Larry Goldings


Lawrence Sam Goldings is a Grammy-nominated American jazz pianist, organist, and composer. His music has explored elements of funk, blues, and fusion. Goldings has a comedic alter ego known as Hans Groiner.

Life and career

Goldings was born in Boston. His father was a classical music enthusiast, and Goldings studied classical piano until the age of twelve. Through his father he met pianist Dave McKenna and studied with pianists Ran Blake and Keith Jarrett. Among his other influences were Bill Evans, Red Garland, Erroll Garner, and Oscar Peterson. After high school, he enrolled in the jazz program at New York's The New School, where he further honed his skills studying with Jaki Byard and Fred Hersch. It was during this period that pianist Roland Hanna invited Goldings to accompany him to Copenhagen for a three-day series of private concerts where Goldings performed with Sarah Vaughan, Kenny Burrell, Tommy Flanagan, Hank Jones, Harry "Sweets" Edison, and Al Cohn. Also prior to graduating, Goldings toured with singer Jon Hendricks, an association that led to an almost three year collaboration with guitarist Jim Hall.
After receiving his degree, he led a trio with guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart. His debut album Intimacy of the Blues was released in 1991. Over the course of his career, he also has collaborated with many musicians including Joshua Redman, Maceo Parker, Idris Muhammad, Kurt Rosenwinkel, David Sanborn, Paul Motian, Larry Grenadier, Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny, James Moody, Mark Turner, John Sneider, Ben Allison, Matt Wilson, Harry Allen, Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, John Pizzarelli, Charlie Haden, Robben Ford, Steve Gadd, Jim Keltner, Anthony Wilson, Pino Palladino, James Taylor, and John Mayer.
Record producers he has worked with include Russ Titelman, Larry Klein, Steve Jordan, Tommy LiPuma, Dave Grusin, Joe Henry, Blake Mills, Mike Viola, and T Bone Burnett. One of Goldings' first collaborations with Larry Klein includes the Madeleine Peyroux recording of Leonard Cohen's "Dance Me to the End of Love" with Goldings on Wurlitzer piano, pump organ, Hammond B3 organ, celeste, and piano solo.
Goldings is known for his gifts as a bass player on the Hammond organ, integral to his collaboration with Michael Brecker and Pat Metheny on Time is of the Essence and evident in the Pat Metheny composition "Extradition" during their 1999–2000 world tour. James Taylor's One Man Band 2007 live album and world tour draws heavily on Goldings' bass playing abilities, making the one man band concept possible. The album and tour also include Goldings' composition "School Song." Larry Goldings' Hammond organ is heard on John Mayer's song "Gravity," on the Grammy award-winning album, Continuum.
In 2007, Larry Goldings, Jack DeJohnette and John Scofield received a Grammy Award nomination in the category of Best Jazz Instrumental Album Individual or Group for their live album, Trio Beyond – Saudades. In 2017, Goldings with the Steve Gadd Band received a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for Way Back Home.
In 2012 and 2013, Goldings was chosen to participate in both the Sundance Institute Documentary Film and Sundance Feature Film Composer Fellowship Programs. At the Documentary Film Lab in Sundance, Utah, Goldings scored scenes from filmmaker Johanna Hamilton's "1971." Goldings continued to work with the Sundance Institute in 2013, at the feature film lab held for the first time at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County. There he collaborated with filmmaker Pamela Romanowsky, scoring scenes from her film The Adderall Diaries. Goldings' advisors in that program included noted film composers Mark Isham, Heitor Pereira, Harry Gregson-Williams, and Thomas Newman.

Style and influences

Goldings' melodic style of organ playing has often been compared to that of Larry Young. On organ Goldings cites as his first inspirations the solo piano style of Dave McKenna "who walks his own bass lines better than anyone" and Billy Preston accompanying Aretha Franklin on "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Other musical influences cited by Goldings include the Wes Montgomery records which feature Mel Rhyne and Jimmy Smith; Shirley Scott; Chester Thompson; Joe Zawinul; and Jack McDuff. Goldings' 1990s collaborations with Maceo Parker provided an authentic understanding of the language of funk music, and the voicings and rhythmic comping on the Hammond B3 organ as passed down by James Brown to Parker.

Awards and honors

  • Best Jazz Album of the Year, The New Yorker, Big Stuff, Awareness
  • Organist/Keyboardist of the Year, Jazz Journalists Association, 2000, 2001
  • Grammy Award Nomination, Best Jazz Album of the Year, 2007
  • Grammy Award Nomination, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, 2017
  • Best Jazz Song, "High Dreams," John Lennon Songwriting Competition, 2019
  • Downbeat Critics Poll Organist of the Year, 2024
  • Downbeat Readers Poll Organist of the Year, 2024
  • Downbeat Critics Poll Organist of the Year, 2025
  • Downbeat Readers Poll Organist of the Year, 2025

    Discography

As leader/co-leader

Main sources:

As sideman

With Peter Bernstein
  • Brain Dance
  • Earth Tones
With Till Brönner
With Chris Minh Doky
  • Listen Up!
  • Cinematique
  • Scenes from a Dream
With Sia
  • Colour the Small One
  • Some People Have Real Problems
With Robben Ford
With Steve Gadd
  • Gadditude
  • Steve Gadd Band 70 Strong
  • Way Back Home
  • Steve Gadd Band
With Melody Gardot
With Jesse Harris
  • Mineral
  • No Wrong No Right
With Jim Hall
  • Subsequently
  • Something Special
With Colin Hay
  • Company of Strangers
  • Are You Lookin' at Me?
  • Next Year People
With Adam Levy
  • Buttermilk Channel
  • Town & Country
With John Mayer
  • Continuum
  • The Search for Everything
With Jessica Molaskey
  • Make Believe
  • Sitting in Limbo
  • Portraits of Joni
With James Moody
  • Young at Heart
  • Warner Jams Vol. 2: The Two Tenors
With Maceo Parker
  • Roots Revisited
  • Mo' Roots
  • Life on Planet Groove
With Rebecca Pidgeon
  • Behind the Velvet Curtain
  • Bad Poetry
With Madeleine Peyroux
  • Careless Love
  • Half the Perfect World
  • Bare Bones
  • The Blue Room
With John Pizzarelli
  • Double Exposure
  • Midnight McCartney
With Tim Ries
With Lee Ritenour
  • 6 String Theory
  • Rhythm Sessions
With John Scofield
  • Hand Jive
  • Groove Elation
  • Steady Groovin
  • That's What I Say
  • A Moment's Peace
  • Country for Old Men
With Mark Sholtez
With Bill Stewart
  • Incandescence
  • Live at Smalls
  • Ramshackle Serenade
  • Toy Tunes
With Curtis Stigers
  • Baby Plays Around
  • Secret Heart
  • You Inspire Me
  • I Think It's Going To Rain Today
  • Real Emotional
  • Lost In Dreams
  • Let's Go Out Tonight
With Dave Stryker
  • Blue Degrees
  • Shades of Miles
With James Taylor
  • October Road
  • A Christmas Album
  • One Man Band
  • Other Covers
  • Before This World
  • American Standard
With Matt Wilson
  • As Wave Follows Wave
  • Arts and Crafts
With Lazlo Bane
  • All the Time in the World
  • Guilty Pleasures
With Lisa Loeb
  • The Way It Really Is
  • Lullaby Girl
With Jane Monheit
With Pomplamoose
  • À Cabo
  • Tu Peux Pas Savoir
  • Valse d'Antan
With others