Remembering Gordon Goodwin, A Big Phat Inspiration
Goodbye to a titan of Southern California jazz and entertainment
(Photo of Gordon Goodwin by Joe Meyer for Parade)
It hardly seems real that Gordon Goodwin has left the stage, felled by pancreatic cancer at 70. He seemed a couple of decades younger whenever he was onstage with the Big Phat Band and his lovely wife, Vangie Gunn. Hard to believe that he had been writing music since 1962, when he was in the seventh grade. His career spanned TV, film, world tours, and some of the finest big band recordings of our time. Awards ranged from the NAJE composition contest at 21 (for “Checking the Cell Structure”, 1976) to two Grammys and two Daytime Emmys.
(“Checking the Cell Structure” as performed by Catalan drummer Santi Arisa’s ensemble)
I wrote my very first composition because of Gordon’s inspiration. It was 1983 and I was a fourteen-year-old sophomore. Our jazz ensemble was playing his fun shuffle tune “Picture IV”, part of his suite “Four Pictures for Jazz Orchestra”. Something about that chart really clicked with me, perhaps because my drummer dad had always loved shuffle tunes. He would spend an hour or so a day improving on his shuffle beat, though the swing band he was in didn’t play much in that style. At any rate, I would go home with “Picture IV” stuck in my head. Eventually I decided to try my hand at writing something original in the way of a shuffle. Over time it mutated into more of a funk tune, and I never really did anything with it, but the seed had been planted.
(“Picture IV” as performed by the TrueNorth Big Band from Ohio)
A few months later, my family watched the cheesy 1978 horror parody, “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”. I saw a “Gordon Goodwin” mentioned in the music credits. “Nah, can’t possibly be the same one.” But it was. He had contributed music to the film while he was a student at Cal State Northridge. Maybe not the most auspicious vehicle for getting the industry’s attention. (Then again, Burt Bacharach’s first bite of ostensible glory was the theme for “The Blob”, so you never can tell.)
Gordon went on to write for a wide range of projects: Disneyland rides, “The New Mickey Mouse Club”, “Animaniacs”, “The Incredibles”, “Remember the Titans”, “National Treasure”, not to mention working with Ray Charles, Johnny Mathis, Quincy Jones, Idina Menzel, and conducting symphony orchestras worldwide. But it seems his greatest love had always been big band jazz. Hence, the quarter-century run of the Big Phat Band, which I pray someone will keep alive as a reminder of Gordon’s gifts and the eternal joy of big band music.
(The Big Phat Band performing “Sing Sang Sung” at the Hollywood Bowl in June 2022)
Gordon was deeply honored that his hero Louis Bellson had chosen to record “Picture IV” for the album Note Smoking. Later he had the honor of playing with Bellson and Les Hooper’s big bands, both of which were touchstones in my own listening journey. When I spoke with Gordon about a decade ago, he seemed almost embarrassed by the older tunes like “Picture IV” and “The Check’s in the Mail” that we loved when I was a student. Granted, his writing had evolved a great deal over those thirty-odd years, but he was gratified that his early charts were still appreciated.
(“The Check’s in the Mail” as performed by Japan’s Battle Jazz Big Band)
The Big Phat Band performed several times at the Redlands Bowl, our local outdoor music venue that’s provided great entertainment for more than a century. My wife and I never missed an opportunity to catch Gordon and company during their summer music programs. Gordon’s sense of humor was always on display. I remember the time that tenorman Brian Scanlon laid a real clam during a solo. A couple of bars later, Gordon loudly hit that same wrong note on the piano to let Scanlon know he was caught. The year before, the end of their set had gotten rained out by an atypical summer storm. Upon the band’s return to Redlands, Gordon immediately joked about the weather.
Gordon Goodwin made an indelible impact on American culture and the art of jazz in particular. May his memory continue to inspire future generations of musicians and listeners.