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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZWHEELER, Doc(b Wheeler A. Morin, 10 January 1910; d 15 December 2005, Avon IN) Trombonist and bandleader who had a long and varied career. He was a native of Muncie Indiana; the name is usually spelled Moran. He worked with Raymond ‘Syd’ Valentine (1908-88) in Valentine’s 10-piece band the Patent Leather Kids in 1928; then they both left Indianapolis to play in a hotel band in Milwaukee. He played in the Bernie Young Big Band in 1930, which was 'one of the best bands at the time,' said drummer Harry Dial (talking to Frank Driggs). According to a November 1937 review in Metronome, Doc Wheeler's Sunset Royal Serenaders cut Tommy Dorsey's band in 1936 in a Philadelphia theatre. Dorsey was said to have traded eight arrangements for their arrangement of Irving Berlin’s ‘Marie’, which Dorsey recorded in January 1937 for one of the biggest hits of the Swing Era. Another story says that the arrangement was written by Steve Washington (d January 1936), and that Dorsey ripped it off and never paid anybody anything. At some point the Sunset Royals, said to be a cooperative band, did a tour of the USA south with the Ink Spots. Doc Wheeler and his Sunset Orchestra, with 15 pieces including Wheeler, did three recording sessions ’41-2 for Bluebird. Among the personnel were Cat Anderson and Reunald Jones on trumpets, both later with Duke Ellington, Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor on tenor sax, Leroy Kirkland on guitar, and Bobby Smith on alto sax, the last two also arrangers. Jesse Stone also arranged; they recorded Stone's ‘Sorghum Switch’ (later renamed ‘Cole Slaw’) as well as trumpeter Cat Anderson's ‘How 'Bout That Mess’ for Bluebird '41 (Cat changed the title to ‘Swinging The Cat’ for a record with his own band '47). A vocal group was called the Hardway Four. In an interview with Eddie Determeyer in 1980, Taylor said that the sidemen were paid $5 or $6 a night, and that they played at the Savoy Ballroom in NYC about three times a year, staying five or six weeks, playing opposite the Savoy Sultans ("a tough band') as well as battling other bands such as Cootie Williams and even Duke Ellington. Determeyer also said that when Sun Ra came to his house he wanted to hear the Bluebird records, and was especially fond of 'Me And My Melinda' (vocal by James Otis Lewis). According to Jazz Record (quoted in Storyville magazine) Wheeler played trombone and fronted Bobby Booker's Band at the Elk's Rendezvous in NYC in 1945. According to George Simon, Wheeler had become a top gospel and R&B jockey in New York c.1968 and perhaps an emcee at the Apollo Theatre. In the late ‘70s or early ‘80s he led a band for a brief stint at Small’s Paradise. He moved back to Indianapolis after his wife of 45 years passed away in 1992.
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