Jim Waller

Arranger, producer, recording engineer, and multi-instrumentalist (tenor, alto and soprano saxophone, trombone, piano, organ, guitar) Jim Waller was born in Santa Barbara, California, the son of a professional cellist, and he spent his childhood there, as well as in New York, Hollywood, Santa Barbara, and Cleveland as his father spent time with different orchestras, finally moving to Fresno, California, in 1961. While attending Fresno State College that same year he formed the surf group the Deltas. The Deltas, an R&B-steeped band featuring an upbeat organ and saxophone approach, released an LP of instrumentals called Surfin' Wild on Arvee Records in 1963 (Sundazed reissued Surfin' Wild on CD in 1995). A 45 single, "Bells Are Ringing"/"Super Hawk," appeared later in 1963 from Warner Bros. while the Four Seasons-like vocal side "Give My Love a Chance" was issued in 1964 by Cambridge Records. Following the breakup of the Deltas in 1967, Waller joined the San Antonio-based jazz-rock combo Los Blues until 1973, and then relocated back to California, where he finished a music degree at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Waller moved once again to San Antonio in 1977 to join the band Road Apple (essentially a reconstitution of Los Blues) and has made the city his home base ever since. He built his own studio, Digital Image, in San Antonio in 1985, where he produces CDs and commercial jingles.