DePriest E.B. WHEELER: the faithful trombone 2/2

(March 1, 1903, Kansas City, MO - April 10, 1998, New York, NY)
Trombone player in Cab Calloway’s orchestra from 1929 to 1940

December 1931, at the Oriental, Chicago: Cab Calloway and his Cotton Club Orchestra 
(DePriest Wheeler is sixth from the left, next to Cab).

DePriest, Cab, and his Orchestra

Under Cab Calloway’s leadership, the Missourians rapidly rose to become among New York’s most sought-after orchestras. The group, billed “Cab Calloway and His Missourians” secured theatrical engagements throughout Manhattan, Harlem, and the broader East Coast region.

Despite the recording industry’s struggles amid the national economic crisis, the ensemble—now performing under the name “Cab Calloway and his Orchestra”—managed to record in studios on four separate occasions within a five-month span from July through December 1930. And what sessions! The band gets its first tryout at the Cotton Club in Harlem on June 16, 1930, subbing for Duke Ellington, engaged in Baltimore that day. They remain at “the Aristocrat of Harlem” until mid-September and go on tour.

But on July 24, 1930, “Cab Calloway and His Orchestra” have their first “official” recording session, although it was released under the name of “The Jungle Band” since The Missourians. were still probably under contract with Victor. As Keller Whalen explains, “The Jungle Band” was also used as a pseudonym for Duke Ellington records on Brunswick in 1929, so it might have been a ploy to pretend they were the same group, or maybe manager Irving Mills owned the name and decided who should use it.”

Alternating between tours and Cotton Club stays with regular broadcasts, the group was one of the star orchestras of Harlem. But the real break happened with Minnie the Moocher’s fame in the spring of 1931. From then on, “hi-de-ho’s” became the anthem of a jazz craze and the daily language of the musicians in the band.

A 1933 Cotton Club program

In the Spring of 1932, DePriest Wheeler had a lip problem, so Quentin Jackson subbed for a week at the Lafayette Theater and doubled the Cotton Club. In his Jazz Oral History interview Quentin Jackson reveals:

“Calloway told me: “Why don’t you come on over here with us? We’re getting a lot of young boys up here now, you know, I’m changing men. You’re going down there with them old men. [Quentin was born in 1909, 2 years after Cab!]” I listened to Calloway’s band and I didn’t like it at all. It was, oh man, it was a horrible band to me, and I’d been used to playing Don Redman’s music and beautiful arrangements… So, Calloway said, “I’ll give you $90 a week if you come on up to the Cotton Club.” I said, “No, uh-uh, never mind.” I went down to Connie’s Inn for 66.”

In a 1935 orchestra program, Wheeler is described as a great admirer of Paul Whiteman’s trombone section. He admits to preferring classical music, which is logical since it was the first musical genre he was exposed to.

When musicians gather, the bandleader wants to know what they're talking about...
(Andy Brown, Edwyn Swayze, Al Morgan, Walter Foots Thomas, Eddie Barefield, Benny Payne, Harry White
and, on the chair, turning his back, DePriest Wheeler)
Source: March 1934, Tune TImes, UK

Older than Cab born in 1907, Wheeler was part of the group of ‘elders’ (such as Andy Brown, b.1903, Arville Harris, b.1904, and Lammar Wright, b.1907) on whom the bandleader could rely. Nevertheless, listening to the young wolves who gradually joined the orchestra, the “old-timers” tended to drag their feet and make no effort to listen to what was new musically (Milt Hinton, Garvin Bushell, and Dizzy Gillespie each testify to this in their memoirs). That attitude became an issue in later years…

From DePriest to Deedlo and Mickey

Should we see any significance in the nickname “Deedlo” given to him by the other musicians in the orchestra? In the official press release that spread all over the syndicated newspapers between 1933 and 1939, DePriest would have his sobriquet because he “resembles one of the twins from Alice in Wonderland,” Tweedledum and Tweedledee (a movie was just released in 1933, with Jack Oakie and Roscoe Karns in the roles of the legendary twins). Or maybe that’s because Harry White and he formed kind of twin trombone players…

The Cab Calloway's baseball team
First row, crouching: Mack Boyd (Avis Andrews' husband), Milt Hinton, Leroy Maxey and one of the members of the Tramp Band.
Second row, standing: Benny Payne, Claude Jones, Cab Calloway, one of Cab's valets, Garvin Bushell, another valet, DePriest Wheeler.

A serious baseball player

DePriest Wheeler also had a second nickname: Mickey, in reference to Mickey Cochrane, a professional baseball player. Wheeler was indeed the catcher on Cab Calloway’s baseball team. This team of musicians from the band was built to ensure cohesion in the group on tours, and to provide some local events (benefit matches against ushers, other orchestras, etc.) aside the concerts and theatre performances. In this team, DePriest ‘Mickey’ Wheeler took his role very seriously. This comes from an early passion for the game during his high school years. In the St. Louis Clarion edition of April 2, 1921, DePriest was named “the star catcher of the Sumner High School baseball” in a little article about an injury on the nose. In his archives held at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University, there’s a picture of his team in 1921 and signed to an unidentified admirer, “Beatrice” … A 1961 article about him even said that he played semi-pro (it also said that he worked with Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson, which is false).

First row, second from left: the serious baseball player, DePriest Wheeler with his team (1921)
(from DePriest Wheeler's archives at the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University)

The European tour with the band and Madam

Among the experiences Wheeler kept in mind when he answered Phil Schaap’s questions in 1978, the European tour with Cab Calloway in 1934 was one of his career’s highlights (along with the movie The Big Broadcast, in 1932).

Cab Calloway and his orchestra land in Southampton, UK.
The happy DePriest Wheeler (middle, with pipe) is ready to conquer Europe.

Like many other musicians in the band—including Cab who regretted that Wenonah was there—DePriest Wheeler brought his wife Lila along with him. Lila was born in Princeton, KY, on Oct 14, 1899. We haven’t been able yet to find the exact date of their wedding. On the Passengers’ List of S.S. Ile-de-France, they provide 799^th 7^th Avenue, New York, as their address but that’s Mills Office headquarters. Apparently, while DePriest lived in New York on 646 Lenox Avenue (Apt 16) in Harlem, his wife lived separately 1208 South Liberty Street in Marion, IL (both addresses are indicated on Wheeler’s 1942 draft card). In his Jazz Oral Interview, Danny Barker discusses that topic with Milt Hinton about Charlie Elgar who had the same marital situation. Then they talk about Russell Smith, trumpeter who will later play in Cab’s band, who lived the same way. Danny Barker: “The woman would raise some hell if he didn’t send that money. We got paid around four o’clock, and if that money wasn’t somewhere at five, the phone would ring.” Well, now you get why this European tour meant so much for DePriest Wheeler!

Harry White and DePriest Wheeler appear on Panassié's book cover

Yet, the always loving French periodical Jazz Tango Dancing in its edition covering Cab’s days in Europe wrote under Hugues Panassié’s pen that, “De Prince [sic] Deedlo Wheeler was a mediocre instrumentalist.” A few years later though, Wheeler would appear with Harry White on the cover of his book, “La véritable musique de jazz” [published in English with the title “Real Jazz”] (Robert Laffont, 1946).

On the other side of the Channel, the English columnist for Tune Times, the “Scrutineer” who wasn’t famous for his kindness wrote in the April 1934 edition, about the Calloway concert at the Palladium that, “Eddie Barefield, ‘Foots’ [Walter Thomas] and ‘Deedlo’ Wheeler were outstanding.”

Still, DePriest wasn’t featured in any tunes of the program set for Europe.

March 1934, while the band tours England, DePriest Wheeler
is granted with an ad in Melody Maker for his trombone brand. But he won't get any solo.

1, 2, and 3 trombones in the section…

While DePriest took a solo on almost every track with the Missourians and on the first recordings with Cab Calloway—he was the only trombone—he had to share solo room when Harry White arrived in 1931. An exuberant yet unreliable alcoholic, Harry White provided a new sound to the trombone section. Plus, he was an outstanding arranger! As unkindly written by H.H. Niessen, Jr. in Jazz Tango Dancing (France, May 1934), “De Priest Wheeler holds the position of first trombone, but Harry White is the important man in the section.”

Starting January 1935, after White’s departure, the trombone section is composed by: Claude Jones, Frederick ‘Keg’ Johnson and DePriest EB Wheeler. He would never get another solo opportunity on wax until he left the band. Claude Jones would even be featured on stage and on record in a vocal duet with Cab Calloway on Jes’ Natch’ully Lazy (May 21, 1936). Meanwhile, DePriest had to keep on smiling on stage, being considered like an old-fashioned guy by all the new-comers in the band. As for any musician in Calloway’s band, the big change happened with the arrival of prodigious tenor sax Chu Berry. He wanted to change the sound of the band, to make it more at his hand and his extraordinary capacity of invention on long solos. Shaping another universe for Cab Calloway and his orchestra, Chu Berry got the liberty to replace the elders by hiring more modern and fancier instrumentalists, section after section.

With Chu Berry (far right) leading the artistic tenure of the band,
DePriest Wheeler remains discreet (last trombone on the right) - 1938

DePriest Wheeler continued to work his way for Cab Calloway, fearing for his head, until late 1939. His last recording took place on October 17, 1939 (Chili Con Conga, Tarzan of Harlem, Jiveformation Please, and Vuelva). During his 1978 interview with Phil Schapp, DePriest declares, “I left the band in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1940.” In fact, he left much earlier, in November 1939, since he’s already absent from the November 17, 1939 session in New York (plus our files don’t have any appearances in Springfield, in 1939 or 1940). The press echoed the radical shake-up in the orchestra: “What’s Wrong with Cab Calloway’s Band?” titled the February 3, 1940 edition of The Chicago Defender:

“To dance fans, Calloway’s band has always been a smooth playing organization and the radical change has them wondering now whether the band leader is using his best judgment. Chauncey Haughton and Claude Jones, trombonists, moved into the [Ella] Fitzgerald band. Jones, a former McKinney Cotton Picker star is one of the best-known trombonists in jazz. Calloway fired Keg Johnson, DePriest Wheeler and Lammar Wright, all brass men. Reports are that Cozy Cole, drummer, also is dissatisfied and soon will leave.”

In fact, Lammar Wright and Keg Johnson remained in the band, like Cozy Cole (who arrived in Feb 1939) until the end of 1942. Claude Jones will come back in the Calloway aggregation in 1943.

Quentin Jackson (1943)

Replaced by Quentin Jackson at a pivotal moment in the life of the orchestra

DePriest Wheeler was replaced by Quentin Jackson, who came straight from Don Redman’s orchestra. Calloway insisted on getting him. Did that mean he was tired of Wheeler? Did he want something else? Whatever the reasons, it was at this pivotal moment that Cab Calloway’s orchestra took a decisive turn towards jazz. Jackson would remain with Cab until 1948. Quentin Jackson would later be recognized as a master of the muted trombone and wah-wah, and as the worthy successor to ‘Tricky’ Sam Nanton in Ellington’s orchestra.

Second row, far right, DePriest Wheeler with the U.S.S. Seattle Band - 1942
(from DePriest Wheeler's archives at the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University)

Leaving Cab and the music business… for the Navy and a band

Unemployed in February 1942, Wheeler volunteered for the Navy as a second-class musician (earning a respectable $96 a month, but 3 or 4 times less than in Cab’s band!). The Navy’s band program expanded considerably during World War II, beginning in 1941 and reaching its zenith in 1943-44 with approximately 285 bands comprising around 7,000 musicians. These musical units, typically consisting of 17 to 21 members, were deployed across the fleet on aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, and major auxiliary vessels, while others served at shore installations and forward operating bases throughout the Atlantic and Pacific theaters.

DePriest Wheeler was part of a 23-piece band, including a 3-trombone section, led by Bob McRae. The Navy required the bandsmen to double on assigned instrument, depending on their original one. Wheeler doubled on baritone sax. “The unit, composed of expert hot jazz and classical musicians, was recruited by Bob McRae in 1942 as a combination swing orchestra and military band. (…) Prior to embarking for overseas the band was stationed at Pier 92, New York for three years. Other members are: Howard Johnson, Boston Mass.; Carl ‘Kansas’ Fields, Grard, Kansas; Peter Clarke, Birmingham, Alabama; Cornelius King, Atlanta, Ga.; Joseph H. Mondry, Norfolk, Va.; Charles Frazier, Radford, Va.; Clarence B. Bereton New York; Bernard D. Terence, Atlantic City, N.J.; Herbert ‘John’ Jenkins, New York; DePriest E.B. Wheeler, Kansas City, Mo.; Charles K. Johnson, Cambridge, Mass.; James Jones, Chicksaha, Okla.; James B. McDaniel, Pittsburgh, Pa.; LaVerria Belton, Greensboro, N.C.; Charles Devonish, British West Indies; Arnold Potter, New York; William Watkins, New York; James McLin, St. Petersburg, Fl.; and George Lewis, Virgin Islands.” (Philadelphia Tribune, Aug 25, 1945). The Metronome edition of November 1943 gives other names in the band: Jimmy McLin, Audley Smith, Nathaniel Alle, Chas. Devonish, Arnold Potter, Ogese McKay, Larry Belton, Nat Powell, Cornelius King, Topley Lewis, Joe Mondrey, Clarence Brereton, Herbert Jenkins, Rostelle Reese. Maybe some would ring a bell for you! Note that drummer Kansas Fields and tenor sax player Charles Frazier both would play in Cab Calloway’s orchestra right after the war! Frazier was even a musician under Blanche Calloway’s baton in 1931!

After 3 years stationed at the end of 52^nd Street in Manhattan, the band sailed to the Pacific on the U.S.S. Seattle to be based in the South Pacific, like Guam where they gave concerts to entertain soldiers and civilians.

Following the war’s end, DePriest was discharged in 1945 at the Naval Station Great Lakes (NSGL), along Lake Michigan. At this place, during WWI the legendary bandleader and composer John Philip Sousa had been commissioned. During the WWII, it was the site of the first African American trainees, in a segregated facility before being all integrated in mid-1945.

DePriest 'Deedlo' Wheeler left the showbusiness but kept his trombone
(Army Times, Aug 26, 1961)

Working at the Post Office… and keeping playing trombone

Returning to New York City in 1945, DePriest Wheeler was reunited with his wife Lila and their two children, Hugh Paul, and Lila Lee. Soon a third child arrived. They all lived a modest home in the Queens, at 186-20 Dormans Road, St Albans. DePriest started to work as postal clerk in a Long Island post office in the 1950s.

But DePriest Wheeler never put the trombone to the side and kept on playing, joining parades from time to time. But every Thursday night, “he plays a command performance with the 77^th Infantry Division band at 529 W 42d St., Manhattan. There Master Sgt. Wheeler, an Army reservist since 1949, is assistant bandmaster—a post he has held since 1954.” (Daily News, July 30, 1961). He also had the will to improve his playing by taking a four-year course in theory and composition at the Hartnett Music School...

The Wheeler family: DePriest, probably Lilian, and Lila

The 1961 portrait of DePriest written for Daily News explains that the family has then six grandchildren. Daughter Lila became teacher of Japanese at the Greenwich Japanese School; she was also a poet and she took care of keeping her father’s memory by donating his archives to the Institute of Jazz Studies, at the Rutgers University.

DePriest’s wife, Lila, died in 1966. Thirty years later, DePriest Wheeler received an honorary citation for “Excellence in Music” from Claire Shulman, former mayor of Queens. He died at the age of 95 years, 1 month and 9 days in New York on April 10, 1998. Even if he spent most of his time in one of the most famous bands of the swing era, the discreet trombonist soon vanished in everybody’s memory…

DePriest E.B. Wheeler in his 90s, with his tuba
(from DePriest Wheeler's archives at the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University)

DEPRIEST WHEELER’S BEST SIDES

“Wheeler’s style was lusty and forthright” wrote Joop Visser in the liner notes of This is Hep CD-boxset (2008).

Respected German jazz historian and discographer K.B. Rau expands on Wheeler’s trombone-style: “A loud and unpolished Western bluesy staccato style with clear tone, often using a trombone Harmon mute, probably without the insert.”

WITH ANDREW PREER AND THE COTTON CLUB ORCHESTRA

• Riverboat Shuffle (April 25, 1925), a 16-bar solo (with a quote from Swanee River)!

WITH THE MISSOURIANS

• Market Street Stomp (June 3, 1929), the first track recorded under the name of The Missourians, with a thunderous and powerful solo.
• Two Hundred Squabble (February 17, 1930), in which Wheeler takes three short solos (the two on muted trombone are more vivacious).

WITH CAB CALLOWAY

• Gotta Darn Good Reason Now (the very first song recorded by Cab Calloway on July 24, 1930). DePriest takes a short but rather interesting vibrant solo.
• St. Louis Blues (July 24, 1930) for his muted trombone solo just before one of Cab’s first wild scats. Alyn Shipton: “Wheeler in particular shows even more brash confidence than on his earlier records, and produces a cross between Tricky Sam Nanton’s plunger-muted work for Ellington and the forthright shouting trombone of J. C. Higginbotham in Red Allen’s contemporaneous recording band.” (in “Hi-De-Ho, The Life of Cab Calloway”).
• Some Of These Days (December 23, 1930) for a breathtakingly fast run of notes. Note that the whole track is a masterpiece!
• Farewell Blues (March 9, 1931), only on the released take 1, Harry White performing the solo on an unreleased take 3
• Creole Love Song (May 6, 1931), wah-wah and growl à la Tricky Sam Nanton on this Ellington tune.
• Sweet Georgia Brown (July 9, 1931)
• Corinne, Corinna (November 18, 1931) for a 12-bar muted trombone solo
• Stack-O-Lee Blues (November 18, 1931), muted trombone solo after one open by Harry White
• How Come You Do Me Like You Do? (June 7, 1932)
• Harlem Hospitality (September 21, 1933), for its final duet with Eddie Barefield on alto sax (note: K.B. Rau attributes the trombone part to Harry White).
• Hotcha Razz-Ma-Tazz (January 23, 1934)
• Weakness (September 4, 1934), an 8-bar solo on a tune by Edwin Swayze that was probably kept for his unsteady accomplice Harry Father White.
• Peck-a-Doodle-Doo (March 23, 1938) for its unusual arrangement that features a trombone “choir” (at 2:15). This song becomes a cliché in big bands arrangements.

DePriest Wheeler only composed one known song:

• 400 Hop (from the Missourians era), in which he takes a long solo right from the start.

And DePriest Wheeler arranged Please Be Careful, copyrighted in February 1953, but remained unpublished. Words and music are by Effie King, from the famous 1910 vaudeville duet, The Ginger Girls (Lottie Gee was dancer and soprano and Effie was dancer and contralto) but she’s best known as the composer and lyricist of the song “That’s Why They Call Me Shine,” (1910) which persisted as the famous and yet controversial jazz standard “Shine.”