Danny Wright

Danny Wright

Danny Wright is a US new age pianist from Fort Worth, Texas. He is trained as a classical pianist and writes and performs instrumental music shaped by contemporary jazz, classical and neoclassical influences. He also plays his own arrangements of Broadway and film music.

Early development and training

He begins playing piano at the age of four, after hearing and playing the theme from Dr. Zhivago in his family’s living room. His parents arrange further study with Professor Dr. Harris Cavender, and he develops a career built around piano performance, composition and recording.

Music and performance

Wright’s original compositions are described as fluidly crafted and supported by strong musicianship. Alongside his own material, he performs arrangements of well-known songs from stage and screen. He also appears in concert as a guest artist with pops symphonies and performs at venues including the Berklee Performance Center in Boston and Schoenburg Hall in Los Angeles.

Recordings and label work

In 2000, he signs with the Sausalito-based label Real Music. The label releases Soul Mates in January 2001, followed by Do You Live, Do You Love and Danny Wright Healer of Hearts. Soul Mates includes eight original pieces and three arrangements of familiar songs. Do You Live, Do You Love includes ten original compositions, including two pieces from the musical Phantom Immortal, for which Wright is commissioned to write the music, plus one motion picture theme. Danny Wright Healer of Hearts is a two-CD collection of 25 of his best-known songs, with one disc of favourite cover versions from his Black and White series and one disc of earlier original compositions.

Chart success and themes

These albums all chart on Billboard, and Danny Wright Healer of Hearts reaches the top ten. Wright’s music often grows out of personal experiences and responses to listeners, including pieces written for people facing illness, for weddings, anniversaries and other celebrations. He is described as using his composing and playing as a way of offering comfort.

Benefit work

He gives benefit concerts in support of the Humane Society, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation and the American Red Cross. He also performs concerts in support of breast cancer awareness, linked to the fact that his mother is a breast cancer survivor.