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| BIOGRAPHY PART 3 | 
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biography I discography 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 I press |
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| March 16, 1971 Wright again performed with THE BIG BAND OF RTV ZAGREB
in Yugoslavia. A compilation, which combines recordings of the band
between 1968-1980, 'Golden Hours-Big Band RTV Zagreb With American
Soloists' (Jugoton), was released in 1983. Among the soloists were:
Art Taylor, Art Farmer, Lucky Thompson, Johnny Griffin, Kai Winding
and John Lewis. From a guest performance of the SFB Big Band at the Festival Orphee D'Or comes an album of the same name, arranged and conducted by PAUL KUHN, recorded 197? live in Bulgaria and issued by Bulgarian label Balkanton. Soloists are: singers DONNA HIGHTOWER and JOY FLEMING, trumpeter MILO PAVLOVIC, ANDRÉ PAQUINET on trombone, LEO WRIGHT on alto and HEINZ VON HERMANN on tenor. There´s another LP by 'Paul Kuhn & SFB Tanzorchester', (exact date unknown) issued by German label Hoerzu. |
Among the musicians were: again MILO PAVLOVIC,
trombonist ÅKE PERSSON, LEO on alto, and EUGEN CICERO on piano;
as always, arranged & conducted by PAUL KUHN. For other recordings
with the SFB big band, see SFB-page (link at the bottom of this page). Leo played at the '21. International Jazz Festival Zürich' on September 16, 1971, the same entitled album was released by MPS, later reissued as 'From Europe With Jazz', with ART FARMER, BENNY BAILEY, DUSKO GOYKOVICH, FRANCO AMBROSETTI on trumpets, SLIDE HAMPTON, JIGGS WHIGHAM, ALBERT MANGELSDORFF, ÅKE PERSSON on trombones, HERB GELLER on alto and oboe, HEINZ BIEGLER on alto, DEXTER GORDON and DON BYAS on tenor, SAHIB SHIHAB on bs, ISLA ECKINGER on bass and TONY INZALACO on drums. |
Leo in the 70ies
| Leo´s sixth
album 'It's All Wright - Leo Wright Plays 12 All-Time-Hits' (MPS/BASF)
was recorded in February and March 1972 at Sono-Press-Studio in Berlin,
with trumpeters MILO PAVLOVIC, CARMELL JONES, ROLF ERICSON and ACK
VAN ROOYEN, trombonists ÅKE PERSSON, SLIDE HAMPTON, CHARLES
ORIEUX and LOU BLACKBURN, pianist EUGEN CICERO, guitarists PIERRE
LOUIS and INGO KRAMER, organist LOU BENNETT, JEAN WARLAND on electric-bass,
TONY INZALACO on drums and PETER LEWISON and DAI BOWEN on percussions.
It was arranged and conducted by JERRY VAN ROOYEN, and produced by
GUNTHER HENNE. The same year Leo Wright gave a guest performance in Finland. During the early 1970´s Leo still worked regularly at the 'Jazzgalerie' in Berlin (Bundesallee 194b). In September 1973 Wright jammed in a session with members of the Count Basie band. He also played with pianist TETE MONTOLIU, in a group with BENNY BAILEY and HERB GELLER on trumpets, SLIDE HAMPTON on trombone and SAHIB SHIHAB on tenor, and worked with the SFB orchestra. |
Leo played at the Jazz Workshop East-West 74 on May 2-5, 1974, as part
of the 'Americans in Europe': Dizzy Reece, Kenny Drew, Jimmy Woode,
Allen Blairman. Among the other performers were: Albert Mangelsdorff
Quartet, Dollar Brand African Space Programme, Hans Koller Free Sound,
Mal Waldron Quintet, Ken Rhodes Trio, Bela Lakatos Quartet, Bobby
Jones Trio and the Bosko Petrovic Nonconvertible All Stars. In the summer of 1975 Leo teamed up with DIZZY GILLESPIE again, performing 'Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival' (Fantasy/OJC), with LALO SCHIFRIN, JOE CARROLL, BOB CUNNINGHAM and CHUCK LAMPKIN. Leo got divorced, after a short marriage to Ingrid Röhnert, before he married his last wife, Austrian Jazz singer ELLY WRIGHT (Petronella Campbell) on October 28, 1975 in Berlin, where they both formed the group LEO WRIGHT AND FRIENDS - with ROLF ERICSON (tp), EDUARDO LISAVETZKY (p), ALADÁR PEGE (b) and ROLF STEPHENSON (dr). |
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| In June 1976 Leo played at the Jazz 200 Festival (Bicentennial) in
Hamburg´s Stadtpark, recorded by NDR-TV. Among the musicians
were: JIMMY WITHERSPOON, GENE CONNERS, BENNY BAILEY, HORACE PARLAN,
JIMMY WOODE, ART TAYLOR and JOHNNY GRIFFIN. In 1980 the Hungarian label Pepita issued an album, which has been recorded at the occasion of two Hungarian Jazz Workshops (in 1976/ 78) and at the Alba Regia Jazz Festival (in 1978): bassist ALADÁR PEGE´s album is simply entitled 'Pege', and besides Leo the following musicians appear: BENNY BAILEY on trumpet, ART FARMER on cornet, HANS SALOMON, JANUSZ NEMETH and JOSZEF BALOGH on reeds, BELA SZAKCSI LAKATOS on piano, ALEXANDER LAKATOS on viola, and VILMOS JAVORY and CZESLAW BARTKOWSKI on drums. Together with the RICHARD SEDDIN ORCHESTRA Leo recorded 'Are You Lonesome Tonight' for Hansa/Ariola in Berlin (exact date and musicians unknown). |
In January 1977 he played on an LP called 'Jazz Bei Freddy' for the
Wunderteam label in Vienna, with FRITZ PAUER, JIMMY WOODE and
TONY INZALACO; in February he performed at the 'Stars im Studio'
- show of Berlin´s SFB-TV, together with ETTA JAMES.
was recorded (location unknown). It was released by the Roulette label and produced by Guenter Henne (personnel unknown). He recorded two tracks ('Flamingo' and 'Please Don´t Touch') in Berlin for the Toledo label and played on pianist RED GARLAND´s LP 'I Left My Heart In San Francisco' (Muse), recorded live at Keystone Korner in San Francisco in May, with CHRIS AMBERGER on bass and EDDIE MOORE on drums - it was reissued in 1999 by 32. Jazz Records. |
| Leo also worked at 'Badenscher Hof' in Berlin and 'Dennis´ Swing
Club' in Hamburg. In November he played with CANDY GREEN at the 'Jazzkeller'
in Berlin, the concert was broadcasted in an SFB radio-show called
'Monday Music'. In late 1979 Leo had a stroke in Berlin, which forced him to retire for some time. In early 1981 (?) he had a terminated contract with SFB, because the orchestra discontinued. After Leo played his last concert in Berlin at the 'America House' in July, he and his wife moved to Vienna. In 1986 he performed on his wife Elly´s album 'Lady Champagne - ELLY WRIGHT & Friends' (Groove Records), recorded at Soundborn Studio in Vienna, with PETER MARINOFF on guitar, ALBERT MAIR on piano, MILAN PILAR on bass, KARL PROSENIK on drums and HAROLD SMITH on drums & vocals. |
A concert of trumpeter Clark Terry was recorded in 1988 by the German TV station
'3 Sat' and broadcasted as part of the 'All that Jazz - Concerto Massimo'-series,
called 'Jazz Legends - Clark Terry', featuring: THOMAS HEIDEPRIEM (b),
LEO (sax), KEVIN MULLIGAN (g), ROBERTO DI GIOIA (p) and ALVIN QUEEN
(dr). November 3, 1990 Leo performed at the 'Tribute to Charlie Parker' at the 7th Ingolstädter Jazztage and on the next day he played his very last concert, with JIMMY WITHERSPOON in Ingolstadt. On Friday January 4, 1991 Leo Wright died in Vienna/Austria, from a heart attack on his way from the doctor. He was buried on January 24 in Vienna. His last recorded notes are on ELLY WRIGHT´s LP 'Listen To My Plea' (Groove Records), recorded in 1990, with RICHARD BOONE on trombone & vocals, PETER MARINOFF and THE SOPHISTICATED LADIES. |
| A BIG THANK YOU !!! to Mrs. Elly Wright for biographical material and photos. |
Elly Wright Autobiographie  ELLY WRIGHT– SWING LADY SWING. DIE GESCHICHTE VON ELLY UND LEO WRIGHT In dieser berührenden Autobiografie erzählt Elly Wright mit viel Witz und zahllosen Anekdoten von ihrem Leben. 1940 als Petronella Vasicek in einem Wiener Hinterhof geboren, startete sie künstlerisch zuerst als Tänzerin in Showprogrammen durch und wechselte später sehr erfolg- reich zum Jazzgesang, wo sie eine internationale Karriere hinlegte. Für Generationen von hei- mischen Sängerinnen war sie zugleich Lehrerin, Vorbild und Inspiration. Viel Platz widmet das Buch ihrem früh verstorbenen Mann Leo, der zu den besten Musikern in Amerika zählte und etwa mit Charles Mingus oder Dizzie Gillespie arbeitete. Ein Muss für Jazzfans und zugleich ein bemerkenswertes Dokument der Wiener Kunstszene nach dem Krieg. (JS) Eigenverlag Elly Wright, Wien 2017, 216 Seiten, Softcover, zahlreiche Abbildungen ISBN: 978-3-200-05367-0; Bestellung: ellywright@aon.at |
Leo Wright on facebook
| autobiography GOD IS MY BOOKING AGENT, by Leo Wright and Kevin Lambert (Bayou Jazz Series), published: fall 1991, Cassell Academic, ISBN: 0304336092; Bayou Press, c/o Alyn Shipton, 117 High St., Wheatley, Oxford OX 9 IVE, phone: 08677 / 3972; editor's e-mail: klambert@fnsg.com from Leo Wright's final chapter: "...Leo Wright died of a heart attack about one year after we sold this MS to Bayou Press. ...I wrote his obituary for JAZZ TIMES, quoting Dizzy Gillespie, who called him a heavenly flutist... Musicians in San Francisco, Berlin and Vienna still talk about him." [Bayou Press also published a Pony Poindexter biography] |
 Leo Wright with Olaf Kübler and Eddie Harris. |
online biographies music.excite.com getmusic.com online discography dustygroove.com |
| bibliography The Encyclopedia of Jazz, Leonard Feather (New York, 1955, revised and enlarged 2/1960/R1986). The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Sixties, Leonard Feather (New York, 1966/R1984). The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Seventies, Leonard Feather and I. Gitler (New York, 1976/R1987). New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (1988). ro-ro-ro Jazz-Lexikon, Martin Kunzler (1988). Reclams Jazzfuehrer, Bohlaender/Holler/Pfarr (1989). Dictionnaire du Jazz, Carles/Clergeat/Comolli (1988,1995). |
 Fascination Jazz, 14/8 (August 1965), (Ex-GDR) has photos of Leo Wright. |
 Jazz picture photo book , Ed Van Der Eksken, Netherlands edition (1991), publisher: Frament Uitgeverij, ISBN 90 6579 086 1, softcover; with b&w photos of the jazz greats, incl.: Leo Wright, C. Baker, S. Rollins, M. Davis, H. Silver, D. Ellington, L. Young and more. |
articles [A] = article written by the musician himself [C] = concert review [F] = feature article [I] = interview
[P] = photos [O ] = obituary [R] = extensive record review
| DOWNBEAT
28/11 (May 25, 1961), p. 35-36 [R] Don DeMichael: Leo Wright 'Blues Shout' (Atlantic). DOWNBEAT 29/3 (February 1962), p. 15, 37 [F] Don DeMichael: Leo Wright. Young-Old Jazzman.  DOWNBEAT (February 1, 1962) [A ] feature articles: Tuba, Horn with problems, Leo Wright, C. Hawkins, B. Holiday... Blindfold Test: Vic Feldman. |
 DOWNBEAT (August 1962) 10th Annual Jazz Critics Poll Results with small photo features on, among others, Leo Wright. |
DOWNBEAT 31/30 (November 1964), p. 6 [I] Leo Wright: Chords & Discords. Wright Replies. DOWNBEAT (1965), features Leo Wright as well.  DOWNBEAT 31/20 (July 1964), p. 64-73 [I] 30th anniversary issue 1934-1964. Jack Lind: Americans in Europe. A Discussion - with Leo Wright, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew. |
 DOWNBEAT (Nov. 22, 1973) features Leo Wright. |
JAZZ JOURNAL , 44/3 (March 1991), p. 19 [F /O ] Mark Gardner: Obituaries. Leo Wright. |
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MELODY MAKER (May 27, 1967), p. 6 [F] J. Dawson: Wright. Breaking down the wall. MELODY MAKER, (November 11, 1972), features Leo Wright as well. METRONOME, 78/12 (December 1961) [A/F] p. 21 [A] Leo Wright: A Tribute to Johnny Hodges, p. 26 [F] Dan Morgenstern: Introducing Leo Wright. |
FF - Funk und Fernsehen der DDR Nr. 45, 2. Novemberheft 1966 (6.11.-12.11.1966) features Leo Wright
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