir at the Opry,” Wyble said. “I don’t think they were ever the same again.”

Unfortunately, there are no known recordings of that performance, and no photos have turned up either, which just goes to show how important it is to let the media document performances. They are frequently taken for granted when present but sorely missed when absent.

By 1947, Wyble was with the Spade Cooley Band and his years as a Texas Playboy were behind him. One of the only recordings with Cooley is an aircheck from 1951. He also played in the Western All Stars through 1949.

Wyble became a front man himself with the release of “The Jimmy Wyble Quintet” in 1953. His unique combination of accordion, clarinet, guitar, bass, and drums presaged the revival of klezmer that was all the rage in downtown New York City clubs in the 1990s.

The year 1953 was truly a milestone in Wyble’s career. In addition to his eponymous release, he also recorded with guitarist Barney Kessel’s jazz quartet, and began touring with Red Norvo and Benny Goodman. With Norvo, Wyble also backed Frank Sinatra in ol’ blue eyes’ Australian tour.

Twenty some years went by while he was busy tearing up tracks in L.A. studios for all the A-list music sensations of the era. He cut vinyl again in 1977 under the name “Jimmy Wyble and the Love Brothers.” He also played in Tony Rizzi’s Five Guitars group during this same time frame. Selection of those tracks were played in Spokane at Ella’s, and Wyble made copies available to the society – one of the many benefits of membership in Spokane’s only organization dedicated to the jazz guitar.

Jimmy Wyble has also appeared on TV shows such as Flip Wilson, and has played the music behind movies including “The Wild Bunch” and the original “Ocean’s Eleven”.

He is also the author of “The Art of Two Line Improvisation,” a bible amongst guitarists for its groundbreaking technique of playing solos with two fingers playing independently, an astounding feat that requires tremendous practice, but sets apart any master of the technique from other players.

Wyble taught guitar to Steve Lukather at 16 when “Luke” was still in high school. Luke has credited him with teaching him positions, notes, scales, and relationships. Luke went on to co-found the band “Toto” and become an international legend in his own right with songs like 1983’s #1 Billboard hit “Africa”.

Another 16 year old Wyble taught was Howard Alden, on the recommendation of Barney Kessel in 1974. Alden credited Wyble with teaching him the mastery of the fingerboard and how to weave chords together to create a unique style. Wyble stressed finger independence and learning to hear lines to his famous protege.

In a sense, Wyble was teaching his successor, since just as Wyble followed Tal Farlow as Norvo’s guitarist, so did Alden follow Wyble. Wyble shared a funny story about his time with Norvo in Las Vegas venues.

“The sound level from all the people in these clubs was always very loud from people drinking and carrying on, and sometimes it would drown out the band,” Wyble said. “Red would tell us to stop playing our instruments, but look like we were playing. In other words, just do your business on your instrument as if you were playing but don’t actually make any sound, and then wait for his cue.

“We’d do this for sometimes several minutes, and then all of a sudden people would settle down a bit and look over at us, and here we were pretending to play. Red would give the signal and we’d start in playing again for real as if nothing had happened. Then people would go back to their conversations. It was just a sort of game we played with the audience.

“Sometimes Red would get angry with the audience and play metal on metal to get their attention. The shrill noise of it quieted the house down really quick, and once again, we’d go back to playing normally.”

Today, he is still playing, and many videos of him are available on YouTube. His etudes are an atmospheric wonder, a kind of ear candy that must be heard to be appreciated. Fortunately, the video sharing site has several to choose from, showing off the same Hofner Verythin JS he played in Spokane.

Another excellent resource to learn more about Wyble is a biographical interview on his website.

“Thanks to Tim Nodland and the Jazz Guitar Society of Spokane for being such great hosts,” Wyble recently said about his visit. “I had a great time in Spokane.”

Podcast:

I recorded Jimmy Wyble’s concert at Ella’s and with his express permission, I now present the tracks from that session. These etudes are not songs, but rather, are impromptu studies in Jimmy’s unique style of playing chords with two-line independent finger techniques.

In addition to these fifteen, Jimmy also played “Prelude To A Kiss”, “The Peacocks”, and “Soft Winds”, which are in rotation at The Inland Echo’s jazz radio station. [Editor's note: the jazz station has been discontinued. Apologies for the inconvenience.]

All of his music was recorded as WAV files in 16-bit 44.1kHz linear PCM quality, engineered, and then bumped down to MP3 player quality for this podcast. Jimmy has made these tracks free to download, but please don’t pass them around. Refer people who would like a copy back to this page, so we can keep track of how many copies are in circulation. Also, if you are a musician who would like to be recorded, please contact me. Thanks, and enjoy the show:

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{play}http://www.inlandecho.com/audio/Jimmy_Wyble_-_Live_at_Ellas_-_15_-_Etude_15.mp3{/play} Jimmy_Wyble_-_Live_at_Ellas_-_15_-_Etude_15.mp3