September 2, 2018, 11:30am: Tribute to John Wright at Chicago Jazz Festival
Chicago Jazz Festival: Tribute to John Wright
September 2, 2018 | 11:30am
Chicago Jazz Festival | Von Freeman Pavilion
Millennium Park | Chicago, IL
“He don’t just play the piano, he makes it talk back,” guitar great George Freeman once said of John Wright. Despite a string of acclaimed trio albums for the prominent Prestige label in the early ’60s, Wright’s playing never spoke loudly (or predictably) enough to save him from many years of obscurity. Personal and physical setbacks held back the man called “South Side Soul” as well.
But his long residence at Philanders restaurant in Oak Park gave fans the opportunity to bask in his special talents. In 2009, the Jazz Institute of Chicago awarded him the Walter Dyett Lifetime Achievement Award. When Wright died late last year, a few years after an emotional comeback performance at the Chicago Jazz Festival, his reputation as one of the city’s finest “ticklers” was firmly in place.
Today, his memory – and his gift for accompanying singers – will be celebrated by five of the city’s finest vocalists: Dee Alexander, Frieda Lee, Lady T (Toscanellie Marcelain) and Marvinetta Penn. They will appear with the superb pianist and ragtime specialist Reginald Robinson and a band including guitarist Jim Pierce, bassist Dan Delorenzo and drummer William Cochran.
The Evolution Ensemble consists of: ERNIE ADAMS (drums); SCOTT HESSE (guitar); JUNIUS PAUL (bass); TOMEKA REID (cello).