Jim Xavier
Jim Xavier was born in New Bedford, MA., a historical whaling city of years past, rich with talented artists and musicians today. While in high school he began his love of marching percussion and playing in the snare line in the marching band. Jim continued his marching career into college at UMass Amherst where he played and studied under marching percussion legend Thom Hannum (Garfield Cadets, Star of Indiana) on snare '87-'91. Jim also marched snare in drum corp with the Boston Crusaders in 1990 under drum caption head Al Murray. After graduating UMass he returned to New Bedford where he began playing around town with various working cover bands and jazz bands and began private study with local drumming legend Jackie Santos. Jackie had been the touring drummer for the R&B band Tavares (also from New Bedford), and later (and currently) drummer for John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. Jackie currently continues his 20+ year career on staff at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
In 1996 Jim decided to head west to Los Angeles. Jim soon began playing around town with various musical acts in rock and R&B including Dennis Yost (The Classics Four), Jewel Akens (The Birds and The Bees), Jerry Cole (Guitarist on "Tequila" and member of "The Wrecking Crew"), Al Wilson ("Show and Tell"), bassist Tony Newton (Motown Session player, Tony William's Lifetime), Bobby Kimball (Toto) as well as being house drummer at Happy Media Studios in Burbank. It was 2004 when Jim received a phone call from bassist Danny "Clay" Williams, about an immediate spot open drum seat in a full time casino band playing the Reno/Tahoe area to which Jim promptly accepted. The following year he left that band and quickly hooked up with another band he had met on the casino circuit, The "Kid N' Nic Show". It was there that he met Billy Joe Wiseman as he was the band's guitarist. He toured with Bill and the band for about a year when they both felt the need to head back to LA and take a break from the road. In was then in LA in 2009 when Billy Joe told Jim, "Ya gotta meet Lou", (an LA bassist who Bill had played with many times before). Together they began playing through the jazz "real book" and playing local jazz rooms around town. Before long they started composing original music inspired by their many influences in jazz, rock and R&B. They independently released a full length CD in 2011 and an EP in 2012 while continuously playing jazz rooms throughout Los Angeles. In 2016 Oui' 3 signed with ITI Records and looks to release their next CD "Occupy Your Mind" on that label. This Oui' 3 release has some very notable guests such as Jimmy Kimmel Live band leader Cleto Escobedo III and sax legend John Klemmer. Jim and Oui' 3 hope to bring "Occupy Your Mind" to the rest of the world through both radio waves and live performances.
In 1996 Jim decided to head west to Los Angeles. Jim soon began playing around town with various musical acts in rock and R&B including Dennis Yost (The Classics Four), Jewel Akens (The Birds and The Bees), Jerry Cole (Guitarist on "Tequila" and member of "The Wrecking Crew"), Al Wilson ("Show and Tell"), bassist Tony Newton (Motown Session player, Tony William's Lifetime), Bobby Kimball (Toto) as well as being house drummer at Happy Media Studios in Burbank. It was 2004 when Jim received a phone call from bassist Danny "Clay" Williams, about an immediate spot open drum seat in a full time casino band playing the Reno/Tahoe area to which Jim promptly accepted. The following year he left that band and quickly hooked up with another band he had met on the casino circuit, The "Kid N' Nic Show". It was there that he met Billy Joe Wiseman as he was the band's guitarist. He toured with Bill and the band for about a year when they both felt the need to head back to LA and take a break from the road. In was then in LA in 2009 when Billy Joe told Jim, "Ya gotta meet Lou", (an LA bassist who Bill had played with many times before). Together they began playing through the jazz "real book" and playing local jazz rooms around town. Before long they started composing original music inspired by their many influences in jazz, rock and R&B. They independently released a full length CD in 2011 and an EP in 2012 while continuously playing jazz rooms throughout Los Angeles. In 2016 Oui' 3 signed with ITI Records and looks to release their next CD "Occupy Your Mind" on that label. This Oui' 3 release has some very notable guests such as Jimmy Kimmel Live band leader Cleto Escobedo III and sax legend John Klemmer. Jim and Oui' 3 hope to bring "Occupy Your Mind" to the rest of the world through both radio waves and live performances.