Dempsey Wright

American Jazz guitarist and fiddler. Born: July 14, 1929 in Calumet, Oklahoma. Died: April 24, 2001 in Hot Springs, Arizona. He began playing guitar at four. He got his first taste of jazz at age twelve by listening to records of violinists Joe Venuti, Stéphane Grappelli, Stuff Smith, and Eddie South. That year he began to play with a string band that played Saturday night parties. It wasn't until after he left Oklahoma's Eastern A&M Junior College in 1948 that he became serious about guitar as a jazz instrument. He moved to California in 1953, determined to concentrate on jazz guitar, and not the fiddle, which he had dabbled with. His first job in California was with Frankie Carle. He joned a Special Services company for a tour of service bases in Japan, Korea, and Okinawa during 1955-56. Back in California he joined up with Harry Babasin And The Jazz Pickers. Dempsey again found himself playing the fiddle as much as the guitar. In the 1960's, he played with Harry James And His Orchestra.