David "Buck" Wheat
| David "Buck" Wheat | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | David Wheat |
| Also known as | Buck, Buckwheat |
| Born | March 19, 1922 San Antonio, Texas |
| Died | June 15, 1985 (aged 63) Los Angeles, California |
| Genres | Folk, jazz, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Bassist, session musician, composer |
| Instruments | Double bass, guitar |
| Associated acts | The Kingston Trio, Chet Baker, Whiskeyhill Singers |
David "Buck" Wheat (1922–1985) was an American folk and jazz musician, songwriter and recording artist. The Texas-born Wheat was a well-known guitarist and bass player with the big dance bands of the era, playing at the Chicago Playboy Jazz Festival 1959 in The Playboy Jazz All Stars and the Chet Baker Trio. In the winter of 1957 David was jazz guitarist recording with Baker's Trio. Though most of Baker's material was recorded in Los Angeles, "Embraceable You", "There's a Lull in My Life" and "My Funny Valentine" are rare examples of Baker recording in New York. The format is also unusual for him, just Baker's vocals (no trumpet) accompanied by only David Wheat on nylon string acoustic guitar and bassist Russ Savakus.
Wheat also wrote music, along with his lyricist partner, Bill Loughborough. Their composition "Better Than Anything", now a jazz standard, has been recorded by dozens of performers over the decades, and is part of the live acts of Lena Horne, Phylicia Rashad, Irene Kral, Bob Dorough and Al Jarreau. Their next song, "Coo Coo U", was recorded both by The Kingston Trio and by The Manhattan Transfer. Wheat embraced George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization for improvisation; he would sing intriguing scales while playing a guitar accompaniment based on the theory.
Wheat was best known as the upright bass accompanist for The Kingston Trio, the fourth member on stage and an integral part of the music and the group's musicologist. He is remembered for his subtle jazz influence during their early recordings, eleven of the Trio's Capitol Records albums, including the critically acclaimed Here We Go Again. He toured extensively, playing college campuses across America, well-known coffee houses in Greenwich Village and the hungry i in San Francisco. He also appeared on many television shows of the time, among them Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater, Jack Benny, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, The Pat Boone Show, and The Perry Como Show. Mr. Wheat is seen on the cover of the Trio's Goin' Places album. When asked in an interview, whether Buckwheat was considered a Beatnik since he grew up in the Beat generation, Dave Guard answered of his mentor, "Not sure, but he knew where to get it" referring to marijuana.
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