Doug Wright

I grew up knowing that I loved making music, but never quite finding my voice. As I played with sound, I tried everything from organ and saxophone to empty coffee cans and toy synthesizers. I formally studied music in college, receiving a Master’s Degree in Composition and spent some time working as a professional musician in Las Vegas but, while I loved performing, I knew that something wasn’t quite right. I wasn’t tapping into what caused me to fall in love with making noise. Feeling that I needed a break, I stopped playing music completely for about 5 years. When I started getting the urge to play again, I knew that I wanted to do something unique – something that really expressed what I love about music. I started experimenting with the EWI (electronic wind instrument), which I had discovered just before I stopped playing. The EWI allows me to play many sounds through a single wind instrument. It can produce wildly varied sounds, from an Andean flute or muted trumpet to synthesized sounds that have no wind instrument counterpart. I found a way of using electronics to record myself as I play and build a rich canvas of sound on the spot during a live performance. This is called “Live Looping”. I found that I could improvise entire songs with many parts and different layers with this approach and it completely inspired me. I have since added the saxophone, looped percussion, and found sound into the mix and I bring all of these sounds together in one live solo performance without any pre-recorded material or “backing tracks”. I believe this is a truly unique live performance experience that is as interesting conceptually as it is sonically!