Wright never made much of a name for himself outside the innermost circle of free jazz musicians and fans, yet he was influential in his own subversive way. Unlike
Ornette Coleman,
Albert Ayler, or
Cecil Taylor -- peers and contemporaries who were the same age or only slightly older --
Wright never recorded even a single record under his own name for a major label; he was "underground" his entire career.
Ayler's scalding abstract expressionism was the prime influence on
Wright, who transformed it with his own personality and passed it on. Echoes of
Wright's playing can be heard in the work of such younger saxophonists as
Glenn Spearman,
Sabir Mateen,
Charles Gayle, and Thomas Borgmann.
Wright played electric bass as a young man, performing in R&B bands in Memphis and Cleveland --
Albert Ayler's hometown. It was there that he met
Ayler, who inspired him to take up the tenor saxophone.
Wright moved to New York in the early '60s and established himself on the burgeoning free jazz scene, playing with such musicians as organist
Larry Young, saxophonist
Noah Howard, and drummer
Sunny Murray.
Wright also played briefly with
John Coltrane and
Cecil Taylor. He led his first record date in 1965,
Frank Wright Trio for the ESP label; his band included bassist
Henry Grimes and drummer Tom Price. A
Wright-led quintet recorded
Your Prayer for ESP in 1967. He moved to France two years later, where he played with other American expatriates, including
Noah Howard, pianist
Bobby Few, and drummer
Art Taylor. The early '70s saw
Wright perform and record with a band usually comprised of himself,
Few,
Howard, and drummer (not boxer)
Muhammad Ali; bassist
Alan Silva replaced
Howard around 1972.
After returning briefly to the U.S. in 1971,
Wright moved back to France. During the '70s and '80s, he worked both there and in the U.S., recording mostly for small European labels as both a leader and sideman with such musicians as bassist
Saheb Sarbib, saxophonist
Peter Brötzmann, and trumpeter
Marvin "Hannibal" Peterson. In the mid-'80s, he formed an association with the world-renowned visual artist and sometime musician A.R. Penck; he also recorded and performed with
Cecil Taylor. In 1988, he performed in concert with
the Art Ensemble of Chicago at the Petrillo Bandshell in Chicago. His last recordings from 1989-1990 were with a trio that included Penck on drums and Frank Wollny on bass. ~ Chris Kelsey