Jerry Goodman
Encyclopedia
Jerry Goodman is an American violin
ist best known for playing electric violin
in the bands The Flock
and the jazz fusion
Mahavishnu Orchestra. Goodman actually began his musical career as The Flock's roadie
before joining the band on violin. Trained in the conservatory, both of his parents were in the string section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
. His uncle was the noted composer and jazz pianist Marty Rubenstein.
After his 1970 appearance on John McLaughlin
's album My Goal's Beyond
, he became a member of McLaughlin's original Mahavishnu Orchestra lineup until the band broke up in 1973, and was viewed as a soloist of equal virtuosity to McLaughlin and drummer Billy Cobham
.
In 1975, after Mahavishnu, Goodman recorded the album Like Children with Mahavishnu keyboard alumnus Jan Hammer
. Starting in 1985 he recorded three solo albums for Private Music
-- On the Future of Aviation, Ariel, and the live album It's Alive with luminaries such as Fred Simon and Jim Hines
-- and went on tour with his own band, as well as with Shadowfax
and The Dixie Dregs
. He scored Lily Tomlin's
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
and is the featured violinist on numerous film soundtracks, including Billy Crystal's
Mr. Saturday Night
and Steve Martin's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
. His violin can be heard on more than fifty albums from artists ranging from Toots Thielemans
to Hall & Oates
to Styx
to Jordan Rudess
to Derek Sherinian
. Goodman has appeared on keyboardist Sherinian's last four solo records - Inertia
(2001), Black Utopia
(2003), Mythology
(2004), and Blood of the Snake
(2006)
In 1993, Goodman joined the American instrumental band, The Dixie Dregs, fronted by guitarist Steve Morse. Goodman appeared on one studio recording "Full Circle" (1994), and the live album "California Screamin'" (2000).
After an absence from the public eye in live concert, he toured in 2004 and 2005 with Gary Husband
in his group Gary Husband’s Force Majeure, and appeared on the DVD Gary Husband's Force Majeure - Live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Even more recently, he played with the San Diego based fusion group Hectic Watermelon and with Dream Theater
in their album Black Clouds & Silver Linings
.
With The Flock
With Jan Hammer
As a guest artist
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist best known for playing electric violin
Electric violin
An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument purposely made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body...
in the bands The Flock
The Flock (band)
The Flock was a Chicago-based jazz-rock band that released two records on Columbia records in 1969 and 1970 . The Flock did not achieve the commercial success of other Columbia jazz-rock groups of the era such as Chicago and Blood Sweat & Tears, but were most notable for their inclusion of a...
and the jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
Mahavishnu Orchestra. Goodman actually began his musical career as The Flock's roadie
Road crew
The road crew are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians...
before joining the band on violin. Trained in the conservatory, both of his parents were in the string section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
. His uncle was the noted composer and jazz pianist Marty Rubenstein.
After his 1970 appearance on John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
's album My Goal's Beyond
My Goal's Beyond
My Goal's Beyond is the third solo album of John McLaughlin. The album was originally released on Douglas Records in the US. It was later reissued by Rykodisc....
, he became a member of McLaughlin's original Mahavishnu Orchestra lineup until the band broke up in 1973, and was viewed as a soloist of equal virtuosity to McLaughlin and drummer Billy Cobham
Billy Cobham
William C. Cobham is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who has called Switzerland home since the late 1970s....
.
In 1975, after Mahavishnu, Goodman recorded the album Like Children with Mahavishnu keyboard alumnus Jan Hammer
Jan Hammer
Jan Hammer is a composer, pianist and keyboardist. He first gained his most visible audience while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 1970s, as well as his film scores for television and film including "Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett's Theme", from the popular 1980s...
. Starting in 1985 he recorded three solo albums for Private Music
Private Music
Private Music is a United States record company founded in 1984 by experimental musician Peter Baumann, as a home for instrumental music. Initially signing such artists as Yanni, Suzanne Ciani, Patrick O'Hearn, and Baumann's former bandmates Tangerine Dream, the record label specialized in New Age...
-- On the Future of Aviation, Ariel, and the live album It's Alive with luminaries such as Fred Simon and Jim Hines
Jim Hines
James "Jim" Ray Hines is a former American track and field athlete, who held the 100 m world record for 15 years. He was the first sprinter to officially break the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters.-Track career:...
-- and went on tour with his own band, as well as with Shadowfax
Shadowfax (band)
Shadowfax was a new age/electronic musical group, best known for their albums Shadowfax and Folksongs for a Nuclear Village. In 1988 they won the Grammy for Best New Age Performance for Folksongs for a Nuclear Village...
and The Dixie Dregs
Dixie Dregs
The Dixie Dregs are an American band formed in the 1970s. Their mostly instrumental music fuses jazz, southern rock, bluegrass and classical forms in an often unique style.-Formation and early years:...
. He scored Lily Tomlin's
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (film)
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe is the filmed version of the one-woman stage show written by Jane Wagner and starring Lily Tomlin, which won the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience...
and is the featured violinist on numerous film soundtracks, including Billy Crystal's
Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes...
Mr. Saturday Night
Mr. Saturday Night
Mr. Saturday Night is a 1992 film that marks the directorial debut of its star, Billy Crystal.It focuses on the rise and fall of Buddy Young Jr., a fictional stand-up comedian. Crystal produced and co-wrote the screenplay with the writing duo Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz...
and Steve Martin's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (film)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Frank Oz. The screenplay by Dale Launer, Stanley Shapiro, and Paul Henning focuses on two con artists who ply their trade on the French Riviera...
. His violin can be heard on more than fifty albums from artists ranging from Toots Thielemans
Toots Thielemans
Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans , known as Toots Thielemans, is a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century...
to Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates are an American musical duo composed of Daryl Hall and John Oates. They achieved their greatest fame in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. Both sing and play instruments. They specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles, which they dubbed "rock and soul."...
to Styx
Styx (band)
Styx is an American rock band that became famous for its albums from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Chicago band is known for melding the style of prog-rock with the power of hard rock guitar, strong ballads, and elements of American musical theater....
to Jordan Rudess
Jordan Rudess
Jordan Rudess is an American keyboardist best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the progressive rock supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment.-Biography:...
to Derek Sherinian
Derek Sherinian
Derek Sherinian is a rock keyboardist who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Yngwie Malmsteen, Kiss, and Alice In Chains. He was also a member of Dream Theater and is the founder of the instrumental metal-fusion band Planet X...
. Goodman has appeared on keyboardist Sherinian's last four solo records - Inertia
Inertia (Derek Sherinian album)
Inertia is the second solo album by keyboard player Derek Sherinian. It features many guest musicians including Steve Lukather, Simon Phillips, Jerry Goodman, Zakk Wylde and Tony Franklin. Lukather was quoted at the time as saying that Inertia contained "the best guitar work I've ever recorded"...
(2001), Black Utopia
Black Utopia
Black Utopia is the third solo album by keyboard player Derek Sherinian. In addition to the returning members Zakk Wylde, Simon Phillips and Steve Lukather, three new musicians joined Sherinian: bass guitarist Billy Sheehan and guitarists Yngwie Malmsteen – with whom Sherinian had toured in 2001 –...
(2003), Mythology
Mythology (Derek Sherinian album)
Mythology is the fourth solo album by keyboard player Derek Sherinian. Sherinian again draws upon some of the greatest talent from the worlds of rock and jazz music...
(2004), and Blood of the Snake
Blood of the Snake
Blood of the Snake is the fifth solo album by keyboard player Derek Sherinian. It has contributions from Billy Idol, Zakk Wylde, Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash, John Petrucci of Dream Theater, in addition to previous collaborators Simon Phillips, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony Franklin, Steve Lukather and...
(2006)
In 1993, Goodman joined the American instrumental band, The Dixie Dregs, fronted by guitarist Steve Morse. Goodman appeared on one studio recording "Full Circle" (1994), and the live album "California Screamin'" (2000).
After an absence from the public eye in live concert, he toured in 2004 and 2005 with Gary Husband
Gary Husband
Gary Husband is a British jazz and rock drummer, pianist and composer.- Short biography:Gary Husband is an English jazz and rock drummer, pianist and composer...
in his group Gary Husband’s Force Majeure, and appeared on the DVD Gary Husband's Force Majeure - Live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Even more recently, he played with the San Diego based fusion group Hectic Watermelon and with Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
in their album Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Black Clouds & Silver Linings is the tenth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released on June 23, 2009 through Roadrunner Records. It is the band's last album to feature drummer and founding member Mike Portnoy before his departure on September 8, 2010. The album was...
.
Discography
- 1985 - On the Future of Aviation
- 1986 - Ariel
- 1987 - It's Alive
With The Flock
The Flock (band)
The Flock was a Chicago-based jazz-rock band that released two records on Columbia records in 1969 and 1970 . The Flock did not achieve the commercial success of other Columbia jazz-rock groups of the era such as Chicago and Blood Sweat & Tears, but were most notable for their inclusion of a...
- 1969 - The FlockThe Flock (album)The Flock is the self-titled debut album by The Flock.-Track listing:#"Introduction" – 4:50#"Clown" – 7:42#"I Am The Tall Tree" – 5:37#"Tired of Waiting" – 4:35#"Store Bought - Store Thought" – 7:00#"Truth" - 15:25- Personnel :...
- 1970 - Dinosaur SwampsDinosaur SwampsDinosaur Swamps is the second album by The Flock.-Track listing:#"Green Slice" – 2:02#"Big Bird" – 5:50#"Hornschmeyer's Island" – 7:25#"Lighthouse" – 5:19#"Crabfoot" – 8:14#"Mermaid" - 4:53#"Uranian Sircus" - 7:11- Personnel :...
With Jan Hammer
Jan Hammer
Jan Hammer is a composer, pianist and keyboardist. He first gained his most visible audience while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 1970s, as well as his film scores for television and film including "Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett's Theme", from the popular 1980s...
- 1974 - Like Children
As a guest artist
- 2009 - Black Clouds & Silver LiningsBlack Clouds & Silver LiningsBlack Clouds & Silver Linings is the tenth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released on June 23, 2009 through Roadrunner Records. It is the band's last album to feature drummer and founding member Mike Portnoy before his departure on September 8, 2010. The album was...
Multimedia
- Jerry Goodman with the Mahavishnu Orchestra - "You Know You Know"
- Jerry Goodman with the Dixie Dregs, 2001
- Video introduction from Jerry Goodman website
Sources & external Links
- Mahavishnu Orchestra The Inner Mounting FlameThe Inner Mounting FlameThe Inner Mounting Flame is Mahavishnu Orchestra's first studio album, released in 1971 and consisting solely of original compositions by John McLaughlin....
CD booklet - Mahavishnu Orchestra The Lost Trident SessionsThe Lost Trident SessionsThe Lost Trident Sessions was an incomplete album by the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The album was recorded in 1973, but was not released until 1999, by Columbia/Legacy....
CD booklet - [ All Music Guide to Jerry Goodman]
- 2010 interview with Jerry Goodman on Prog Sphere