Hard grooving bassist and sophisticated composer, Aaron Immanuel
Wright's unique cultivation of musical influence and technique makes
him one of today's most eclectic and cutting edge performers. Born in
Hood River, Oregon and having spent extensive time playing numerous
venues in Portland, the San Francisco Bay, Los Angeles, and New York,
Wright's background is as diverse as his music. His first written-down
composition, “Spring Vacation,” was written at the age of nine while
taking piano lessons from his Grandmother Geneva Wright, a Pacific
Northwest composer and piano pedagogue.

At age thirteen, after inheriting a sizable collection of vinyl jazz
records and an affinity for the blues, he began taking regular trips
on the Greyhound to Portland to learn electric bass from his uncle and
country-folk bassist/songwriter Donny Wright. It was during this time
he also began a lifelong relationship with the double bass, studying
with Steven Scott at Bend Senior High School, where he could be found
playing for the string ensemble, big band, and jazz choir. It was
there that he also fell in love with recording technology, producing
recordings of his original compositions for the school’s video
production program.

At age fifteen, Wright moved down to Berkeley, California, where his
love of jazz drove him to watch legendary performers at such Bay area
hot spots as Yoshi's and Kimball's East. He relentlessly pursued the
concerts of McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones’ Jazz Machine, Jackie McLean, and
Ahmad Jamal to name a few. At Berkeley High he would go on to write
tunes that were played frequently by the competitive Berkeley High
Jazz Combo. Eventually he would be accepted into UC Berkeley's Young
Musicians Program, where he committed himself to the study of piano
and music theory, as well as the composition of chamber orchestra
works, several of which were performed at YMP venues and Berkeley High
Orchestra concerts.

The years following Wright's time in high school were marked by an
interesting mix of instability and inspiration. Moving back and forth
between Oregon and Northern California and a number of grueling day
jobs, he still managed to compose for the Portland-based Fear No Music
ensemble. He also managed to study double bass with Dan Shulte and
classical bass with both the late Ken Baldwin in Portland and Alex
Glickman in Albany, CA. Wright's talents were perhaps best tested
while busking in the streets of Portland and Oakland, where, often
playing with horns and competing with harsh urban noises, he was
forced to develop a “bigger sound” and truly project his bass lines
without the aid of an amp. Needless to say, this enriched his
appreciation for Mingus, Israel Crosby, and other bassists who'd
learned to perform with such presence.

At age twenty-three, after stints leading an electric blues trio and
picking up jazz gigs in the Bay area, Wright moved to Los Angeles,
where he built a project studio that became a hang-out for local jazz
and classical musicians. In this “workshop” environment, he was able
to experiment with unusual meters and refine his style of voice
leading, producing many chamber music recordings in an independent
capacity.

Eventually, his relentless search for an authentic voice as a composer
led him to question the very nature of truth and authenticity. This is
why he took up the study of analytic philosophy and literature at
California State University Northridge. While at CSUN, he quickly
became in demand as a chamber music performer, and was able to revisit
the challenges of performing primarily with the bow, a weak point for
many jazz bass players. Of course, taking advantage of the L.A. scene
he “ghost wrote” on he side for several media projects and frequently
worked as a studio musician.

Since receiving his BA in philosophy, Wright has moved to New York
City and recorded his first studio album, Eleven Daughters. An
all-acoustic jazz quartet album, it was recorded with vintage
microphones in Oregon’s world class Big Red Studios. Album personnel
includes pianist Darrell Grant, one of Wright's old heroes from his
Portland days, Tim Willcox on sax, and drummer Brian Menendez, a
Philadelphia-based musician with whom Wright has clocked in thousands
of hours of playing time.





-Biography by Thomas Anderson-