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Jack Wright

Spring Garden Music began in 1982 as the name given to a bunch of raucous improvisers from Philadelphia. Some of these musicians lived in a house on Spring Garden Street, that was owned by a rambunctious 40-year-old (now 64) saxophonist, Jack Wright. It became the name for the label of his first record, and then more generally for the adventure of himself and his musical partners. This music expanded and changed as he criss-crossed North America, and also Europe, adding partners from everywhere, in performances and private sessions. After a 16-year disappearance in the wilds of Colorado, Jack returned to the East Coast in 2003, and now lives in nearby Easton PA, on--amazingly enough--a street named Spring Garden. He travels even wider horizons, and brings back players from afar to play at the house in Philadelphia. He has also stocked the house with improvisers, ready to receive visitors interested in like-minded musical experiences. As of March 2007 these are Dave Smolen, percussion and electronics; Evan Lipson, bass; Jon Barrios, bass, Ann Weste, cello; and Alban Bailly, guitar, and Dan Scofield, saxophone.

This music is known as free improvisation, a music without known structure or mainstream visibility, bold enough to be uncomfortable with itself. This website opens the door to those who want to look in on this playing and some of the thought behind it. It is another room in the house, where questions are raised about the fundamental direction of our music, and every answer provokes further questions, even doubts. The site is not just for the devotees of this obscure music, but for all who love music that creates itself. We are searching for what will open us to the unknown that lies within, which includes but is not limited to the musical direction we have chosen.

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6
Book Review

The Free Musics by Jack Wright

Read "The Free Musics by Jack Wright" reviewed by Daniel Barbiero


The Free Musics Jack Wright 316 Pages ISBN: 1537777246 Spring Garden Music Editions 2017 Saxophonist Jack Wright's first encounter with free jazz occurred in 1967, when a chance meeting with Charlie Haden resulted in Wright's being invited to see Haden play with Ornette Coleman. Wright, who had been a conventional jazz saxophonist, describes the music as having struck him as “chaotic" and the experience as having been “traumatic." Nevertheless, five years later he ...

161
Album Review

Jack Wright/John M. Bennett/Ben Bennett: Rotty What

Read "Rotty What" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Note to my editor: do not attempt a spell check of this review, as much of the language presented on Rotty What won't be found in any modern language dictionaries.

That's the ticket here: full frontal nudity. Well, substitute spontaneous combustion for the naked parts, and you have an idea what you are in for when poet/mail artist/writer/publisher John Bennett collaborates with saxophonist Jack Wright. This self-produced CD-R documents a mini-tour and performance by the pair with John's son, Ben ...

157
Album Review

Jack Wright: The Indeterminate Existence

Read "The Indeterminate Existence" reviewed by Mark Corroto


The liner notes to The Indeterminate Existence, penned by Jack Wright, indicate that he no longer plays music like what can be heard on these seven tracks from the years 1988-98. While I might disagree, I will note that any occasion Wright steps onto a stage, you will hear something new, conceived and created in that moment.

The seven solo pieces Wright refers to here are all physically demanding note-after-note marathons. What Wright refers to in his liner ...

197
Album Review

Jack Wright: As Is: Solos from Beirut and Barcelona

Read "As Is: Solos from Beirut and Barcelona" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Dear Mr. Jack Wright,

Please don't sell out your ideals for a quick dollar. With the increasing interest in free jazz improvisation, don't license you music to club DJs for a remix project. If you get an offer, don't do a standards record, a Jack Wright With Strings recording, or a duet session with Tony Bennett, Bono or David Hasselhoff.

Signed, A dedicated listener

Certainly I jest, but indeed the global market ...

326
Album Review

Jack Wright / Carol Genetti / Jon Mueller: Nom Tom

Read "Nom Tom" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Jack Wright continues to be the greatest free jazz saxophonist you've never heard. But that is his calling, not his choice. He travels the land playing for audiences of two to two hundred, can teach a very inspired history lesson, or scramble some eggs. It makes no difference to him. Wright chose his path long ago, placing creativity above popularity, sound generation above melody.

Recently, more artists have come forward with similar ideas of improvisation. Together they are ...

123
Album Review

Jack Wright & Bob Falesch: Clang

Read "Clang" reviewed by Mark Corroto


With much admiration, I have followed the very uncompromising career of saxophonist Jack Wright. His dedication to his outer-fringes (not even THE outer-fringes) of music have corralled his music into the margins, the proverbial footnote-to-the-footnote of history. Jack explores the music beyond that of Evan Parker and Mats Gustafsson. He reinvents the honk, the squeak, and the growl as musical conversations. Mr. Wright’s performances are frequently room clearing, or just as often standing ovations. His music is heady, intellectual, coarse ...

260
Album Review

Jack Wright: Places To Go

Read "Places To Go" reviewed by Mark Corroto


By Anthony Braxton’s definition, Jack Wright is a very dangerous man. Not danger as in hazards, but dangerous as in possibilities. Braxton classifies musicians as traditionalists (retro-New Orleans), stylists (all those hard-bop clones), and restructuralists (Charlie Parker, John Cage, Sun Ra). The restructualist Wright, like Parker in his time, is walking the precipice of creative music. Working new sonic boundaries, not readily acceptable to the average listener (or even average jazz listener). Wright works on the outer edge of improvisation, ...

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30

Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Peter Martin and Inner Circle, Jack Wright, Rick Haydon, Jazz St. Louis' Annual Gala, Delfeayo Marsalis, and More

Jazz This Week: Peter Martin and Inner Circle, Jack Wright, Rick Haydon, Jazz St. Louis' Annual Gala, Delfeayo Marsalis, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

There's lots going on this week with jazz and creative music in St. Louis, and due to impending deadlines, not much time to tell you about it. So, without further preamble, let's go to the highlights.... Tonight, the free improvising saxophonist Jack Wright returns to St. Louis for the first time in four years for a performance at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. Always eager to collaborate with other improvisors, Wright will be aided and abetted by saxophonist Dave Stone and ...

28

Performance / Tour

Jack Wright to Perform Thursday, March 8 at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center

Jack Wright to Perform Thursday, March 8 at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Saxophonist Jack Wright is returning to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, March 8 at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. The free-improvising reedman (and occasional pianist) has played here a number of times since the mid-1990s, both at LNAC and at various venues under the auspices of New Music Circle, but this will be his first show in St. Louis in four years. Opening the concert will be epicycle, aka LNAC's head honcho Mark Sarich. Tickets for Jack Wright ...

178

Performance / Tour

Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone / Jack Wright Quartet @ Lilypad on April 16

Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone / Jack Wright Quartet @ Lilypad on April 16

Source: All About Jazz

Thursday - April 16th The Lily Pad 1353 Cambridge Street - Inman Square Cambridge MA 7 PM MARY HALVORSON & JESSICA PAVONE Mary Halvorson - guitar/vocals Jessica Pavone - viola/vocals “The guitarist Mary Halvorson and the violist Jessica Pavone have worked together in ensembles led by the avant-garde eminence Anthony Braxton, and separately in a wide array of upstart new-music groups. As an acoustic duo they produce something distinct and ...

236

Performance / Tour

Ryan Snow Presents "Basement Music Series" with Peter Evans, Adam Caine, Jack Wright on February 27 & 28

Ryan Snow Presents "Basement Music Series" with Peter Evans, Adam Caine, Jack Wright on February  27 & 28

Source: All About Jazz

An ongoing series at: Snow's Basement 796 Grand St. #1 Brooklyn NY 11211

Friday, February 27th

Peter Evans Solo Trumpet

Adam Caine Trio (Caine guitar, Tom Blancarte bass, John Wagner drums) Jason Nazary Solo Laptop

Saturday, February 28th

Jack Wright Trio (Wright sax, Reuben Radding bass, Andrew Drury drums)

Ben Gerstein (trombone) Mat Maneri (viola) Duo

Nick Lyons Solo Saxophone

All shows start at 9pm and have a $5 suggested donation. BYOB. ...

The Washington Post once allowed this to be printed: "In the rarefied, underground world of experimental free improvisation, saxophonist Jack Wright is king". And a German publication, Bad Alchemy, had this to say of his solo: "Wright does not make music, he embodies it, he transforms it with a naiveté of another order. It grows into a sound river, he is part of the diaphragm through which the heterogeneous whispers."

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