Piano Jack, by Jack Wright

Piano Jack

by Jack Wright

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about

These recordings were made in 1999-2002 in Boulder CO, where I was living at the time. If asked whether I know how to play piano, I would say no. As with all instruments, that would mean the ability to read music and/or play a tune by ear, and I've never had any inclination to do either. So I am not even self-taught; rather I have created my own relation to the piano.

My story with the piano: my mother was a pianist and piano teacher, and had been forbidden by her father to go to music school. She passed on to me the desire to be a musician from an early age, but when it came time for me to choose an instrument I knew instinctively that if I chose the piano I'd be too much under her thumb (saxophone instead). I did find a free piano in the 70s, and my ability to pick out a simple Bach piece from a recording is what convinced me to throw myself headlong into music in 1979. My point of playing was merely to strengthen my fingers for the saxophone. To read music seemed unnecessary, a complicated mental activity, and once I became a free improviser I had no use for repeating tunes by ear. I loved playing freely, however, but strictly for my own pleasure. I was playing by ear and by feel, with no wish to imitate "music."

In the 90s I bought a used Yamaha upright at an auction, then a concert grand. I made up my own exercises, still focused on finger dexterity. At the time I felt I had nowhere further to go on the saxophone; and the piano was an open door. I couldn't imagine performing something so far from normal playing or releasing the recordings; the thought of people hearing them embarrassed me, offended my musician ego.

Moving back East in 2003, I stopped playing piano entirely--I was back in the world of very accomplished and critical musicians and my instrument was the saxophone. But recently I became aware of how my traditional saxophone practice has limited me, and I was hearing similar limitations in "real" pianists, including avant-garde improvisers. Then I stumbled on these recordings of mine. I still find them shocking and raw each time I listen, but I think, why should I be "the musician," who releases only what he can defend as "good music"? I have no intention to offend people, rather I offer something I myself can't conceive as beautiful yet know that it is.

Further information at springgardenmusic.com/sgmhome.html

credits

released July 14, 2018

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some rights reserved

about

Jack Wright Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Spring Garden Music is first of all a house owned by Jack Wright on a street of that name in Phila. and occupied by improvising musicians. It is also the name for a collective musical project, and a record label, available on the website below. Images are paintings by Barbara Upton or Jack Wright ... more

springgardenmusic.com

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Despite the length and variety offered by this release, a few general techniques or patterns are present throughout. Most notable is the interaction between Thomas and Wright, with the former playing in his signature dense and percussive style while the latter provides bursts of gritty notes on the alto. Wright’s wailing is an unconventional counterpoint to Thomas’s classicism. https://avantmusicnews.com/2024/04/06/amn-reviews-%d8%a3%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%af-ahmed-giant-beauty-2024-bandcamp/ Michael Borella
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