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{{shortShort description|American jazz musicianbassist (1923–2020)}}
{{Other uses}}
{{use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{use American English|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians -->
| name = Eugene Wright
| image = Davebrubeckquartet1967aEugene Wright, 1962.jpg
| landscape=yes
| caption = Wright (atin left with bass) performing with the [[Dave Brubeck|Dave Brubeck Quartet]], 19671962
| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_name = Eugene Joseph Wright
| birth_date = {{birth date|1923|5|29}}
| birth_place = [[Chicago]], Illinois, U.S.
| birth_place = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], U.S.<ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=It's about Time: Dave Brubeck (p)|year=1996|author=Hall, F.|publisher=University of Arkansas Press |isbn=9781610752107 |url=https://archive.org/details/itsabouttimedave00hall |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/itsabouttimedave00hall/page/85 85] |access-date=2015-11-20}}</ref>▼
| death_date = {{death date and age|2020|12|30|1923|5|29}}
| death_place = [[Los Angeles]], California]], U.S.
| genre = Jazz
| occupation = Musician
| instrument = [[Double bass]]
| years_active = 1943–20201958–2020
| label = [[Columbia Records|Columbia]]
| associated_actspast_member_of = [[Dave Brubeck|The Dave Brubeck Quartet]]
}}
 
'''Eugene Joseph Wright''' (May 29, 1923 – December 30, 2020)<ref name=":0">{{Cite webnews|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/arts/music/eugene-wright-dead.html|title=Eugene Wright, Longtime Brubeck Quartet Bassist, Dies at 97|first=Richard|last=Sandomir|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 8, 2021|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.wbgo.org/post/eugene-wright-steadfast-bassist-and-longtime-anchor-dave-brubeck-quartet-dies-97|title=Eugene Wright, Steadfast Bassist and Longtime Anchor of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Dies at 97|first=Nate|last=Chinen|website=www.wbgo.org|date=31 December 2020}}</ref> was an American [[jazz bass]]ist who was a member of the [[Dave Brubeck#Dave Brubeck Quartet|Dave Brubeck Quartet]].
 
==Career==
[[File:Davebrubeckquartet1967a.jpg|thumb|left|Wright (at left with bass) performing with the [[Dave Brubeck|Dave Brubeck Quartet]] in [[West Germany]], 1967.]]
Wright was a [[cornet]]ist at high school and led the 16-piece band Dukes of Swing in his 20s. He was largely self-taught on [[jazz bass|bass]] until his early 30s, when he studied privately with Paul Gregory and others.<ref name="auto"/> [[Walter Page]] was Wright's idol.<ref name=":0" />
▲|Wright birth_placewas born =in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], U.S.<ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=It's about Time: Dave Brubeck (p)|year=1996|author=Hall, F.|publisher=University of Arkansas Press |isbn=9781610752107 |url=https://archive.org/details/itsabouttimedave00hall |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/itsabouttimedave00hall/page/85 85] |access-date=2015-11-20}}</ref> He was a [[cornet]]ist at high school and led the 16-piece band Dukes of Swing in his 20s. He was largely self-taught on [[jazz bass|bass]] until his early 30s, when he studied privately with Paul Gregory and others.<ref name="auto"/> [[Walter Page]] was Wright's idol.<ref name=":0" />
 
He became more successful at the peak of the [[swing music|swing era]], with bandleaders including [[Count Basie]] and [[Erroll Garner]]. Playing with [[Billie Holiday]] and [[Charlie Parker]], after the swing era ended, he demonstrated his versatility in [[bebop]] with such musicians as [[Sonny Stitt]] as well as in [[Latin jazz]] with [[Cal Tjader]].<ref name=guardian>{{cite web |first=Ben |last=Beaumont-Thomas |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/01/eugene-wright-bassist-classic-dave-brubeck-quartet-dies-aged-97 |title=Eugene Wright, bassist with classic Dave Brubeck Quartet, dies aged 97 |date=January 1, 2021 |website=The Guardian |access-date=January 1, 2021}}</ref>
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He also played with [[Lonnie Simmons (jazz musician)|Lonnie Simmons]], [[Gene Ammons]], and [[Arnett Cobb]] in the late '40s and early '50s, then worked with [[Buddy DeFranco]] from 1952 to 1955, touring Europe with him. He played in the [[Red Norvo]] trio in 1955 and toured Australia with them. He was featured in a film short with [[Charlie Barnet]].<ref name= allabout/>
 
Wright's mosthighest notableprofile workassociation was with the [[Dave Brubeck|Dave Brubeck Quartet]], which he joined in 1958. He remained with Brubeck until 1968, as part of the classic line-up with [[Paul Desmond]] and [[Joe Morello]], and featured in Brubeckthe quartet's notable [[Jazz standard|standards]] "[[Take Five]]" and "[[Blue Rondo à la Turk]]". He recorded more than 30 albums with the group. Brubeck himself wrote that Wright "grounded the group", allowing them "to play other tempos and do polyrhythmic things and he wouldn’t budge from this grounded beat".<ref name=guardian/>
 
In 1962, he performed in Dave and Iola Brubeck's jazz musical ''[[The Real Ambassadors]]'', which featured vocals by [[Louis Armstrong]] and [[Carmen McRae]]; the work explored, through satire, the role of musicians as cultural ambassadors during the [[Cold War]], and the racism Black jazz musicians often endured. When Wright joined the group, concert promoters would not allow a Black musician alongside the rest of the whiteWhite quartet, but Brubeck would refuse to perform without him.<ref name=guardian/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amacad.org/publication/dave-brubecks-southern-strategy|title=Dave Brubeck’sBrubeck's Southern Strategy|website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences|date=21 March 2019 |access-date=January 2, 2021}}</ref>
 
After leaving Brubeck, Wright led his own ensemble on a tour of Black colleges in 1969 and 1970, then played with [[Monty Alexander]]'s trio from 1971 to 1974.<ref name=allabout/>
 
He became known as "The Senator" or "Senator Eugene Wright" among jazz musicians.<ref>{{cite web |title=Renowned Jazz Bassist "Senator" Eugene Wright Visits UOP and Brubeck Institute |url=https://brubeckinstitute.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/renowned-jazz-bassist-senator-eugene-wright-to-visit-uop-and-brubeck-institute/ |website=Brubeck Institute |access-date=26 August 2020 |date=October 21, 2013}}</ref><ref name=allabout>{{cite web |title=Eugene Wright |url=https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/eugenewright |website=All About Jazz |access-date=26 August 2020 |date=June 7, 2020}}</ref> Known for nimble soloing as well as providing rhythmic backing,<ref name=guardian/> he worked with many other notable musicians including [[Buddy Collette]], [[Vince Guaraldi]], [[Kenny Drew]], [[Gerald Wiggins]], [[Kai Winding]], [[Dottie Dodgion]], [[Jerry Dodgion]], [[Lee Shaw]], and [[Dorothy Donegan]].<ref name="auto"/>
 
In his later life, Wright headed the jazz department at the [[University of Cincinnati]] and the [[International Society of Bassists]]. He was the last surviving member of the classic Dave Brubeck Quartet line-up.<ref name=guardian/> He died at an assisted living facility in Los Angeles on December 30, 2020, at the age of 97.<ref name=":0"/>
 
==Discography==
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[[Category:American male jazz musicians]]
[[Category:American jazz double-bassists]]
[[Category:MaleAmerican male double-bassists]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American peoplemusicians]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American peoplemusicians]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from Chicago]]
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