Jim Wynn

Saxophonist and bandleader Jim Wynn was born June 21, 1912, in El Paso, TX, but grew up in Los Angeles, where his first instrument was the clarinet. Switching to tenor saxophone, he began his professional career with Charlie Echols and was a sideman on hundreds of West Coast recordings, including a long association with Johnny Otis. As a bandleader (often billed as Big Jim Wynn), he recorded sporadically from 1945 to 1959 with a dozen different labels, including 4 Star/Gilt Edge (which issued his best-known side, "Ee-Bobaliba"), Modern, Specialty, Supreme, and Mercury. Wynn switched to baritone sax later in his career, and continued working as a sideman into the 1970s. He died in 1977.