Gordon L. Goodwin is a Grammy award-winning American studio

Studio

A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...

 pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

, saxophonist

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, arranger

Arrangement

The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...

 and conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

. He now lives in Southern California with his wife Lisa, daughter Madison and two sons, Trevor and Garrison.

Early years

Gordon Goodwin was born in Wichita, Kansas

Wichita, Kansas

Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...

.

Gordon Goodwin began his musical education at Cal State Northridge with Joel Leach and Bill Calkins. He wrote his first big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

 chart when he was in the 7th grade, called "Hang Loose". After graduation he was recruited to Louie Bellson's big band, where he played with the likes of Pete Christlieb

Pete Christlieb

Pete Christlieb is a jazz bebop, West Coast jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Christlieb was born in Los Angeles, California and is the son of bassoonist Don Christlieb...

 and Don Menza

Don Menza

Don Menza is an American saxophonist, arranger, composer, session musician, and jazz educator noted for his many contributions to American jazz and big band music. -Early years:...

. He went on to play under Les Hooper

Les Hooper

Les Hooper is a composer in Los Angeles, USA. His music ranges from classical to blues and jazz; from commercials to concert commissions. His credits include movies, TV, commercials, live performances, orchestral commissions, and many published pieces of music...

 and Grant Geissman

Grant Geissman

Grant Geissman is a crossover jazz, contemporary jazz and new age guitarist and an Emmy-nominated composer for network TV series and TV movies. An in-demand studio musician, he has recorded extensively for several labels since 1976, and he can be heard playing guitar on the theme for Monk and...

.

Big Phat Band 

Since then, Goodwin has risen to prominence in the American studio music scene with his big band, The Big Phat Band

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, or simply The Big Phat Band, is an 18-piece jazz ensemble based in California and led by Gordon Goodwin. Goodwin composes most, and arranges all, of the group's performance pieces, as well as playing piano and occasionally tenor saxophone...

. In the band, Goodwin plays piano and occasionally both the soprano and tenor saxophone. This band brings together the talents of such players as Wayne Bergeron

Wayne Bergeron

Wayne Bergeron, American jazz musician and trumpet player, was born in 1958 in Hartford, Connecticut and grew up Southern California. His interest in music started on the French Horn before he switched to, his claim to fame, the trumpet, in 8th grade...

, Eric Marienthal

Eric Marienthal

Eric Marienthal is a Los Angeles-based contemporary saxophonist best known for his work in the jazz, jazz fusion, smooth jazz, and pop genres....

 and Andy Martin

Andy Martin (American musician)

Andy Martin is an American virtuoso jazz trombonist. Among other acts, he is a member of Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band and the Bill Holman big band. He has played in over 100 movies, including the trombone solo in the opening credits of Monsters Inc. He has played with T.V. shows such as Family...

. These detailed music charts are all written or adapted by Gordon Goodwin. Several of his songs are plays on old jazz tunes: a prime example is "Sing, Sang, Sung" which mimics the famous Louis Prima

Louis Prima

Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...

 song "Sing, Sing, Sing

Sing, Sing, Sing

"Sing, Sing, Sing " is a 1936 song, written by Louis Prima and first recorded by him with the New Orleans Gang and released in March 1936 as a 78 as Brunswick 7628 . It is strongly identified with the big band and swing eras. It was covered by Fletcher Henderson and most famously Benny Goodman...

". Under Goodwin's direction, the band has released five albums: "Swingin' For the Fences", which received two Grammy nominations, and "XXL", which received three. "The Phat Pack" was released on June 13, 2006, and "Bah, Humduck! a Looney Tunes Christmas (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture)" was also released in 2006. "Act Your Age", was released on September 30, 2008. Their most recent album, "That's How We Roll", was released on April 12, 2011.

Gordon Goodwin's music with the Big Phat Band is distributed by Silverline Records.

Popular culture

As a film scorer, Goodwin has worked on such films as FernGully: The Last Rainforest

FernGully: The Last Rainforest

FernGully: The Last Rainforest is a 1992 Australian-American animated film directed by Bill Kroyer, produced by Peter Faiman and Wayne Young, and written by Jim Cox based on a book of the same name by Diana Young. It is a film with a strong environmental theme...

, The Majestic, Glory Road

Glory Road

Glory Road is a fantasy novel by Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialized in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and published in hardcover later the same year...

, National Treasure

National Treasure (film)

National Treasure is a 2004 mystery adventure heist film from the Walt Disney Studios under Walt Disney Pictures. It was written by Jim Kouf, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Cormac Wibberley, and Marianne Wibberley, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and directed by Jon Turteltaub...

, Remember the Titans

Remember the Titans

Remember the Titans is a 2000 American sports film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Boaz Yakin. Inspired by real events, the plot was conceived from a screenplay written by Gregory Allen Howard. The film starts as a new coach of the Titans, a football team previously coached by the...

, Armageddon, Star Trek: Nemesis

Star Trek: Nemesis

Star Trek Nemesis is a 2002 science fiction film directed by Stuart Baird, written by John Logan , and with music composed by Jerry Goldsmith. It is the tenth feature film in the Star Trek franchise, and the fourth and final film to star the cast from the television series Star Trek: The Next...

, The Incredibles

The Incredibles

The Incredibles is a 2004 American computer-animated action-comedy superhero film about a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers. It was written and directed by Brad Bird, a former director and executive consultant of The Simpsons, and was produced by Pixar and distributed by...

, Hot Rod

Hot rod

Hot rods are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. One explanation is that the term is a contraction of "hot roadster," meaning a roadster that was modified for speed. Another possible origin includes modifications to or...

, Get Smart

Get Smart

Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...

, Snakes on a Plane

Snakes on a Plane

Snakes on a Plane is a 2006 American horror-action-thriller film directed by David R. Ellis and starring Samuel L. Jackson. It was released by New Line Cinema on August 18, 2006 in North America...

, Race to Witch Mountain

Race to Witch Mountain

Race to Witch Mountain is a 2009 science fiction/thriller film and a remake of the original 1975 fantasy film, Escape to Witch Mountain. Both versions of the film are based on the 1968 novel Escape to Witch Mountain by Alexander Key...

, Coach Carter

Coach Carter

Coach Carter is a 2005 American film directed by Thomas Carter. It is based on a true story, in which Richmond High School basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his MVP and undefeated team due to poor academic results....

, Bad Boys II

Bad Boys II

Bad Boys II is a 2003 action/comedy film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. It is a sequel to the 1995 film Bad Boys. The film is about two police detectives investigating the flow of ecstasy into Miami...

, Con Air

Con Air

Con Air is an Academy Award–nominated 1997 American action-thriller film directed by Simon West and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. It stars Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich...

, Gone in 60 Seconds, the classic cult film Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a 1978 comedy film directed by John De Bello and starring David Miller. The film is a spoof of B movies. Made on a budget of less than US$100,000, the story involves tomatoes becoming sentient by unknown means and revolting against humanity. Writing credits were...

, and Enemy of the State. His work in television includes music for the TV series Animaniacs

Animaniacs

Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...

, Pinky and the Brain

Pinky and the Brain

Pinky and the Brain is an American animated television series.The characters Pinky and the Brain first appeared in 1993 as a recurring segment on the show Animaniacs...

, Tom and Jerry

Tom and Jerry

Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...

, Histeria!

Histeria!

Histeria! is a 1998 American animated series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, Histeria! stood out as the most explicit edutainment program in order to meet FCC requirements for...

, and Road Rovers

Road Rovers

Road Rovers is an American 2D animated television series written and produced by Warner Bros. Animation that premiered on Kids' WB on September 7, 1996. It lasted one season and ended on February 22, 1997. Reruns continued to air until September 6, 1997. It was then on Cartoon Network from February...

. His recording history includes performances with artists as diverse as Mel Tormé

Mel Tormé

Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...

, Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

 and Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera

Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...

. Goodwin himself has received many individual awards, including a recent Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement for his work on the feature film The Incredibles

The Incredibles

The Incredibles is a 2004 American computer-animated action-comedy superhero film about a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers. It was written and directed by Brad Bird, a former director and executive consultant of The Simpsons, and was produced by Pixar and distributed by...

. He is also a three time Emmy winner.

Goodwin has also been a guest conductor for such groups as the London Symphony Orchestra

London Symphony Orchestra

The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...

 and Seattle Symphony Orchestra.

Sheet music

His music is published by companies such as Hal Leonard, Alfred Publishing http://www.alfred.com, and Walrus Music.

Discography

The Big Phat Band has five albums currently released:

• Swingin' For The Fences
  Swingin' For The Fences
  Swingin' For The Fences was the first album by the supergroup Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. Released in 2001, the album quickly became one of the most popular jazz albums of the last 20 years. The album features many acclaimed players and soloists...
  
   (Released January 3, 2002)
• XXL
  XXL (album)
  XXL is the second studio album by Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, released on September 23, 2003. It includes guest performances from saxophonist Michael Brecker, the vocal group Take 6, clarinetist Eddie Daniels and singer Johnny Mathis.-Track listing:...
  
   (Released September 18, 2005)
• The Phat Pack
  The Phat Pack
  The Phat Pack is the third studio album from Californian 18-piece jazz ensemble Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. The album was released June 13, 2006 under Silverline Records, and following the tradition of the group's previous two albums , a bonus DVD is included with the CD purchase...
  
   (Released April 15, 2006)
• Bah, Humduck! a Looney Tunes Christmas (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture) (Released 2006)
• Act Your Age
  Act Your Age (Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band album)
  Act Your Age is the fourth album recorded by Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. Gordon Goodwin's 18-piece big band have already had critical acclaim with their albums XXL and The Phat Pack...
  
   (Released September 30, 2008)
• That's How We Roll (Released April 12, 2011)
• Grade 3 featured on the Shine On! Volume One album along with Tierney Sutton
  Tierney Sutton
  Tierney Sutton is an American jazz singer.A three-time Grammy Nominee for "Best Jazz Vocal Album" and "a selection by Jazzweek as Vocalist of the Year in 2005," Sutton was born in Wisconsin and was educated at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and the Berklee College of Music in...
  
  . (Released September 30, 2011)
• Play With Me featured on the Shine On! Volume One album along with Amber Lily. (Released September 30, 2011)