Before vibraphonist Julius Wechter became a pop-rock studio musician in Los Angeles, played marimba on Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass recordings, led Alpert's Baja Marimba Band, wrote "Spanish Flea" for the Tijuana Brass and played on movie and television soundtracks in Hollywood, he was a West Coast jazz combo leader.
Born in Chicago in 1935, Wechter moved…