Dempsey Wright was born in Oklahoma in 1929. Apart from some very early attempts to play guitar, his early musical experiences around the age of 12 were mainly playing violin in local bands. This involved him with jazz which many of the adults termed "hokum" music. In 1948 he left college and joined Otho Swink's western band where he met guitarist Gene Thomas. This influenced Dempsey to take up the guitar again in a jazz context.
In late 1953 he moved to California and joined pianist Frankie Carle playing guitar. In 1955 and 1956 he went on a tour of service bases in the Far East. He then returned to Los Angeles and joined the Jazzpickers which was a quintet led by Harry Babasin on cello with whom he made two records for the Mode and EmArcy labels during 1957 and 1958.
In 1958 Dempsey made his only recording as a leader for the small Andex label. The LP cover featured a picture of the Wright Brothers 1903 Kitty Hawk biplane and was entitled "The Wright Approach". The record was not circulated very widely but was a minor masterpiece featuring Dempsey's clean solo lines with excellent support from Richie Kamuca on tenor sax with Victor Feldman on piano and vibes and Ben Tucker and Stan Levey completing the star rhythm section. Following this impressive recording debut as leader, in 1959 Dempsey joined pianist Freddie Slack's trio playing club dates around Los Angeles, also making a record with pianist Freddie Gambrell and flautist Paul Horn for World Pacific records entitled "The Mikado - A Jazz Interpretation". He then toured with Chico Hamilton.
After such a promising start Dempsey Wright faded from public view somewhat. He finally moved to Little Rock, Arkansas where he sat in at the "Afterthought" club and was featured there a few times playing his L5. He played a lunchtime solo gig on guitar but also playing fiddle with recorded backing. He performed regularly in a band with pianist Buck Powell and bass and drums at a hotel bar in Hot Springs. It was on one of these nights in 2001 that he sadly suffered a heart attack and died.
Although Dempsey Wright was only in the spotlight for a relatively brief period he certainly ranks as one of the major jazz guitar talents of that time.
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