Hard grooving bassist and sophisticated composer, Aaron Immanuel Wright's unique cultivation of musical influence and technique makes him one of today's most eclectic and cutting edge performers. Born in Hood River, Oregon and having spent extensive time playing numerous venues in Portland, the San Francisco Bay, Los Angeles, and New York, Wright's background is as diverse as his music. His first written-down composition, “Spring Vacation,” was written at the age of nine while taking piano lessons from his Grandmother Geneva Wright, a Pacific Northwest composer and piano pedagogue.

At age thirteen, after inheriting a sizable collection of vinyl jazz records and an affinity for the blues, he began taking regular trips on the Greyhound to Portland to learn electric bass from his uncle and country-folk bassist/songwriter Donny Wright. It was during this time he also began a lifelong relationship with the double bass, studying with Steven Scott at Bend Senior High School, where he could be found playing for the string ensemble, big band, and jazz choir. It was there that he also fell in love with recording technology, producing recordings of his original compositions for the school’s video production program.

At age fifteen, Wright moved down to Berkeley, California, where his love of jazz drove him to watch legendary performers at such Bay area hot spots as Yoshi's and Kimball's East. He relentlessly pursued the concerts of McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones’ Jazz Machine, Jackie McLean, and Ahmad Jamal to name a few. At Berkeley High he would go on to write tunes that were played frequently by the competitive Berkeley High Jazz Combo. Eventually he would be accepted into UC Berkeley's Young Musicians Program, where he committed himself to the study of piano and music theory, as well as the composition of chamber orchestra works, several of which were performed at YMP venues and Berkeley High Orchestra concerts.

The years following Wright's time in high school were marked by an interesting mix of instability and inspiration. Moving back and forth between Oregon and Northern California and a number of grueling day jobs, he still managed to compose for the Portland-based Fear No Music ensemble. He also managed to study double bass with Dan Shulte and classical bass with both the late Ken Baldwin in Portland and Alex Glickman in Albany, CA. Wright's talents were perhaps best tested while busking in the streets of Portland and Oakland, where, often playing with horns and competing with harsh urban noises, he was forced to develop a “bigger sound” and truly project his bass lines without the aid of an amp. Needless to say, this enriched his appreciation for Mingus, Israel Crosby, and other bassists who'd learned to perform with such presence.

At age twenty-three, after stints leading an electric blues trio and picking up jazz gigs in the Bay area, Wright moved to Los Angeles, where he built a project studio that became a hang-out for local jazz and classical musicians. In this “workshop” environment, he was able to experiment with unusual meters and refine his style of voice leading, producing many chamber music recordings in an independent capacity.

Eventually, his relentless search for an authentic voice as a composer led him to question the very nature of truth and authenticity. This is why he took up the study of analytic philosophy and literature at California State University Northridge. While at CSUN, he quickly became in demand as a chamber music performer, and was able to revisit the challenges of performing primarily with the bow, a weak point for many jazz bass players. Of course, taking advantage of the L.A. scene he “ghost wrote” on he side for several media projects and frequently worked as a studio musician.

Since receiving his BA in philosophy, Wright has moved to New York City and recorded his first studio album, Eleven Daughters. An all-acoustic jazz quartet album, it was recorded with vintage microphones in Oregon’s world class Big Red Studios. Album personnel includes pianist Darrell Grant, one of Wright's old heroes from his Portland days, Tim Willcox on sax, and drummer Brian Menendez, a Philadelphia-based musician with whom Wright has clocked in thousands of hours of playing time.