Bernard Wright

Like Tom Browne and Lenny White/Twennynine, Bernard Wright was part of Jamaica, Queens' R&B/funk scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, which gave us such major hits as Twennynine's "Peanut Butter" and Browne's "Funkin' for Jamaica." Browne and White were both talented jazz musicians, but R&B/funk was their main focus at that time…

Like Tom Browne and Lenny White/Twennynine, Bernard Wright was part of Jamaica, Queens' R&B/funk scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, which gave us such major hits as Twennynine's "Peanut Butter" and Browne's "Funkin' for Jamaica." Browne and White were both talented jazz musicians, but R&B/funk was their main focus at that time. Similarly, keyboardist/pianist Wright occasionally flirts with instrumental jazz on his debut album, 'Nard, but pays a lot more attention to vocal-oriented soul and funk. The only instrumentals on this out-of-print LP are the jazz-funk smoker "Firebolt Hustle," the Rodney Franklin-ish "Bread Sandwiches," and a relaxed interpretation of Miles Davis' "Solar," which finds Wright forming an acoustic piano trio with bassist Buster Williams and drummer Roy Haynes.

Frank Wright - The Complete ESP-Disk' Recordings (1965) {2CD Set, ESP 4007 rel 2005}
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© 1965-67, 2005 ESP-Disk' | ESP 4007
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Tenor Saxophone

Frank Wright, childhood friend of the Ayler brothers, started out (musically speaking) as an R&B bassist, but was convinced by Albert Ayler to switch to tenor sax. He came to be the epitome of the free jazz tenorman, a hard blower whose intensity and "preaching" style earned him the nickname "The Reverend" and the undying respect of the style's connoisseurs. Given the Ayler connection, it's not surprising that he started his recording career as a leader on ESP-Disk' with the two albums compiled here in their entirety, 1965's Frank Wright Trio and 1967's Your Prayer (and, for the first time in this 2005 edition, supplemented by context-providing interview material). Note that the title would more accurately be The Complete Studio ESP Recordings; the 1974 concert recording Unity, issued by ESP in 2006, is not included here. The unrelenting fervor of Wright's playing on these LPs are a wonder of nature.