Month: August 2016

From learning to play trumpet at Lincoln Middle School, to his jazz band debuting at The Lincoln Center, to co-headlining with Pat Metheny at the Toronto Jazz Festival; seeing Pat Metheny perform at the LC is a little bit like life coming full circle for local musician and entrepreneur Ed Goodman.

Before the Lincoln Center became the place to experience music and culture in Fort Collins, it was Lincoln Middle School. It was also where Goodman began playing the trumpet. His love for playing the instrument continued into high school as he took professional gigs in Denver playing backup for the likes of Tony Bennett and Doc Severinsen, Johnny Carson’s famed bandleader.

It was meeting Doc Severinsen that changed the direction of Goodman’s life. “[Doc] helped me understand that if I was ever going to be what I wanted to be, I needed to imagine that was me when I listened to great players, and to experience it in my mind as if it’s already true. If I couldn’t imagine it for myself, I’d never be any good.”

That conversation with Doc would always be on Goodman’s mind, from the creation of his own jazz ensemble to building his small business, Spiral Experiences, later in life.

After attending Colorado State University on a performing arts scholarship — where he studied both Engineering and Music— he ended up in Las Vegas playing at places such as the MGM Grand where he performed with greats like Diana Ross.

When he decided to form a jazz band of his own, Doc Severinsin’s words were still on his mind. He was determined to make a great jazz band, and he did.

In only six short weeks, he and his younger brother, Dave Goodman, formed the jazz band, Kinesis, in Fort Collins. They found investors and hired a total of eight musicians and a sound engineer (who he affectionately called their ninth performer). Then, they went to The Lincoln Center and sold out the Performance Hall.

 

After that, Kinesis went straight to Caribou Ranch to record their first album after being signed by Head First Records. Music fans may recognize this iconic studio in Nederland, Colorado where other famous musicians like Elton John, Chicago, John Denver, and Steely Dan recorded. However, if you want this Kinesis album, they sell at auction for as much as $1, 000 unwrapped.

Kinesis then went on tour for four and a half years playing all over North America, including the Toronto Jazz Festival, where they co-headlined with Pat Metheny. Rumor had it that afterward Metheny wore a Kinesis shirt in some of his shows.

Naturally, Goodman is excited to see Pat Metheny come to the stage that launched Kinesis all those years ago.

“[ Metheny and his musicians] would sit down and talk about where the world was, and who they were as people and musicians. […] The music would flow out of the way they viewed the world and their life at the time, ” Goodman said. “Nobody else does it quite like that.”

For him, listening to Metheny is an experience like no other. “On the surface, you could say, it’s just really amazing and beautiful. But when you listen in a deeper way, you hear nuance and expression and interplay between the voices in the group that is unprecedented. […] Their ability to read each other on stage is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. They’re at another level.”

“If you know [Metheny’s] music, ” Goodman continued, “when you go live, they are not necessarily sticking to the script. With a look, they take off on alternative chord structures on the fly. You can see them smiling as they follow each other.”

For tickets to see An Evening with Pat Metheny at the Lincoln Center, click here.