John Wright honored

[brownie]

Glad to relay good news from John Wright...

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Wright honored with lifetime achievement award

One of Chicago's well-known jazz artists calls Matteson home.

Jazz pianist John Wright recently was awarded the Walter Dyett Lifetime Achievement Award by the Jazz Institute of Chicago. Musicians consider it to be one of the most prestigious music awards presented in Chicago.

Wright accepted the award during the annual Jazz Institute of Chicago Gala at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago.

"I was very humbled and overwhelmed to be picked out of thousands of musicians," Wright said. "But I thought about it, and to be awarded a lifetime achievement award - you have to have a few gray hairs."

Wright, who has performed around the world, is blind. Like Beethoven, who lost his hearing but continued to play and compose, Wright continues to compose and give jazz performances without his sight. He plays every Thursday at Philander's at the Carleton Hotel of Oak Park, and also performs with his quartet at other Chicago area clubs.

Wright also is executive director of the Hyde Park Jazz Society. The John Wright Quartet was one of the featured performers at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival in September.

Wright was born in 1934 in Louisville, Ky., to a father who worked as a laborer and a mother who served as a missionary. At age 3, Wright began playing the piano at his mother's Pentecostal church. As a young man serving in the Army's Special Services in Europe, Wright came into contact with jazz greats Dizzy Gillespie and Dexter Gordon.

"There were a lot of great musicians in Special Services," he said. "I learned a lot from them."

Wright - a pianist, organist and bassist - to this day does not read music. He is known commercially as "South Side Soul." Some of his recordings include "South Side Soul - John Wright Trio"; "John Wright: Mr. Soul," and "John Wright: The Last Amen." He has recorded at Prestige, Fantus and Catz studios.

Wright is retired from the Cook County Sheriff's Department of Corrections. There, he was affectionately known as "Poppy."

To honor the jazz great, the department named the reference section of the Clarence Darrow Library in Division 5 the John "Poppy" Wright Library.

Wright also is known for annually hosting an end-of-summer mini-festival at his Matteson home, attended by some of the best jazz musicians in Chicagoland, who also perform at the gathering.

Wright has nine children, 29 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren. He is a member of Chicago's Apostolic House of God.

The jazz great's advice to everyone he meets: "First, love the Lord. Then love yourself - only then will you be able to love others."

For more information about the Jazz Institute of Chicago, visit www.jazzinchicago.org.

For more information about the Hyde Park Jazz Society, visit www.hydeparkjazzsociety.org

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

That's really good! I love John Wright's playing; his sound is captivating!

He's obviously made more recordings than I know about.

Thanks Brownie.

MG

[epistrophy007]

Don't know why but I think his 'La Salle St. After Hours' is one of the most sexiest numbers ever :blush2:

j.