John Goldsby....

Paul Shigihara, Rick Kiefer, John in WDR Studio 4

Since 1994, John Goldsby has been a member of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk Big Band (the Cologne Radio Big Band). From 1980 to 1994, John lived in New York City and was an active fixture on the New York jazz scene, performing everywhere from Carnegie Hall, to the nightclubs of Greenwich Village, to concert stages around the world. John is actively involved in the jazz scene as a bassist, bandleader, composer, teacher, clinician and author. The son of a Baptist minister, John was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He played piano, guitar, and electric bass before taking up the double bass at age 18. His early musical experiences include work with hometown jazz greats Jimmy Raney, Helen Humes, and Jamey Aebersold. In 1979, John got the gig with the house trio at a jazz club in Louisville that brought in famous jazz soloists to play with the trio. For almost one year, John played with some of the legends of jazz including: Jay McShann, Buddy Tate, Johnny Hartman, Barney Kessel, Tom Harrell, Dave Liebman, Buddy DeFranco, and others. When this gig ended, John knew he had to move to New York. In 1980, he put the bass in the car and made his move...
After moving to New York, John found himself in good company with all of the other young players on the scene. His first experiences with the established New York elite included gigs with Albert Dailey, Sal Nestico, John Hicks, Benny Bailey and Bob Wilber.

Goldsby has recorded with many world-class musicians, including Scott Hamilton, John Lewis, and the American Jazz Orchestra. The John Goldsby, Peter Erskine, Bill Dobbins Trio recently recorded "Cologne" (Fuzzy Music). The CD is available through the Goldsby Web Store, or through Fuzzy Music and iTunes. Trumpeter John Marshall's newest CD, "Frisky" (Organic Music) is now available. "Off Broadway" is the title of the highly -acclaimed release with Frank Vignola on Nagel Heyer Records. "The Shimmering Colours of Stained Glass," and "The Underwater Poet" with Hubert Nuss, plus Hubert's newest "Feed the Birds" on Pirouet, "Ups and Downs" with trombonist Ludwig Nuss, "Tesoro" with Rolf Roemer, "All John" with Hans Peter Salentin, and guitarist Joachim Schoenacker's "Common Language" are among recently released recordings that feature John. "Behind Closed Doors" with Peter Erskine, "The Chase" with Randy Sandke, "An Ellington Affair" with Bill Mays, "Big Man's Blues" with Andy Fusco, and "The Return of the Great Guitars" (Herb Ellis, Larry Coryell, Mudell Lowe, and Charlie Byrd) are among other noteworthy recordings. Three critically acclaimed records with the Frank Vignola Trio are "Appel Direct," "Let It Happen," and "Look Right, Jog Left." The WDR Big Band records constantly and is featured on several current releases, such as: "Concord Voices, Live at Montreux," "Patti Austin - For Ella," "Big Band Time" from Paquito D'Rivera (featuring John's burning duet "Basstronaut" with electric bassist Oscar Stagnaro), "The Latin Jazz Suite," "Esparanto," "The Jazz Mass," "Jazz Goes To The Movies," "Gillespiana," "Bullit" and "Mannix" from Lalo Schifrin; "Pussy Cat Dues" with Bill Dobbins, Kevin Mahogany, Charles McPherson, Jimmy Knepper, Dennis Mackrel; "Better Get Hit In Your Soul" with Bill Dobbins, Jack Walrath, Miles Griffith; "Eddie Harris, The Last Concert;" and probably the most representative recording of the WDR Big Band, "Prism - The Music of Bill Dobbins and Peter Erskine."

"Cologne" is Goldsby's most recent CD with his trio co-led by drummer Peter Erskine and pianist Bill Dobbins. This recording features a wide range of modern jazz trio music, from original works like Goldsby's "Sergio" and "Jog Left" to standards and free improvisations. This CD is available from Fuzzy Music, iTunes, or the Goldsby Web Store. In December, 2000, John Goldsby recorded Viewpoint, at Topaz Studios in Cologne to for Nagel Heyer Records. The music is a combination of original material and standards, featuring some of the best musicians on the scene today: Frank Chastenier, Hans Dekker, Olivier Peters, John Marshall, and Hayden Chisholm. "Tale of the Fingers" (Concord Records) is the premier recording of the John Goldsby Quartet. The other musicians on this CD are Bill Mays (piano), Terry Clarke (drums), and Andy Fusco (alto).This recording features two compositions by Mr. Goldsby as well as rare works by Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, Oscar Pettiford, Paul Chambers, and Sam Jones. A highlight of the recording is "Three Short Stories for Bass and Piano" by Bill Mays.
The Village Voice says that John Goldsby is "One of the few bassists steeped in the tradition of Jimmy Blanton and Oscar Pettiford." The New York Times says "John Goldsby's bass playing was spectacular . . . the rhythm-section contributed some of the most vivid passages to the concert."

John Goldsby is well-known as a jazz educator and currently teaches at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany. In the past, he has taught at the Cologne, Germany Musik Hochschule, William Paterson College, Long Island University, and Columbia University. Mr. Goldsby also teaches at Jamey Aebersold's Summer Jazz Clinics and he has recorded many educational jazz records for Mr. Aebersold. The Jazz Bass Book is Mr. Goldsby's most recent book, documenting jazz bass players and their techniques from a historical perspective. This first-of-its-kind work is filled with transcriptions, historical and technical information, discographys, and Goldsby's insightful and inspiring writing. A play-along CD is included for the reader/student to use with written etudes, patterns, scales, and improvised solos and bass lines. Also on the CD are several performances tracks for listening or play-along. The CD features Goldsby on bass along with the masterful assistance of Bill Dobbins (piano) and Hans Dekker drums). Here's a recent WDR Big Band concert from Cologne with McCoy Tyner on piano and Hans Dekker on drums. Mr. Goldsby has written two other instructional method books: Bowing Techniques for the Improvising Bassist, and Bass Notes. Bass Player magazine says, "Bass Notes is an excellent resource for intermediate to advanced jazz bassist." The National Association of Jazz Educators says, "Bowing Techniques should be a required publication for upright bassists!" Since 1990, John Goldsby has been a featured writer for Bass Player Magazine with his columns "The Tradition," "Mastering Jazz," and "Jazz Concepts."

Mr. Goldsby received jazz performance grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1988, 1990, and 1993. The "John Goldsby Plays Oscar Pettiford" concert which was funded by the 1990 grant received much critical acclaim from the New York Times, Jazz Times, and the Village Voice. John Goldsby is currently working with the WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) Big Band on projects with artists such as McCoy Tyner, Hiram Bullock, Nicholas Payton, Roy Hargrove, Charlie Mariano, Lee Konitz, Clarke Terry, Gary Bartz, Eddie Henderson, Phil Woods, Mike Manieri, Jon Faddis, Alex Acuna, Paquito D'Rivera, Jack Walrath, Bernard Purdie, Gil Goldstein, Ray Brown, Christian McBride, John Clayton, Peter Erskine, Jeff Hamilton, John Riley, Dennis Makrell and arrangers such as Bill Holman, Vince Mendoza, Bob Brookmeyer, and Bill Dobbins In 2004, Michael Abene was appointed chief conductor of the WDR Big Band. The WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) is the television and radio station in the Nordrhein-Westphalia area of Germany. It is run as a "public" radio station, but with a much broader scope than the PBS in the United States. In addition to the Big Band, the WDR also employs two full-time symphony orchestras and a choir. John is 48 years old and lives in Germany (near Cologne) with his wife Robin and their two children.

Other notable performances include "The Tonight Show" with Claude Bolling and Hubert Laws, the Grammy-Award winning soundtrack for "The Cotton Club," and work with Wynton Marsalis, Gunther Schuller, Lionel Hampton, and the Smithsonian Masterworks Orchestra. Goldsby has performed at the JVC Jazz Festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival, and the Odessa Jazz Festival among others in addition to tours of Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States.
http://www.goldsby.de/john/bio.php