Frank "Big Boy" Goudie was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 tenor saxophonist and clarinetist.

Goudie was born in Youngsville, Louisiana

Youngsville, Louisiana

Youngsville is a city in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,289 as of the 2005 Census Bureau estimates. It is part of the Lafayette Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Youngsville is located at ....

, but raised in New Orleans, where he played cornet

Cornet

The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...

 in Papa Celestin

Papa Celestin

Oscar "Papa" Celestin was an American jazz bandleader, trumpeter, cornetist and vocalist.-Life and career:...

's Original Tuxedo Band and other groups. As a young man, his great height earned him the nickname "Tree". He played in the Southern United States and Mexico through the first half of the 1920s, then moved to Europe, settling in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 in 1925 and switching to reeds. While in Europe he played with Benny Peyton

Benny Peyton

Benton E. "Benny" Peyton was an American jazz drummer.Peyton went with Will Marion Cook's Southern Syncopated Orchestra to Europe in 1919 and remained there, forming his own group in London, the Jazz Kings, out of members of Cook's orchestra...

, Louis Mitchell

Louis Mitchell

Louis A. Mitchell was an American jazz drummer and bandleader.Mitchell began performing in vaudeville revues and minstrel shows from around the turn of the century, playing drums and bandoline. After moving to New York City in 1912, he founded his own group, the Southern Symphonists' Quartet...

, Sam Wooding

Sam Wooding

Sam Wooding was an expatriate American jazz pianist, arranger and bandleader living and performing in Europe and the United States.Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he led several big bands in the United States and abroad...

, Noble Sissle

Noble Sissle

Noble Sissle was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright.-Early life:...

, Freddy Johnson

Freddy Johnson

Freddy Johnson was an American jazz pianist and singer who gained popularity in the 1930s playing mostly swing style....

, Bill Coleman

Bill Coleman

William Johnson Coleman was a jazz trumpeter from the swing era.He had his musical debut in 1927. Coleman's first recordings were with the Luis Russell orchestra, but all solos on record went to the rising star Henry "Red" Allen. This led to Bill Coleman's departure from the band. By 1935 he...

 (1937), and Willie Lewis

Willie Lewis

Willie Lewis is a rockabilly recording artist and founder of The Rock-A-Billy Record Company, a record label based in Denver, Colorado. He started the label in order to release rare and authentic rockabilly recordings, most of which were pressed on colored vinyl between 1982 and 1998...

 (1935-38). Goudie played often and recorded with Django Reinhardt, the Gypsy guitar wizard; at times the two of them would play at a back table in some café late at night, "real soft, just for ourselves". In Europe he carried a wicker suitcase full of upholstery tools with which to augment his income and another case full of pots and pans. He left Paris shortly after the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and lived in South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 during the war, playing with his own small groups there.

In 1946 he moved back to France, playing there with Arthur Briggs

Arthur Briggs

Arthur Briggs was an African American Jazz trumpeter and orchestra leader who performed in Europe....

, Harry Cooper and Coleman again (1949-51). Between 1951 and 1956 he led his own group in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, after which he returned to the United States. Late in his life he played clarinet with Marty Marsala

Marty Marsala

Marty Marsala was an American jazz trumpeter born in Chicago, perhaps best known for working from 1926-1946 with his brother Joe Marsala in a big band in New York City and Chicago. He had also toured with various artists, such as Chico Marx and Miff Mole, to name a few...

 and Earl Hines

Earl Hines

Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist. Hines was one of the most influential figures in the development of modern jazz piano and, according to one source, is "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".-Early...

.
He finished his career in San Francisco, where he was a valued fixture at weekly big band jam sessions with Burt Bales at Pier 23. He died in San Francisco, aged 64.