Lawrence D. (“Laurie”) Wright, 1929-2010

Laurie Wright, best remembered as editor and publisher of Storyville magazine from 1965 to 1995, died in London on March 28, 2010. As part of this same endeavor, he was also responsible, from the 1960’s into the first decade of the 21st century, for the publication of over 50 books, and multiple monographs and reprints under Storyville’s imprint and latterly his own. He himself authored or co-authored the standard bio-discographies of Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Preston Jackson and Fats Waller,and discographies of the OKeh Race record series and Louisville Jug Bands. He also published the first definitive editions of both Jazz Records 1897-1942 and Blues & Gospel Records 1902-1943. He brought to popular music scholarship many other serious contributions, such as Tom Lord’s bio-discography of Clarence Williams, Rainer Lotz’ German Ragtime, Eric Townley’s Tell Your Story and the expanded and also definitive version of Horst Lange’s The Fabulous Fives, compiled by Lange, Jewson, Hamilton-Smith and Webb. After his “retirement”, he produced and published several bound Storyville volumes of similar research material on vintage jazz and blues.

Laurie was born in Ware in Hertfordshire, these days a dormitory town north of London, on February 3rd, 1929. An able linguist, he won a scholarship to study languages in Paris, but was recalled to fulfill National Service, Britain’s post-war draft, in the Royal Air Force, where he served in radio-electronics. After discharge, he worked as an electrical engineer at Ferguson, one of many British post-war radio manufacturers who developed and sold television receivers into the booming 50s market. In the early 1950s he opened a TV and radio service business, combined with sales and repair of record-players and records, on Orford Road in Walthamstow, East London. The store, a classic British family-owned shop, with the business below and living quarters above, rapidly became a mecca for collectors of vintage jazz records.

The British are renowned for a variety of characteristics both fair and ill, from stubborn character, to oddball humor, to punctuality (or lack thereof), to cuisine (or lack thereof). One of those less-known outside the nation itself but totally familiar to natives, is the love of “a good moan;” that of gatherings in pubs and other places, to complain about current events for the joy of it, without thought of seeking cause or solution. A group of regulars, among them John Davies, Frank Owen and Jack Harvey, were one day bewailing the demise of The Record Changer and consequent lack of a forum for their interests. Laurie’s wife, Peggy, heard the Greek chorus while attending to wifely chores. Peggy, the pragmatic Irish wife, a practicing nurse and one used to dealing firmly with whining children from infancy to adolescence, stopped the commiseration by asking tersely why they didn’t get off their duffs and publish one, themselves. They acted on her initiative, and did just that. Storyville was Laurie and Peggy Wright’s sixth child.

Issue 1 appeared in October 1965. Initially a typical enthusiasts’ fanzine it grew rapidly into what became a peer-reviewed journal of scholarship overseen by Laurie and The Storyville Team. Laurie bought a used Gestetner offset printer to print the publication, which was then collated, folded, stapled and trimmed on equipment ranging from Victorian in vintage to home-made, by other members of the Team. The entire text was prepared for plate-making by Team members on four Olympia typewriters with a Congress-Elite font, using manual half-and quarter-spacing to justify the print columns, first by inspired guesswork then acquired skill, saving typesetting cost. In 1973, Dave French and an IBM Compositor joined the effort, saving labor, eyesight and operator patience, and taking the efficiency level a step beyond Gutenberg.

This volunteer crew made the bi-monthly operation financially achievable, inspired substantially by Laurie’s impetus. The schedule was maintained, with very few hiccups; these largely caused by external forces such as postal strikes (another nationally British trait; vide supra) for 162 issues up to June 1995, upon which Laurie published four biennial volumes, solo, up to 2003. Laurie used his time in retirement thereafter, to carry out detailed analyses of the African-American press, which brought to light a mass of additional data and a postulated re-dating of the activities of the Paramount record label.

Such was the career and life of a dedicated researcher, writer, discographer, publisher and entrepreneur. But Laurie Wright, the man, was more than all this, to those who knew him. He was, on first acquaintance, a smiling, quiet-spoken, prematurely-balding fellow with a nervous chuckle. But as I knew him more closely and worked alongside him, I became aware of what a unique person this was. He was a quiet commander. I never, once, heard Laurie raise his voice, in any situation, among colleagues or family. In my time I have been called “unflappable” by peers, subordinates and managers, but I know from whence came the learning. As the leader of the Storyville effort, he had a way of knowing what was needed, organizing the job, seeing things through. He was a peacemaker, especially with other “Team” members of more forceful bent and louder voice and larger self-image. In private, he was the most admirable paterfamilias figure one might imagine, with a stair-step succession of five children to manage and rear, maintaining an enviable and patently loving partnership with Peggy and the children, who clearly reciprocated his caring. As a young bachelor, I wanted a family like theirs. Laurie had many things to do and undoubtedly, many worries, but his door was always open, especially to the thoughtless 22-year old who would take it into his head to drive across London and visit, unannounced, asking him to play Clarence Williams’ Longshoreman’s Blues.

He is an icon, not just to his fine family who now have to bid him farewell; but certainly to many more than I, who see him as formative, admirable, giving, inspirational and wise. He was my best friend ever, for more than 40 years.

He is survived by his widow, Peggy, their sons Kevin and Chris, daughters Susan and Jennifer, and a wealth of grandchildren. Their eldest son Paul tragically pre-deceased his father, a decade ago.

My thanks to Howard Rye, for allowing me to use original factual material.


The Storyville Team (or those who showed up!) about 1971. L-R: Frank Owen, Ron Jewson, Derek Hamilton-Smith, Laurie Wright,( with youngest daughter Jennifer, age 7), Malcolm Shaw, Ate van Delden’s chin (visiting), Dave Gladen.

The infamous Wright/Davies “April Fool’s” spoof, referred to in the essay on this site titled “Bixing,” q.v. The production caused quite a stir in collector circles.	The announcement for the coming first issue of Storyville, 1965.

Home | Goodies for Sale | Contact Us | Links | Articles