Photo by Matt Marcinkowski
Glenn "Papa" Wright.
Jackie and Glen “Papa” Wright Jr. have been married for more than four decades. Sentences begun by one are frequently finished by the other. They also intertwine their lives by performing as a duo, working in disciplines as diverse as storytelling (or, as Jackie puts it, “story-performing”) and puppetry. Lately Papa’s even been studying ventriloquism, “something I just started to do in the last month to constantly keep different projects going.”
It’s a theme that he often revisits in conversation, considering himself fortunate to make a living in the arts, though there’s very real work done to book their acts. This is where Jackie comes in. After initially cracking wise about his wife’s being a strict taskmaster, he adds, “All jokes aside, it’s totally easy to work together. We’ve been married for 43 years, so it’s like we’re one person. I’m artistic, real creative. And my wife…”
“I’ve got the brains,” she finishes.
Being active in a variety of projects has been Papa’s norm. Part of his inspiration for continual learning and musical shapeshifting has come from Rich O’Connell, retired St. Louis Symphony principal percussionist, who’s worked in myriad genres and settings himself. “Rich used to tell me that by being a drummer, I’d need many different projects,” Papa recalls. “Playing behind a group, it’s often three musicians and a drummer, but you can find yourself waiting for the phone to ring that way.”
In the Wrights’ team dynamic, it’s Jackie who often works to secure bookings, especially for the pair’s story and puppetry work. Those shows have taken them up and down the age scale, with shows at grade schools and retirement homes. Kids have been their key audience, though; they’ve worked in front of children with chronic illnesses and youngsters without a care in the world.
In addition to gigging, Papa has taught percussion for decades, including lengthy stints with both Springboard to Learning and CASA, as well as classes at St. Louis Community College–Forest Park. He also leads an active life in the jazz and improvisational milieux, in which he shines. In December, he teamed up with Greg Mills on Kuvuka, a four-song, 62-minute EP of improvised jazz, produced by Jay Zalenka for Freedonia Music (freedoniamusic.com). For fans of New Music Circle, HEARding Cats Collective, and KDHX’s All Soul, No Borders, it’s essential.
“As I told Jackie, this music’s not for a big commercial market,” he says. “I played in the Black Artists’ Group back in the ’60s, and I wanted to do something creative like that now. Greg’s one of the greatest avant-garde piano players in the country, and I wanted to record with him.” Zalenka was happy to make it happen. “When we went into the studio, we didn’t say one word,” Papa says. “We just played and went from there. We might’ve played the same piece again, but always in a totally different way.”
It was another BAG alumnus, trumpeter Oliver Lake, who once told Papa, “In order to make a living in art, you can’t do one thing. You might be playing a dinner party one day, avant-garde the next.”
And, maybe, throwing a puppet show in between.
For a full list of performances, visit jackieandpapawright.com.
