- Born
- Died
- Birth nameGordon Lynn Goodwin
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- A well rewarded Composer, arranger, keyboardist and woodwind player, Goodwin has built a larger-than-life reputation throughout the music industry for his composing, arranging and playing skills. Ray Charles, Christina Aguilera, Johnny Mathis, Alejandro Fernandez, Patti Austin, Toni Braxton, John Williams, Natalie Cole, David Foster, Sarah Vaughan, Mel Torme', Simone', Brian McKnight and Quincy Jones are just a few of the artists with whom he has worked. Goodwin has also conducted world-renowned symphony orchestras in Atlanta, Dallas, Utah, Seattle, Toronto and London.
Goodwin's cinematic scoring and orchestration craft can be heard on such films as Get Smart, Glory Road, National Treasure, The Incredibles, Remember The Titans, Armageddon, The Majestic, Con Air, Gone In 60 Seconds, Enemy of the State, Star Trek Nemesis, Avengers 2, Draft Day, Grudge Match, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Escape to Witch Mountain, and even the classic cult film Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes. Goodwin's soundtrack to Looney Tunes' Bah HumDuck! - a wacky Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck riff on the classic A Christmas Carol - also features the Big Phat Band's patented sound.
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band joined Telarc International, a division of Concord Music Group, with the April 12, 2011 release of That's How We Roll. The band's first CD in over two and a half years featured 10 new Goodwin originals and his Grammy winning arrangement of the Gershwin classic "Rhapsody in Blue." Special guests include Gerald Albright, Dave Koz, Marcus Miller and Take 6.
May 13, 2014 was Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band's 6th release Life In the Bubble. With 16 Grammy nominations, 3 Grammy wins and 3 Emmy's, as of this date, it is certain Gordon Goodwin is a force for keeping music with high level content in the public domain.
- IMDb mini biography by: L. Goodwin
- SpousesVangie Gunn(July 31, 2021 - December 8, 2025) (his death)Lisa Goodwin(August 18, 1985 - October 20, 2019) (divorced, 3 children)
- Was once singer Johnny Mathis's pianist and conductor.
- A consumate Jazz musician, he is the conductor-composer-arranger-pianist for "Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band", a contemporary Big Band.
- Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band's first release Swingin' for the Fences was the first surround sound 5.1 audio release in history.
- Won three Daytime Emmy Awards, four Grammy Awards, and 25 Grammy nominations for his compositions and arrangements.
- Wrote his first big band chart, called "Hang Loose", when he was in the seventh grade.
- [on putting together "The Big Phat Band" in 1999] I realized that I may have more road behind me than I have ahead of me, and maybe I should have the courage to start writing music for me. I was mindful of the hostile cultural climate for this type of music, the economic challenges and logistic challenges - the stuff that started to kill the big band environment the first time round. Could I convince people that this music wasn't just about nostalgia, or that it wasn't elitist? That you could make jazz accessible and even entertaining? I was fighting the concept, even in the jazz community, that to market your music meant that you didn't have artistic integrity.
- To see my name on a list of Grammy nominees, right next to John Williams and people like that, I can't get used to it. And I don't want to get used to it. I never would have predicted I would have twenty Grammy nominations, ever.
- I think I have one responsibility and that is to write music that sounds good to me, not to fans or critics. People can hear some intangible difference in music that has integrity from an honest point-of-view, and music that is just well-crafted.
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