Wrightsman, whose father was a musician, began playing professionally in a Gulfport, Mississippi hotel, and in territory bands in Oklahoma.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Wrightsman played with various big bands and ensembles (mainly Traditional Jazz), including Artie Shaw, Wingy Manone, Eddie Miller, Rudy Vallee, Nappy Lamare, Johnny Mercer,[2] Harry James, Bob Crosby (1950–51), Matty Matlock, Pete Fountain, The Rampart Street Paraders, Ray Bauduc, Wild Bill Davison, and Bob Scobey.
At the end of the decade, he moved to Las Vegas, where he played as a sideman for Wayne Newton and Flip Wilson.
In the field of jazz, he was involved in 174 recording dates from 1937 to 1971, including sessions with Louis Armstrong, Eartha Kitt,[5] George Van Eps,[6] and Peggy Lee—whom he accompanied on the celesta for the song "That Old Feeling" in 1944.
[7] In 1948, Beat Generation author Neal Cassady described Wrightsman as "a greatly underrated French player.