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Dan Goodman I started playing music at a very young age. My mother played a little classical piano, and my dad- a civil engineer by profession - was a semi pro jazz trumpeter. So it was logical for me to learn both instruments. Then around 1959, when I was ten, I saw Les Paul and Mary Ford on the Jack Paar TV show. I sat up and took notice of Les - his black Gibson, and his fiery technique. I knew then that I had to learn to play guitar. I listened to rock and roll on a small transistor radio, hearing all the rock players - Dwayne Eddie, James Burton, Lonnie Mack, then later on, the L.A. guitar bands - Torquays, Ventures, Dick Dale. The music was at odds with the traditional school bands I played trumpet and French Horn in. I got a small Stella acoustic on my 14th birthday, and spent all day in my room trying to pick out "Old Macdonald." By evening I had it down - sort of. Then came the chord books, struggling with all that while trying to teach myself by ear. After a year, my grandfather got me my first electric - a knob-intensive Harmony Jupiter (pictured with me above right.) After a few months of twangin' away on the Jupiter, I was invited to join a surf band trio. Why not? Located a thousand miles from the nearest ocean, Denver was the surf capital, right? "The Galaxies" played at sock hops, roller rinks, in churches, anywhere the kids wanted us - and the adults could stand us. Our big moment came on Channel 9's "Battle of the Bands," when all of Denver could see three nervous guys broadcast in glorious black and white. In my Junior year of High School, I started listening to jazz. My heros were Kenny Burrell, Al Viola, Joe Pass, and Barney Kessel. I wanted to acquire the technique and chops these guys demonstrated so well. But I needed a teacher. Fortunately, Jimmy Atkins - Chet's Older brother - lived nearby and took me on as a student. Jimmy opened new doors, showing me the secrets of the fretboard, scale positions, reading, and his "one string" fingering method which became the springboard toward playing the way I had hoped. After a lot of practice, my evolving skills got me jobs in nightclub combos playing more challenging pop/jazz. Then I got into the high school jazz band, and learned to comp and solo in that venue. I attended the University of Colorado Music school, played in the Jazz ensemble, and on weekends was the guitarist in a beer joint band "The Soul and Inspirations." Then in last two years of school, I played in a bossa nova quartet with Steve Getz, Stan's son. In the summer of '68, Steve and I visited his dad's mansion in Irvington New York. Stan was on the road then, and in his disheveled attic lay the dusty Gold Record of "Girl from Ipanema." "Stan doesn't care about those things," Steve told me, "it's about the music." Just before I left school, I began arranging and writing sessions for local singers, on jingles, and for anybody that would pay me. Working with good engineers and producers got me excited about multi track studio work - the recording techniques pioneered by my childhood hero Les Paul. Then came the opportunity to write music for industrial films, and with it the chance to learn film production.. I moved to Los Angeles, and began picking up session work doing demos for songwriters and obscure singers. It was fun working in small studios around Hollywood, but the cheap budgets kept me visiting the musicians union hall for playing gigs. In 1971, I went on an extended tour as guitarist/arranger with a lounge band, "The Lee Kenniston Set." After months of traveling, I was eager to return to LA. Then I became a music ghost writer for lyricist Dory Previn who was working on a musical based on one of her songs, "Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign." The show flopped after a one week run, but the show's leading lady, Elizabeth Ashley, hired me to work on a music album she was secretely planning under an assumed name. The album never happened, but I met a lot of famous actors at Liz's parties. In 1972, I met low budget film director Bob Chinn. I sold him some experimental electronic music for his latest horror flick. When I told him I had film production experience, he hired me as a second unit cameraman, then as Director of Photography for his offbeat film "Panama Red." We'd shoot during the day, and at night I produced the film's song score at the Cherokee Studios in the San Fernando Valley. I did one more production for Chinn's company, then my wife and I left L.A. for San Francisco. I hung up my trusty Gibson L-5, and took a full time job at a commercial film house in San Francisco shooting theatre ads and trailers. Occasionally, I'd pop into the company's antiquated sound studio, and record a music track. Local independent film producers aware of my illustrious musical experience talked me into producing and playing on their film tracks, and for the next many years I juggled film and musical tasks. In 1977, a Bay Area singer, Dev Singh asked me to write and produce a commercial 45 "No Surprises" which "Suprisingly," got some airplay in the midwest. Throughout the 80's and into the 90's, I went freelance in the emerging San Francisco video industry but kept my hand in musical enterprises, jamming when I could with local players, and doing various soundtrack sessions. In 1998, inspired by the potential of the Internet, I decided to semi-retire from shooting, built a home recording studio, and began doing what I've wanted to do for years - self produce my own CD's. My first 4-tune sampler "Sneakin' Up" is now out, and I'm currently working on a full length instrumental album. It's my hope many people around the world will listen and enjoy what they hear. I guess it boils down to what my old friend said: "...it's about the music.." Dan Goodman |
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