GORDON GOODWIN – As winner of the 2006 Grammy Award for his Instrumental Arrangement of Incredits from the Pixar film The Incredibles, as well as three-time Emmy Award winner and five-time Grammy nominee, you would think that Goodwin had fulfilled his dreams and achieved all of his goals. Not by a long shot. He has yet another channel for success as leader of L.A.’s most exciting 18-piece big band jazz ensemble, Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band. The Big Phat Band has quickly become one of the most hard swinging large jazz ensembles, comprised of L.A.’s finest musicians, which celebrates and personifies the best of the big band tradition with a very contemporary and original sound. Gordon’s witty and insightful arrangements propel the listener on a journey through a myriad of styles: latin, blues, swing, classical, hard-hitting jazz, and even an homage to Looney Tunes (!).
Established in 2000, the band’s debut recording, Swingin’ For The Fences, (Silverline Records) featured guests such as Arturo Sandoval, Eddie Daniels and made history as the first commercially available DVD audio title ever released and the first DVD audio title to receive two Grammy nominations.
Goodwin’s second album XXL (Silverline Records) was released on DVD-Audio and compact disc in 2003, charting its first week. XXL garnered three Grammy nominations for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, Best Instrumental Composition (Hunting Wabbits) and Best Instrumental Arrangement with Vocals (Comes Love with Brian McKnight and Take 6), while winning the Surround Sound Award for Best Made for Surround Sound Title. The list of guest artists repeated the high quality of the first release and featured, among others, Johnny Mathis and the incomparable Michael Brecker.
June 13th, 2006 marks the release of the composer/arranger’s third album The Phat Pack (Immergent Records) with guest stars Dianne Reeves, David Sanborn, Eddie Daniels and Take 6. The Phat Pack continues Gordon’s quest for the music he’s been hearing in his head since childhood. This team of players is taking all of us on a ride through Gordon’s synapses, formed by years of listening to the giants of jazz, pop, rock and funk. Gordon’s love for bands such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Buddy Rich, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Earth, Wind and Fire, Tower of Power and more gave him the intricate foundation for the hard driving sound we hear today. It is his ability to combine traditional jazz excellence with any musical style that makes his writing appealing to fans of even the most extreme forms of music. It is a rare and amazing thing to know that headbangers and be-boppers agree in their praise of Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band.
Throughout his career, Gordon Goodwin has built a larger-than-life reputation for his composing, arranging, and musical instrumentation skills. Ray Charles, Christina Aguilera, Johnny Mathis, Toni Braxton, John Williams, Natalie Cole, David Foster, Sarah Vaughn, Mel Torme, Brian McKnight and Quincy Jones are just a few of the artists he has written for, recorded and performed with. Goodwin has conducted with world-renowned symphony orchestras in Atlanta, Dallas, Utah, Seattle, Toronto and London.
Working within the television and film industry, his cinematic scoring and orchestration craft can be heard on such films as Glory Road, National Treasure, The Incredibles, Remember The Titans, Armageddon, Bad Boys II, The Majestic, Con Air, Gone in 60 Seconds, Enemy of the State, Star Trek Nemesis, the classic cult film Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, and the upcoming Bah Hum Duck! A Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck riff on the classic, A Christmas Carol with Gordon and the Big Phat Band’s unmistakable sound!
