Anthony Rogers-Wright

Anthony was born sometime in the 1970s on June 25 in Washington D.C. He lived there until he was eight years old, when his mother relocated the two of them to the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Born to a Christian mother and Muslim father, despite the divorce of his parents, his mother raised him Muslim keeping with the Krio Tribe (Sierra Leone, the country with the small diamonds issue [thank you Mr. Decaprio for putting my homeland on the map]) tradition of raising the male child the religion of the father. Growing up on the Upper West Side allowed Anthony to be immersed in Reform Jewish culture and the opportunity to befriend many Jewish children who, to this day, he is still friends with. Anthony began playing the violin at age seven, playing in various youth orchestras and chamber groups. He began playing the bass-guitar at ten years old when his best friend Demian convinced him that an African-American would play bass better than guitar. Anthony first began gigging in blues clubs on the Upper East Side at 12 years old. He would sneak out of the house when his mom fell asleep on Sundays and take a cab to the world famous Manny's Car Wash blues bar, where his first mentor Lenny Nelson would pay for the cab and get Anthony on stage. This ended abruptly when his mom caught on to what he was doing and followed him to the club one night. While clearly upset with her only child, and her inability to stay awake past 8 PM (Murder She Wrote came on at 9 PM, and there were no Tivos back in the day) her conniption was pacified slightly when she admitted that her son was pretty good, and all of the older blues players assured her that they did not let Anthony drink whiskey or eat any pork when with them. This reduced his sentence to two weeks instead of a month, and Anthony was therefore able to go to the Junior Prom with a young lady whose name he can't remember, but does remember that she thought that the blues sounded like a bunch of whining....it was clear right then to Anthony that this relationship was likely not going to lead to matrimonial events. When Anthony entered university in Massachusetts, sometime in the 1990s, he put down the violin much to the dismay of his mom to concentrate solely on bass-guitar and Jazz Composition. He completed his undergraduate studies with a double major in Environmental Science and Policy and Jazz Composition all the while playing in local and regional bands, garnering a reputation as an up and coming bass player. Shortly after the untimely and tragic passing of his mother, Anthony was drawn to and began studying Judaism more closely. After two years of study, Anthony converted at the American Jewish University (formerly University of Judaism) in Los Angeles. Since converting, Anthony has been playing a whole hill of music, literally traveling the world, including two stops in the Middle East (Kuwait and Iraq) to perform for the United States Military (some of the coolest, bravest people he has ever had the pleasure of kicking it with) and Europe. When not on the road, Anthony can be found in Los Angeles, where he is a co-founder of Moishe House Los Angeles 2.0, living with his beautifully amazing roommates, and his two lovely ladies Jezzabelle and Arizona. Additionally, Anthony is very active in other Jewish organizations including Limmud LA and his diggidy dope synagogue Ikar-LA, presided over by the enchanting Rabbi Sharon Brous, who Anthony credits for many of his recent musical and lifeforce inspirations. Anthony is currently collaborating with a diverse array of musicians whose influences are as diverse as a well tossed salad, hoping to heal the world by brutalizing it with danceable ditties.