Speight was originally from
Sydney, Australia, where he was able to perform with touring musicians including
Benny Carter and
Nat Adderley. In the early 1990s, he moved to
Michigan to teach jazz studies programs at
Michigan State University, and later at
San Francisco State University. He was a part of
Wynton Marsalis' band for a
BBC TV concert in 1993, and later performed at
Jazz at Lincoln Center. Speight was a sideman on the album
Marsalis Music Honors Series: Jimmy Cobb (2006), described by
All About Jazz as "highly acclaimed." In March 2020 at the start of the
coronavirus pandemic, Speight launched the first of 117 consecutive weekly live sessions streamed to
Facebook from bassist Jeff Saxton's residence. As the
Live at Five sessions continued, they relocated to Speight's residence in
Burlingame, California. The sessions hosted a number of well-regarded guest musicians as well as Speight's students from San Francisco State University. Several sessions were recorded for future release. Speight was killed in a train accident on 1 December 2022, in Burlingame, California. He was 58. He is the brother of Peter Speight, a Sydney-based former lawyer. ==Discography==