1959: Jim bought my first guitar and powered it through the family TV set to practice.
He also bought his first album Lightnin Hopkins from Kansas City because he liked R&B music more than the music his parents listened to (for example Harry Belafonte).
"My mother owned just about every Harry Belafonte record and so I continued to buy many other blues records. It just sounded to me like the black guys were havin more fun!"
1961: The first band The Disciples was created. Jim was a 17 year old and the guitarist for the four-piece band. His Mom made the band’s reversible red and black jackets.
1962: The Disciples added a keyboard, which made them a triple threat: singer, guitarist, and keyboardist. That year they started playing student unions, proms, frat parties, etc…
1962: Pulte recieved his diploma. That evening he destroyed the famlys new Chev. Sedan on I35 just north of Norman Ok. Everyone walked away without a scratch. His first child was (unbeknownst to him and everyone else) already cooking in the oven!!
1963: Pulte's daughter was born in April 1963. In the summer of ’63 the band also auditioned for a job at the Rock Inn in Estes Park Colorado. They got the summer long gig playing to a packed house every night.
1964: Pulte remained an OU student and on weekends the band flew to Madison, Boulder, and Detroit for frat jobs. Sometimes in planes with more than one engine (booked by Mike Richie of Norman, Oklahoma).
1964: For another summer The Disciples played the Rock Inn at Estes Park . They added a saxophone player making it a 5 piece. They chartered and flew around a lot that year too.
1966: The band played Estes Park in the summer again. Then quit their job in July to take another with Ken Adamany (Cheap Trick’s manager long before there was a cheap trick). The audition was held in Janesville, Wisconsin. He booked the band all over Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Ocean City, NJ. The Ocean City gig was at Tony Marts where Bob Dylan and The Band played before their Blonde on Blonde tour. They played Madison and Chicago and Detroit at a place called The Rooster Tail where they met Bob Seger and Dugg Brown (future Southwind Band member). They got Dugg into the group who was working with Mickey Stevenson (the vice president of Motown Records). He wrote Dancing in the Streets. Mickey started a record label in Los Angeles called Venture Records (an all black label almost) and Dugg Brown was the producer for a New band to be called Southwind . The Disciples then signed with Mickey Stevenson's Company to make a record as The Southwind Band.
Pulte moved to Mill Valley, California while the rest of the band moved to Los Angeles. He rode a motorcycle up and down the coast to keep the recording and live dates.
1968: He moved to LA to start the LP for Venture Records. The Southwind band was born.
The Southwind band made the single album for Venture Records, working with many of the staff producers at the label. Willie Hutchinson who later won a grammy for Superfly. Leon Ware who wrote many of the Jackson Fives early hits. Clarence Paul, Lonnie Stevenson,and Vickie Basemore all conspired with the band in writing and production of songs. Southwind began to play the hot spots in LA and the Valley and within a year signed a new record deal with Blue Thumb Records. It had been formed by Bob Krasnow, Tommy Li Puma and Don Graham, and Tommy produced the first record for the company. Southwind was lucky in many ways. Their manager was Dan Bourgoise who later worked as A@R Director at United Artists and was influential in signing Jim Pulte to the label in 1971 where Pulte made two solo albums. Bourgoise founded Bug Music in 1975 and it became the largest Administrative publishing company for songwriters and acts who just didn't want to sell their souls and catalogs in order to stay in the music business. Bourgoise is truly the patron saint of songwriters combating the largely criminal owners of record labels over the years. He has fought battles in court to protect the rights and properties of many a writer. The first Album "Out the Window" was coproduced with Jesse Ed Davis, Pulte's old buddy for many years, Kiowa-Comanche guitar player for Conway Twitty, then the Taj Mahal Band. Davis recorded with Jackson Brown, the Stones, Bob Dylan and many others. Players on the "Out the Window" Album included Jim Keltner, Dr. John, Leland Sklar, and Buddy Emmons and of course Jesse ED.
More to Come!!
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