Larry Wright | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | c. 1975 |
Origin | Bronx, New York, United States |
Instrument(s) | Drums |
Larry Wright (born c. 1975) is a well-known New York City street performer. [1] [2] He is credited as the first major drummer to use five gallon plastic buckets instead of a normal drum kit. [3] He uses his foot to lift the bucket changing the sound patterns.
He has appeared in commercials, Mariah Carey's "Someday" video, Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk as well as the movie Green Card . In 2011 he appeared in the film The Yellow Card directed by Enrique Pedráza Botero. It is a short documentary based on subway performers in New York City, where Larry Wright and his wife Sonia Wright are one of the main acts in the film as they play their music and are being interviewed. [4] [5] He is listed among the musicians performing on Ritual Beating System by Bahia Black, a 2016 CD produced by Bill Laswell. The CD features a track, "Uma Viagen Del Baldes de Larry Wright" (translation: A journey of the buckets of Larry Wright), which he co-wrote with Carlinhos Brown. [6] There is an independent movie about him as a high school student. [7]
He has played since he was five years old, and met his wife while playing in the New York City Subway. [8]
In 1990, at age fifteen, Wright performed a New Year’s Eve concert with John Lurie in Germany. [9]
His favorite drummers are Eyeon, Tito Puente, Max Roach, and Buddy Rich. He and his wife can typically be found at the Union Square, Penn Station, Port Authority, and 59th and Lexington subway stations.
A more recent interview with Larry and his wife Sonia appears in Issue Four of The Drummer's Journal. [8]
Green Card is a 1990 American romantic comedy film written, produced, and directed by Peter Weir and starring Gérard Depardieu and Andie MacDowell. The screenplay focuses on an American woman who enters into a marriage of convenience with a Frenchman so he can obtain a green card and remain in the United States. Depardieu won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
George Bernard Worrell, Jr. was an American keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective. In later years, he also worked with acts such as Talking Heads, Bill Laswell, and Jack Bruce. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic. Worrell was described by journalist Jon Pareles as "the kind of sideman who is as influential as some bandleaders," with his use of synthesizers particularly impactful on funk and hip hop.
Marc Ribot is an American guitarist and composer.
Arthur Morgan "Arto" Lindsay is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He was a member of the pioneering 1970s no wave group DNA, which featured on the 1978 compilation No New York. In the 1980s, he formed the group Ambitious Lovers. He also performed with The Golden Palominos and The Lounge Lizards.
Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. He came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles rooted in jazz but with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating other genres of music. He has performed and recorded with several ensembles: Air, Aggregation Orb, Make a Move, the seven-piece Henry Threadgill Sextett, the twenty-piece Society Situation Dance Band, Very Very Circus, X-75, and Zooid.
John Lurie is an American musician, painter, actor, director, and producer. He co-founded the Lounge Lizards jazz ensemble; has acted in 19 films, including Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law; has composed and performed music for 20 television and film works; and he produced, directed, and starred in the Fishing with John television series. In 1996 his soundtrack for Get Shorty was nominated for a Grammy Award, and his album The Legendary Marvin Pontiac: Greatest Hits has been praised by critics and fellow musicians.
The Lounge Lizards were an eclectic musical group founded by saxophonist John Lurie and his brother, pianist Evan Lurie, in 1978. Initially known for their ironic, tongue-in-cheek take on jazz, The Lounge Lizards eventually became a showcase for John Lurie's sophisticated compositions straddling jazz and many other genres. They were active until about 1998 with the Lurie brothers as the only constant members, though many leading New York City based musicians were members of the group.
John Anton Fier III was an American drummer, producer, composer, and bandleader. He led The Golden Palominos, an experimental rock group active from the 1980s to 2010.
Oren Bloedow is an American singer, guitarist and bassist. He founded the band Elysian Fields in 1995 with Jennifer Charles. His father, Jerry Bloedow, was a playwright, poet, and film editor whose theater, the Hardware Poet's Playhouse, participated in the New York avant-garde scene in the 1950s and 1960s.
Curtis Fowlkes was an American jazz trombonist and singer. He was a founding member of The Jazz Passengers. He had a twin brother James May Fowlkes and his parents were James Ray and Rosa May Fowlkes.
Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards is a graphic adventure game, developed by Sierra On-Line, and published in 1987. It was developed for the PC, DOS, and the Apple II and later ported to other platforms, such as the Amiga, Atari ST, Apple IIGS, Macintosh, and Tandy Color Computer 3. It utilizes the Adventure Game Interpreter (AGI) engine. In 1991, Sierra released a remake titled Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards for PC DOS, Apple Macintosh, and Amiga. This version used the Sierra's Creative Interpreter (SCI) engine, featuring 256 colors and a point-and-click, icon-driven user interface.
Jeffrey Robert Lurie is an American businessman who is the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL), as well as an occasional motion picture producer.
Fishing with John is a 1991 television series conceived, directed by and starring actor and musician John Lurie, which earned a cult following. On the surface, the series resembles a standard travel or fishing show: in each episode, Lurie takes a famous guest on a fishing expedition. Since Lurie has no expert knowledge of fishing, the interest is in the interaction between Lurie and his guests, all of whom are his friends. Nothing particularly unusual actually happens, but the show is edited and narrated in a way to suggest that Lurie and his guest are involved in dramatic and even supernatural adventures.
A lounge lizard is a man who frequents social establishments with the intention of seducing a woman with his flattery and deceptive charm. The term is reported to have arisen around 1915 in New York. A 1931 book described them as men "[in] the habit of lounging in different dance resorts from tea time on, on a chance of picking up a few dollars; or they might be habitués of the place or of an outer room, described as a 'lounge', for the purpose of picking up girls and women. In Europe, he subsequently evolved into what is now known as the gigolo."
Evan Lurie is an American composer and musician. Playing piano and occasionally organ, Evan was a founding member of the band the Lounge Lizards, along with his saxophonist brother John Lurie.
Roy Jay Nathanson is an American saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and teacher. He became the leader and principal composer of the Jazz Passengers, a six piece group that he founded with Curtis Fowlkes in 1987. They have toured Europe many times and played at major festivals in Finland, Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland, as well as the J.V.C. Festival in New York, the Du Maurier Festival in Canada and toured throughout the United States and Canada. The band has recorded eight albums since their debut release.
Ben Perowsky is an American drummer, percussionist, composer, and music producer. He is the drummer on stage in the 8 TONY award winning Broadway musical Hadestown. Perowsky leads the Ben Perowsky Trio, Moodswing Orchestra and Upstream Trio with Chris Speed and John Medeski. He is a founding member of the electric jazz group Lost Tribe. A prolific sideman, Perowsky has performed with Roy Ayers, John Scofield, The Lounge Lizards, Joan As Police Woman, Elysian Fields, Darryl Jenifer, Uri Caine, Dave Douglas, Mike Stern, Bob Berg, Walter Becker, Steven Bernstein., and John Zorn.
John Lurie and the Lounge Lizards Live in Berlin 1991 is a 1992 documentary concert film directed and shot by Garret Linn. It was the director's first feature, and was filmed in Super16. It was shown at The Water Reade Theater in New York City and was part of the Berlin Film Festival in 1992.
Garret Linn is an American experimental and documentary filmmaker. His films revolve around ideas of memory, travel and the representation of forgetting.
Michael Blake is a Canadian saxophonist, composer and arranger. Blake is based in New York City where he has led a robust career leading his own bands. As a sideman Michael has performed with Charlie Hunter, The Lounge Lizards, Steven Bernstein/Henry Butler and the Hot 9, Ben Allison and Ray LaMontagne. The New York Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff wrote,"Mr. Blake, on tenor especially, is an endlessly engaging improviser, and an inquisitive one".