Thursday, December 08, 2016

“Wrap This!” delivers a Grammy nomination to 4-time Grammy winner Gordon Goodwin

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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