New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Native New Yorker, saxophonist and composer Andrew Gould has established himself as one of the most in demand players on the NYC music scene.
He has performed with
James Moody, Benny Golson, Wallace Roney, Jon Faddis, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Mambo
Legends Orchestra,
David Weiss, Ray Vega,
Bobby Sanabria, Ricky Rodriguez and many more. He was a 2013 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition Semi Finalist and has recorded for MTV, Universal Music, Warner Bros Music, and Capitol Records for world famous artists including Fifth Harmony,
Mac Miller and more. He has also performed live on the Today Show, ABC News, WBGO Radio, and at Winter Jazzfest, The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, Bermuda Jazz Festival and many others. He has toured extensively around the world performing all over the U.S.A including Hawaii, as well as Bermuda, Europe, Asia, and Canada.
A graduate of both Manhattan School of
Music and SUNY Purchase, Andrew continues to teach regularly, giving both private lessons and masterclasses to students of all levels.
Recent projects include a world premier performance and studio recording of Wayne Shorter's "Universe" with the Wallace Roney Orchestra, horn section work and collaborations with Grammy winning hip hop producer 88 Keys, writing for and touring worldwide with funk/jazz group Nuf Said - 2nd album "Rise" recently released on Ropeadope Records, and performing/recording with pianist Steven Feifke in his Septet and Big Band. Andrew continues to compose for and perform with his own group and plans on releasing his debut album "First things First" in March 2018 on Outside In Music.
Andrew is an endorsing artist with Yanagisawa Saxophones, D'Addario Reeds, and Silverstein Ligatures.
Gould's debut album is a collection of music that I've composed in the past few years in my experiences living and working as a professional saxophonist in New York City. It demonstrates a wide variety of styles and sounds that represent my main influences and what inspires me the most as an artist. It spans from straight ahead jazz in both quartet and quintet form, to funk/rnb with some more electric sounds, as well as vocals. Working in NYC requires you to be extremely versatile and flexible as a musician, but the most important thing regardless of what style you find yourself in, is to always have your own voice and approach that you can apply to any scenario. That's what I tried to do with the music on this album.
Some music is more geared towards straight ahead jazz, but there are a few tracks and moments where stylings shift towards funk, rnb and electronic sounds (track 3 "Cool Off" and track 5 "R Train") as well as track 7 "On a Darker Moon" which features vocalist Ioana Vintu singing the melody as I take more supportive role in embellishing and filling behind her.
"First things First" is a composition I wrote based on the blues that is partially inspired by one of my favorite
John Coltrane compositions - Mr. Day. I think all of jazz and it's cousin genres - funk and rnb started with the blues, and this is why I called this tune "First things First". Other original compositions "Mumbo Jumbo", "Rickshaw" feature trumpet player Scott Wendholt who is one of my favorite trumpet players on the scene today. He has an unbelievably musicality as well as a super unique and personal approach to playing. Those 2 songs, along with "
Destination" are also inspired by my heroes
John Coltrane and Joe Henderson, who both have an enormous influence in how and why I play music.
"7am" is a favorite of my original tunes, and is titled so because I literally finished writing it at 7 in the morning. To me it also kind of sonically represents that morning NYC hustle of running to the crowded subway station and rushing to wherever you have to go.
"Song for Millie" is a ballad that I wrote and was inspired by a friends dog, named Millie. I took care of
Millie for a week, and she was one of the kindest, gentlest little dogs. She was super timid, but also very affectionate and sweet once she warmed up to you.
Personnel:
Andrew Gould - Alto saxophone,
Soprano saxophone, FX pedals
Steven Feifke - Piano, Fender Rhodes
Marco Panascia - Acoustic Bass, Electric Bass
Jake Goldbas - Drums, Percussion
Ioana Vintu (pronounced you-wanna) - Vocals (track 7 "On a Darker Moon)
Scott Wendholt - Trumpet (track 2 "Rickshaw", track 6 "Mumbo Jumbo)
Track listing:
(everything composed and arranged by Andrew Gould except track 1
"The Goulden Ratio" composed by Steven Feifke)
1. The Goulden Ratio 7:02
2. Rickshaw 6:24
3. Cool Off 7:30
4. Song For
Millie 3:56
5. R
Train 9:30
6. Mumbo Jumbo 5:18
7. On A Darker Moon 3:34
8. 7am 9:24
9. First Things First 5:23
10. Destination 9:43
