Dave Goodman

Biography

Guitarist, singer and songwriter was born in Victoria B.C. Canada on March 28, 1965. The youngest of seven children, he grew up in a musical household. Starting with the violin at age 12, he quickly changed over to the electric guitar taking private lessons and playing with his older brothers. As a teenager, under the tutelage of his mentor West Coast blues guitar master and technician Dave Vidal, he learned to play blues as well as guitar building and repair, electronics and pickup winding. Fro...

Guitarist, singer and songwriter was born in Victoria B.C. Canada on March 28, 1965. The youngest of seven children, he grew up in a musical household. Starting with the violin at age 12, he quickly changed over to the electric guitar taking private lessons and playing with his older brothers. As a teenager, under the tutelage of his mentor West Coast blues guitar master and technician Dave Vidal, he learned to play blues as well as guitar building and repair, electronics and pickup winding. From age 15-18 while still at home he immersed himself in jazz playing with school mate (future Skywalk keyboardist) Miles Black in the Victoria clubs and jazz cafes. At age 17 Goodman was selected as best high school jazz guitarist in the province of British Columbia to play in „The Honor Jazz Ensemble“ led by Canadian Jazz legend Phil Nimmons. After graduating from high school, Dave moved to Vancouver to study jazz at Vancouver College under Bruce Clausen.


1982-1990

The next few years found Goodman playing all over Canada as well as in the U.S. including a house gig at the renowned ‘Wave Waikiki’ in Hawaii where he hosted guest sessions with many artists such as David Sanborn, Terry Lynn Carrington and Was Not Was. In this period he also played with Canadian Jazz trumpeter Mark Hasselbach and toured as support for The Jeff Healey Band as well as opening for The Doobie Brothers in Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum.
In 1990 Dave moved to Northern California where he became a fixture in the Bay Area blues scene playing with guitarist Steve Kimock and singer Judge Murphy in the Goodman Murphy band.

During this period he recorded for Mike Varney’s Blues Bureau International label on CD-1 of a three CD set of Bay Area blues artists which featured Tommy Castro, Johnny Nitro, Garth Webber and Chris Cobb, all colleagues in the North Beach blues scene. Dave also played in trio formation with Bay Area blues legend piano/ organist Stu Blank and drummer Ty Smith.

It was with this trio that he had the honor of meeting and playing for John Lee Hooker. Blank, a friend of Hooker’s, invited him to the South San Francisco club where they were playing. John Lee Hooker entered the club, Goodman recalls, in a sharkskin suit, porkpie hat and two beautiful young ladies, one on each arm. Hooker stayed and listened to a ninety minute set. Complimenting the band in his classic talking blues stutter, “you b- b -b -boys, y-y -yoos so good, y-yoos so tight”. He then signed his name with a felt pen on the front of Dave’s Stratocaster. Dave lacquered over the signature and it is still there today. It was a stellar moment in his career he says.

Always keeping a finger in the technical side of music Dave became involved with the world renowned California amplifier manufacturer Mesa Boogie in 1991.
During his years with Mesa, he designed The Revolver, a rotating speaker system for guitar much like a ‘Leslie’ is for organ.

Boogie licensed the Revolver from him and put it into production in 1995. Carlos Santana bought the first two which Dave delivered to him personally and set up in his rig – another very big honor and highlight in his career.

Other artists who obtained Revolvers include Prince, Metallica, Soundgarden, Blues Traveler, Warren Haynes, and Sonny Landreth.


The Dave Goodman Band 1995

During this period Dave toured Europe as a member of the Ford Blues Band led by Patrick Ford, drummer/producer and brother of Robben Ford. With the help of Patrick Ford he began to make contacts in Europe. Eventually he secured a management deal and a recording contract first with Bear Family Records and later with CrossCut Records both German labels. Through this time Dave was still playing electric guitar in trio formation with Canadian drummer Aaron Anderson and Hawaiian bassist Billy Mendoza as the Dave Goodman Band. This band only released one CD, Live‘96 which was recorded at the Breminale Festival and was produced by songwriter Manfred Fleckenstein. It was released on Bear Family Records (BCD 17009) that year.


In 1998, ready for a change from living in California, Dave relocated to Germany. Since his early teens he had always wanted to live in Europe. He also felt it was time to make a musical change as well as doing some soul searching, he took a break from playing live and began concentrating on fingerstyle acoustic guitar and writing songs in a more personal style. His first acoustic CD, Roadbook Rhymes (CrossCut Records CCD 12001) , a very intimate collection of original songs in a roots singer songwriter style was released in 2000 on Crosscut Records. It was mostly a solo recording with three songs in duo formation with guest guitarist from Switzerland, Hank Shizzoe. His second acoustic CD, Rocks, Skies and Waters (CrossCut Records CCD 12007) was released in 2004. It is also a very personal collection of original roots oriented songs ranging from solo, to several instruments played by Dave, as well as trio performances with drums and upright bass. Both CDs sold well and received very positive critiques in Europe.


2004

also marked the beginning of an endorsement deal with Yamaha Music. Aside from his own concert schedule, Dave tours for Yamaha Music taking part in events ranging from festivals and club dates to clinics and master classes in music schools all over Central and Eastern Europe, the U.K. and as far as Asia, the U.S. and Canada. Yamaha has organized solo acoustic tours of the U.K. with Goodman together on the bill with Glenn Tilbrook of “Squeeze” fame and guitar master Antonio Forcione performing in The Queens Hall Edinburgh and Ronnie Scott’s in London. Although focused on his solo acoustic music Dave’s abilities as an electric guitarist have been called upon to play in duo or band formation with Jazz artists Chris Min Doky, Eric Miyashiro and Nigel Hitchcock all of whom he performed with on the 2011 Frankfurt Music Messe. Dave appears almost every year on the Frankfurt Messe playing his solo acoustic program.


2006-2010

Between touring Dave has steadily become more in demand as a producer and composer. He co-produced an acoustic CD for French singer Fred Blondin, who writes songs for and tours with French star Johnny Hallyday. He also co-wrote several tracks and played on Ruf Records artist Big Daddy Wilson “Love Is The Key” album from 2010 as well as numerous sessions.

In 2009 Goodman was approached by Peter Finger to record on his label Acoustic Music Records where he released his latest CD Side Of The Road featuring Big Daddy Wilson, Steve Baker and Joe Dinkelbach. He appeared on their Open Strings Festival 2009 and is regularly invited on the label’s International Guitar Night Tours. He has also been playing double concerts with Peter Finger. Dave is a workshop/video columnist for Acoustic Music Records guitar magazine Acoustic Player and releases instructional books and videos for the label. He is also one of the three teachers in the Acoustic Music May Guitar Workshop which takes place annually in Osnabruck, Germany.

Goodman also released a DVD in 2010 called Blue which is a personal portrait with interviews, stories, concert segments and a guitar workshop as an extra. This highly entertaining film was produced by director Willie Burger who also produced the Dubliners film Five Beards On The Road.


2011-Today

Steve Baker - Dave Goodman - Martin Röttger

In 2011 Dave performed in eighteen countries including India, Turkey, Greece and within Eastern, Western and Southern Europe, Scandinavia, the UK, and North America. Despite his busy touring schedule he has found time for a new project with British harmonica virtuoso Steve Baker and Swedish/German cajon master Martin Röttger. Oliver Spanuth, a top level drummer from Germany also takes part in tours and recording. Goodman and Baker perform as a duo and in trio formation with both Röttger and Spanuth.


A CD is in the works, The Wine Dark Sea scheduled to be released in 2012. This trio also presents the European Music Workshop annually in the first week of August in Alsace, France.

Dave Goodman shows are high energy, and often humorous. In a blend of musical styles developed through his many travels, he takes his audience through an array of emotions. With sensitive ballads, high powered pieces, and virtuoso guitar work with both funny and moving stories throughout.
Dave Goodman – The man can do it all: he’s a virtuoso guitarist, has a fascinating singing voice, writes texts rich in images and turns them into songs which have hit potential.
By Stefan Woldach, ‘Akustik Gitarre’ Magazine, Germany Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.