The big band leader will celebrate the season and his 21st
Grammy nomination by performing with his Big Phat Band at Catalina Bar &
Grill in Hollywood on Monday, December 12.
Gordon Goodwin, the most
decorated big band leader in the 21st century, asked “Do You Hear What I Hear?”
and on Tuesday, NARAS voters answered affirmatively by bestowing another Grammy
nomination upon the four-time Grammy winner. The 21st Grammy nomination of his
distinguished career, Goodwin, who also has three Emmy wins, received the nod
in the Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals category for his crafty work on
the time-honored Christmas classic “Do You Hear What I Hear?” that features
guest vocals from ten-time Grammy winners Take 6. The track appears on
Goodwin’s Big Phat Band’s “A Big Phat Christmas - Wrap This!” album, which was
released on the Music of Content label.
To celebrate the holiday season, Goodwin will lead his
18-piece Big Phat Band into Hollywood for a festive-themed concert showcasing
music from “A Big Phat Christmas – Wrap This!” at Catalina Bar & Grill on
Monday, December 12 at 8:30pm. On December 22, Goodwin will join trumpet legend
Arturo Sandoval for a special appearance at Walt Disney Concert Hall where they
will perform some of Goodwin’s arrangements from “A Big Phat Christmas: Wrap
This!”
It’s been a prolific year for Goodwin, a busy film and
television composer and orchestrater who released the Christmas album as well
as “An Elusive Man,” the debut disc by his Little Phat Band, a slimmed-down
8-piece jazz ensemble. In addition to producing “An Elusive Man,” Goodwin
penned eight original compositions and re-envisioned a pair of standards that
spotlight his animated piano and chatty tenor sax trading boisterous barbs and
banter with seven members of the Big Phat Band. The musicians relished the
liberating freedom to improvise and explore other dimensions of jazz that are
not possible to invoke in tightly-scripted big band settings. The versatile,
critically-hailed collection swings through tracks of jazz, funk, be-bop, soul
and Latin rhythms.
Goodwin’s 2017 is already taking shape with the premiere of
a new Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra, which he composed for trumpet
virtuoso James Morrison. The concerto will debut in Australia on April 30 with
the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. A second orchestra piece, Fantasia for Soprano
Sax and Orchestra, will premiere May 7 in Los Angeles. The soloist will be his
Big and Little Phat Band colleague saxophonist Eric Marienthal, who will be
accompanied by the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra at the Carpenter Performing Arts
Center in Long Beach. A second performance is slated to take place in July in
Prague with the Czech National Symphony.
Goodwin, who is profiled in the winter issue of Jazziz
magazine arriving on newsstands nationally this month, hosts “Phat Tracks with
Gordon Goodwin,” which airs Saturdays from 12-2pm PT on KJAZZ, America’s jazz
and blues station. The Los Angeles-based artist will find out on February 12,
2017 if he’ll be adding a fifth Grammy statue to his trophy case. For more
information, please visit www.GordonGoodwin.com.
Below are excerpts from some of the Little Phat Band’s “An
Elusive Man” album reviews:
“Lighter, quicker and with more pep, as most people are
after dropping a few, this band is a nice break, and shows a different side of
Goodwin’s skills.” – Jazz Weekly
“Goodwin once again shows why he can lay claim to being the
hardest working man in jazz (if he wanted to make that claim) with this mostly
original set that takes mainstream jazz to high and mighty places. Killer stuff
throughout for anyone that wants to hear grand playing that just makes them
feel good, you can expect Goodwin to set the world on fire once again with this
smoking set.” – Midwest Record
“The entire recording presents the compositional integrity
of Gordon Goodwin and his ability to lead smaller bands with the same finesse
as his Big Phat Band…This one should definitely be in your jazz collection.” –
Sounds of Timeless Jazz
“Goodwin has built a larger-than-life reputation throughout
the music industry for his composing, arranging and playing skills. Here on ‘An
Elusive Man,’ he showcases them all and along with his Little Phat Band.” –
Exclusive Magazine
“Gordon Goodwin is one of America's most garlanded jazz
men.” – Soul and Jazz and Funk
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