Daniel Wright
Trumpet
Daniel Wright was born in 1983 to parents Deal and Pamela Wright. At the age of 10, Daniel received his first trumpet and began early instruction with David Bowman. He knew early on that he wanted to spend his life performing music. He went on to play trumpet through elementary and middle schools, then finally at Harry S Truman High School where he studied with director Ken Melton. Under Melton’s direction, Daniel played in the school’s marching, concert, and jazz bands. Daniel continued to pursue his love of music with private lessons from Dennis Wasko, a professor at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. It was during this time that Daniel began to perform with the ”Don’t Call Me Francis Band” who played in New Jersey and the Philadelphia area.
Daniel was accepted to Eastman School of Music to further his musical education. At Eastman, Daniel studied with Douglas Prosser and Clay Jenkins. Daniel played in the Eastman Wind Ensemble and Eastman Philharmonia from 2003 through 2006. Daniel also performed during this time period with the “Friends of Music” orchestra and the Greece Symphony both in 2004. From 2002-2006 Daniel was a member of the Rivello Jazz Ensemble performing contemporary jazz music. While he was part of the ensemble, Daniel performed with them weekly and for three years at the Rochester International Jazz Festival. While at Eastman, two groups that Daniel was a member of, the funk/fusion ensemble “Groove Brewery” and the “Very Tall Band” both won Downbeat Awards in the “jazz rock” and “jazz combo” categories, respectively.
Currently, Daniel resides in Bucks County working in the Philadelphia/New Jersey areas. He has rejoined the “Don’t Call Me Francis Band” and he often is hired privately for special events. He has performed in various shows and musicals including “Ain’t Misbehavin” “Five Guys Named Moe”, “A Chorus Line”, “Crazy For You”, “Peter Pan” and “With Kathy Rigby”. Daniel was a featured performer with the Irish Traditional Band “The Chieftains”, at Carnegie Hall in New York, NY in March 2006. Most recently Daniel performed at the Academy of Music in the pit orchestra for the show “The Color Purple”. Daniel assists as an instructor for the Harry S Truman high school marching and jazz bands and gives private lessons.
