{"id":16681,"date":"2026-04-17T09:26:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/?p=16681"},"modified":"2026-04-17T09:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:57:08","slug":"apr17-apr23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/2026\/04\/apr17-apr23\/","title":{"rendered":"April 17th-23rd: Tribute to Rayburn Wright: three decades of Eastman Jazz\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1729269088037{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”]Published on Apr 17th, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n

Back to This Week at Eastman<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1677692401977{margin-top: 20px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1669830733727{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”1990: Tribute to Rayburn Wright: three decades of Eastman Jazz” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1681735535833{margin-top: 40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-right-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 1px !important;border-left-width: 0px !important;border-left-color: #dddddd !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #dddddd !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-top-color: #dddddd !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #dddddd !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;border-radius: 1px !important;}”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1679915457166{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1669830733727{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1710345173245{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Previously in \u201cThis Week at Eastman\u201d I\u2019ve featured some of the various types of gatherings that happen at Eastman, whether in tribute to some esteemed individual, or in memory of one departed, or honoring an artist following his\/her\/their performance, and \u2013 quietly famously at Eastman \u2013 at the unveiling of a faculty member\u2019s portrait.\u00a0 Tributes can take any of several different forms, including musical performance.\u00a0 And so it was on the evening of Saturday, April 21st<\/sup>, 1990, thirty-three years ago this week, when a special concert promoted as \u201cThree Decades of Eastman Jazz: A Tribute to Rayburn Wright\u201d celebrated the life and career of the late Rayburn Wright, who had died several weeks earlier.<\/p>\n

The performers who gathered for this occasion represented a kind of who\u2019s who of Eastman jazz across three decades\u2014colleagues who had worked with him in the \u201860s, and alumni of the \u201870s and \u201880s who had studied with him, in addition to JCM faculty members.\u00a0 The names of performers are given in the printed program, displayed here.\u00a0 Photographer Louis Ouzer was present not only for the concert, but also for a rehearsal session in Room 120, the same room that today bears Professor Wright\u2019s name as the Ray Wright Room.\u00a0 Mr. Ouzer\u2019s photographs capture something of the spirit that informed the work of these artists, who had gathered at short notice to pay tribute to their colleague, their mentor, their friend.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_images_carousel images=”16683,16684,16685,16686″ img_size=”400×570″ css=”.vc_custom_1776433812216{margin-left: 20px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;}”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1679915457166{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1669830733727{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1776434225168{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: -10px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Professor Wright\u2019s career will be the subject of publications and tributes for years to come.\u00a0 An Eastman School graduate, his professional life was more or less evenly divided into two epochs, first as chief arranger at New York City\u2019s Radio Music Hall, and then a teaching career at Eastman (1970-90), when he was chair of the newly founded Jazz and Contemporary Media department.\u00a0 His work at Eastman had actually begun a decade earlier when he was invited to establish the Arranger\u2019s Laboratory-Institute, which took place each summer for three decades beginning in 1959.\u00a0 The Laboratory-Institute drew professionals together for purposes of learning and collaboration; the culmination of the annual Institute was the concert known as the Arrangers\u2019 Holiday, which always featured a renowned guest artist or ensemble.<\/p>\n

Apart from \u201cThree Decades of Eastman Jazz\u201d there have been additional tributes to Professor Wright, including the 1990 Arrangers\u2019 Holiday that was dedicated to his memory (and which proved to be the last Arrangers\u2019 Holiday that took place).\u00a0 A gala reunion and celebration of Professor Wright\u2019s life was staged during Meliora Weekend in October, 2012, taking place in what would have been Professor Wright\u2019s 90th year.\u00a0 The weekend also saw the release of the book Ray Wright: Life and Time <\/em>by Donald Hunsberger, richly illustrated with images drawn from a number of sources, including the Louis Ouzer Archive.<\/p>\n

Today a collection of Professor Wright\u2019s professional papers resides at the Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections.\u00a0 Future entries of \u201cThis Week at Eastman\u201d will focus on other events from Professor Wright\u2019s three decades of professional involvement\u00a0 at Eastman.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u25baPhotos by Louis Ouzer.\u00a0 Master negative nos. R3894, R3895 <\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” gap=”10″ equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1710345255859{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1680519678216{margin-right: 0px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;border-right-width: 0px !important;border-left-width: 0px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_images_carousel images=”16690,16691,16692,16693,16694,16695,16696,16697,16698,16699,16700,16701,16702,16703″ img_size=”520×370″ css=”.vc_custom_1710345495039{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-right: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;margin-left: 20px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-right-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;border-left-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1710345288078{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: -10px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

Colleagues and alumni who gathered for the April, 1990 tribute to Ray Wright are here seen during rehearsal in Room 120, which was later named the Ray Wright Room.
\n\u25ba photos from master negative roll R3892<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1680518166296{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_images_carousel images=”16704,16705,16706,16707,16708,16709,16710,16711,16712,16713,16714,16715,16716,16717,16718,16719″ img_size=”520×370″ css=”.vc_custom_1710345515104{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;margin-left: 20px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-right-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;border-left-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1710345296886{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: -10px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

Photos taken during the performance in Kilbourn Hall on April 21st, 1990.
\n\u25ba photos from master negative roll R3894<\/span><\/p>\n

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