JAMES WHEELER is a quiet man. One of those types who has been
putting in decades of work backing other musicians while shying away
from the spotlight himself. After forty plus years James Wheeler is
finally ready.
James Wheeler was born in Albany, Georgia on August 28, 1937. Wheeler
didn't follow the usual path of listening to the blues and picking up
a guitar as a youngster. His favorite music as a youth was the big
band sounds popular in the day. Folks like Joe Stafford, Glenn Miller
and Duke Ellington. "I like to tell people that I came in at the
college level and down to the starters level. That was the sound that
I had to listen to. Louis Jordan was my main man. He was my idol for
a long time." Wheeler never even played an instrument until he moved
to Chicago in 1956.
Nineteen and ready for a change in life, James Wheeler headed north
to join his older brother Golden Wheeler in Chicago. Golden had come
to Chicago a decade earlier and got caught up in the sounds of the
city. He was fascinated with the sound of the harmonica and after
Little Waiter befriended him he began to learn to play. As soon as
little brother James arrived in Chicago he was thrust into the sounds
of the blues. Golden was playing with Waiter Smith, Donald Griffin
and Johnny Swan at the time, and occasionally jamming with Eddie King
and harp player Willie Black. James began to thump around on the
guitar when hanging out with the gang, and eventually picked up an
old Harmony acoustic guitar with a pick-up in it. James began to see
bluesmen like Howlin' Wolf and Freddie King playing in the clubs, and
his interest peaked. By the early 1960s Wheeler was jamming regularly
on the West Side and landed a steady gig with Billy Boy Arnold at the
Club Arden.
In
1963 Wheeler decided to form his own band. The Jaguars consisted of
Wheeler on guitar, bass player/vocalist Johnny Howard and drummer Sam
Burden. The band cut their teeth at the King James Club on 111th St.,
but their first big break came when they filled in for Syl Johnson at
the Just Me Lounge at 59th and Morgan.
This gig opened the doors to various house band stints including
stays at the Bonanza, Just Me Lounge, Payton Place and the Burning
Spear. During the next ten years, Wheeler played behind blues greats
like McKinley Mitchell, B.B. King, Millie Jackson, Otis Clay and O.V.
Wright.
After The Jaguars broke up in 1972, Wheeler was enlisted to form Otis
Clay's touring band, the OCB's. He stayed with Clay for the next
three years and in 1975 went on tour with the Impressions. For the
next decade Wheeler held a day job and only played on the weekends
with guitarist Buddy Scott. Wheeler's next break came in 1986. "One
evening when I got home my brother called and said some people had
been trying to find me. I asked who it was and he said Otis Rush. So
I got in touch with him and he said: `Look I've got to go into the
(Kingston) Mines this weekend and need a guitar player.' So I said
`O.K. Just for that weekend,' you know. Little did I know it would
last for 7 years." It was Rush that encouraged Wheeler to start
singing and made a spot for him singing in his show. Wheeler left
Rush in 1993 to join the band Mississippi Heat and made three records
with them. Lately, Wheeler has done a stint with Magic Slim and
currently works in Willie Kent's band.
Ready! finds Wheeler out front and on his own for the first
time. With a little help from a few old friends. Wheeler shows his
mastery of a variety of blues styles. After forty years as a sideman
it's about damn time James Wheeler stepped out front. One thing's for
sure, he's ready.
[Quotes from an interview with James Wheeler on February 7,
1998.]
Personnel from James Wheeler's Ready! (Delmark 719)
JAMES WHEELER vocals and guitar
BILLY FLYNN rhythm guitar
KENNY SAYDAK piano
BOB STROGER bass
VERNON RODGERS drums
GOLDEN "BIG" WHEELER harmonica
GLORIA THOMPSON-RODGERS vocal
Song List:
1. Ready!
2. This Old Freight Train
3. Gonna Make Some Changes
4. My Key Won't Fit That Lock No More
5. Cold Hearted Woman
6. Blues At Midnight
7. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
8. Bad Girl
9. Extension 309
10. I'm Just Your Fool
11. My Baby's Comin' Home
12. Hound Dog
13. Looking For My Baby
| WHEELER, JAMES / READY! -CD Blues CD DELMARK 719 |
$14.99 |
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