Wright, Frank
Wright, Frank
Wright, Frank, free-jazz tenor saxophonist, leader; b. Grenada, Miss., July 9, 1935; d. Germany, May 17, 1990. He grew up in Memphis and Cleveland, where he played bass guitar with local band leader Little Chickadee and backed R&B artists including Rosco Gordon, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and B.B. King. He switched to tenor saxophone following the influence of Albert Ayler, whom he met in Cleveland. In the early 1960s he moved to N.Y.C, and recorded with H. Grimes (1965), J. Coursil, A. Jones (1967); Wright played with Albert Ayler, Larry Young, Noah Howard, S. Murray, and briefly with Cecil Taylor, and John Coltrane. He moved to Europe in 1969 and lived in Paris, where he led a quartet in which his sidemen were Howard (later replaced by Alan Silva), the pianist Bobby Few, and the drummer Muhammad Ali; with this group, he made recordings in 1969 and 1970 before returning to the U.S. for a brief period in 1971. After moving again to France, he continued to lead the quartet (recording in 1972 and 1974) and toured Europe. In the mid-1980s he performed and recorded with Taylor’s big band. Wright was also an ordained minister.
Discography
Frank Wright Trio (1965); Trio (1965); Your Prayer (1967); Kevin, My Dear Son (1978); Stove Man, Love Is the Word (1979).
—Lewis Porter