Discography

Tenor saxophonists come in all shapes and sizes but the exuberant, struttirg Frank Wright Is pretty typical of the now brood of strong men playing the Instrument.
Frank stands alongside Shapp, Ayler and Pharaoh Sanders in the front rank of the post-Coltrane tenor-men. He has paid some heavy dues to get to the position of making records In order that everyone can hear his gruff and tortuous saxophone, and the toughness of his past existence Is reflected In his uncompromising approach to music.

For 13 years Wright held down a variety of day jobs, – just priming – himself for his day to come. And now It’s here.

Bom 9 July, 1935, in Granada, Mississippi, he grew up In Memphis Tennessee. His soulful Southern background stood him in good stead when he first started playing creative music after moving to the mid-Weatem town of Cleveland, Ohio. There he swapped ideas and blew regularly with his longtime friend and native of Cleveland, Albert Ayler. He studied extensively with orthodox teachers before making the inevitable move to Now York. There he worked with organist Larry Young and his front-line partner on this album, alto saxophonist Noah Howard. He also appeared with Sunny Murray, Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane and was accepted by them all as a man with something to say. Frank Wright was home free.

Noah Howard and pianist Bobby Few who came to Europe with Wright earlier this year are his long-time associates. Few, who was bom in Cleveland, Ohio on. 21 October, 1935, has appeared with the saxophonist off and on since 1956. In New York from 1958-64 he led his own trio while working with people as diverse as Brook Benon and Jackie McLean, and he has also recorded with saxophonists Booker Ervin and Albert Ayier.

Howard comes from the birthplace of jazz Itself. He was bom on 6 April, 1943, In New Orleans. La., and has studied with saxophonists Byron Allen and Sonny Simmons as well as working with Ra, Don and Albert Ayier, Sunny Wright and leading his own group.

The drummer on this album Is almost as surprised to find himself joining forces with the Nbw Music as listeners will be to see his name. Art Taylor, the New Yorker who has been living in Paris for the past few years, has always been associated with the tight hardbop style of jazz; here he makes’ his first foray Into the area of freedom. He reported that this was an enjoyable and challenging expefience for him, and his only quarrel came after the session when the rest of the musicians Insisted on referring to him as the Old Masterl (Taylor is only a couple of years older than Wright himself) As time and place erect no barriers to the creation of worthwhile musical forms, so these four musicians of varied backgrounds have come together a long way from home. Their music talks of today, of the straine and stresses in the atmosphere and the catharsis that creativity provides for the artlet. Listen to Frank Wright, the self-styled Superman of the Saxophone; his finger Is right there- on the pulse of NOW!