"Wagon Wheels" is a relaxed swing performance from Joey DeFrancesco's 2012 album Wonderful! Wonderful!, featuring the organist and guitarist Larry Coryell trading solos over Peter DeRose's 44-bar AABAC form in E-flat major. Coryell's two-chorus guitar solo at 134 beats per minute demonstrates his versatility, his playing here more lyrical and harmonically exploratory than the blues-drenched approach heard on other tracks. DeFrancesco's two-chorus organ solo brings the warmth and swing of the soul jazz tradition, his Hammond B3 producing the rich, churning tones that have made him the instrument's most prominent modern practitioner. The composition, originally written in 1934, has an extended form that gives both soloists more harmonic territory to explore than a standard 32-bar structure would provide. Drummer Jimmy Cobb maintains a relaxed swing feel throughout, his brushwork and cymbal patterns creating an atmosphere of understated elegance. The performance captures the easy musical rapport between DeFrancesco and Coryell, two musicians whose careers had followed different paths through jazz but who found common ground in their shared love of swing and blues. The leisurely tempo and relaxed pacing make "Wagon Wheels" one of the more accessible performances on the album.
