During his 38 years in the entertainment industry, performing arts consultant and jazz drummer E.W. Wainwright has succeeded in working as a performer, educator, administrator and executive producer of albums. He has dedicated his efforts to enriching the quality of life for those most in need, using his talent to share, teach and entertain.
Mr. Wainwright's career as a musician began after he was honorably discharged from the United States Air Force, when he formed his first group, the Jazz Pioneers. That group toured the southeastern United States and opened the first Atlanta Jazz Festival in 1965. Three years later, Mr. Wainwright joined Bob Hope's Far East Tour and opened for Louis Armstrong's 50th anniversary show. He later performed with such notables as Redd Foxx, Oscar Brown Jr., Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders and Earl "Father" Hines. In the mid-1970s, Mr. Wainwright moved to New York, where he performed with McCoy Tyner, Pharaoh Sanders, Albert Dally, Buster Williams, Azar Lawrence and Eddie Pamarie. During his time in New York, Mr. Wainwright also played at Carnegie Hall.
In 1977, Mr. Wainwright founded the African Roots of Jazz Performing Arts Academy, beginning a long and productive career in arts education. Over the next 20 years, he amassed an impressive record of serving vital sectors of the Bay Area and volunteering for those most in need. He has been the recipient of several major grants for community-based performing arts projects, and has taught at Stanford University in their music workshop series. He has also continued to perform throughout the Bay Area and the country, and has been the producer of several major albums, including African Roots of Jazz Volume I and II.
Mr. Wainwright currently serves as executive director of the African Roots of Jazz Performing Arts Academy and as a curriculum development consultant for the San Francisco and Oakland Unified School Districts.
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