This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
Trey Wright is passionate about jazz, so much so that he not only wants to deepen his students’ knowledge of the music but use it to help transform their lives.
That’s a tall order but Wright, principal lecturer of jazz guitar and jazz at Kennesaw State University’s Bailey School of Music, works at it. Outside of the classroom, he gives guitar lessons, publishes articles in jazz magazines, performs solo and with others and writes his own music. He’s now also hosting a monthly series of Journey Through Jazz lectures at the Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre in Marietta.
Until a few special teachers came his way, Wright never imagined that he would make a career of jazz music. A high school teacher introduced him to jazz guitar, but he didn’t think of it as much more than a fun pastime at that point. When it was time for college, he decided to major in sociology.
Once at the University of Georgia, however, he found himself feeling aimless and downhearted until a friend encouraged him to audition for the university jazz band. It was there that he met Steve Dancz, then the director of the jazz studies program.
“He became a huge mentor in my life, even to this day, and is the one responsible for giving me the bug,” says Wright. “Seeing this music through his eyes, as he was teaching it to us, and seeing the impact and passion that he had for it made a huge difference to me.”
Credit: Photo by Taylor Rambo
Credit: Photo by Taylor Rambo
Because of Dancz, Wright says, he found his love of jazz music, but it wasn’t until a close call with carbon monoxide poisoning that he realized it was his life’s calling. He dropped his sociology studies and hit the road with his band. “I jokingly call myself the ‘accidental musician’ because it felt like a force sort of pulling me along,” he says.
His outgoing personality and high energy level make it hard to believe that Wright once suffered from shyness so extreme that it was excruciating to speak into a microphone. Nevertheless, he longed to communicate spontaneously and freely and found that he could do so nonverbally through his music.
“The elements of exploration and improvisation in jazz music became my way to expressing myself,” he says.
Wright continued to learn, this time from recordings by other jazz musicians. When he heard Brad Mehldau’s cover of Nick Drake’s “River Man,” for example, he learned to make even the space between notes intentional and realized that covering a song was not just a matter of copying it.
“You want to somehow speak to the inner truth of whatever the song is and what it means to you and how you can communicate it through your musical voice. That’s what fascinates me about all music,” he says.
The audience is an important part of the communication experience, Wright claims, and there’s no substitute for the dynamic between the audience and the band in a live jazz performance. The interaction between the two allows listeners to enjoy the same freedom of self-expression as the band members — and the band members to respond to that in turn, he explains.
“There’s something about being exposed to other people interacting and being spontaneous and authentic. It’s a really beautiful thing,” he says.
Credit: Photo by Brian Weaver
Credit: Photo by Brian Weaver
Wright’s goal is to help make jazz music accessible, relevant and emotionally resonant to everyone. The understanding of even a little jazz history and how the music works enhances the listeners’ experience, he notes, by creating a “door” to enter that helps them appreciate the music more deeply.
Wright realized that to teach the “jazz curious” public at the Strand, he needed a different instructional approach than what he uses with his college students.
“I really try to bring it to life versus making it more academic,” he says of his “Journey Through Jazz” series. “I want it to be fun. And I wanted it to be the kind of thing where people leave with a new appreciation for this amazing, incredible art form.”
To that end, he tells stories about the songs and musicians and demonstrates concepts with the guitar and piano while he lectures. There is time at the end for audience questions.
The approach must be working, because the spring lectures were so successful that the Strand is offering two shows per topic in its second series.
“I think people are hungry for something authentic right now, and jazz really offers that,” Wright says. He believes “that’s one of the reasons the Jazz at the Strand series has been so successful.”
Topics this fall include “What a Wonderful World: The Genius of Louis Armstrong” (Thursday); “Got My Mojo Workin’: An Introduction to Blues Styles and Techniques” (Sept. 18); “Django Reinhardt and the Hot Club de France” (Oct. 16); and “Hard Bop and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers” (Nov. 6).
In his lectures, Wright hopes to emulate the qualities of the exceptional teachers who taught him not only his craft but also who he was. Learning about jazz is about more than just gaining an appreciation for it, he explains; it’s about internalizing the freedom of self-expression. He hopes that his audiences will come away with both.
“Jazz is this high-wire act of communicating your story or your path or your life journey. That can really speak to people, you know?”
If YOU GO
Jazz Talks with KSU professor Trey Wright
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, Oct. 16 and Nov. 6. $35.60 each (includes one drink ticket). Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre, 117 N. Park Square, Marietta. thestrand.my.salesforce-sites.com.
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Shannon Marie Tovey is a freelance music journalist and educator who covers the jazz, blues and rock scene.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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