Wright was born in
Grenada, Mississippi, United States, and grew up in
Memphis, Tennessee and
Cleveland, Ohio, where he began his musical career playing bass guitar, backing artists such as
Rosco Gordon,
Bobby "Blue" Bland, and
B.B. King. In late 1965, Wright recorded
Frank Wright Trio, his first album as a leader, for
ESP-Disk with
Henry Grimes on bass and Tom Price on drums. (According to
Bernard Stollman, founder of
ESP-Disk, the record came about when he approached Wright after hearing him sit in with Coltrane. When Wright stated that he was not associated with a record label, Stollman declared "Well, you are now.") In 1966, while in Cleveland, he recorded with
Albert Ayler's group, which at the time included
Donald Ayler, Michael Samson, Muntawef Shaheed, and
Ronald Shannon Jackson. The tracks remained unreleased until 2004, when they appeared on
Holy Ghost: Rare & Unissued Recordings (1962–70). Wright's second album,
Your Prayer, was recorded in 1967 and was also released by
ESP-Disk. In 1968, Wright briefly joined
Cecil Taylor's group, which also included
Eddie Gale,
Jimmy Lyons,
Alan Silva, and
Andrew Cyrille, for a tour of the west coast of the United States, where the group had a residency at
Stanford University, performed at the
Berkeley Jazz Festival, and opened for
The Yardbirds at the
Fillmore West. In 1969, Wright moved to Europe and settled in Paris, and was known as "Reverend" Frank Wright, "a title of veneration universally bestowed upon the saxophonist by his peers in recognition of his spiritual approach to music, as well as his fervent style of improvisation." ==Style and influence==