Aaron Goldberg is a pianist and composer working at the vanguard of jazz music. His impeccable working band is made up of bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland. Recently Aaron released his Sunnyside Records debut album, Worlds, which exhibits the sensitivity and dynamism of this longstanding trio. In addition to heading his trio, Aaron has spent the last 10 years touring with many of the most brilliant voices in jazz--Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Betty Carter, Nicholas Payton, Al Foster, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Madeleine Peyroux among others.
Aaron was born in Boston and got hooked on jazz in high school by Bob Sinicrope of Milton Academy and saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi, two master educators. In his own words: “At first improvisation was a mystery and a puzzle, but soon it became a profound inner and outer journey as life and music entwined.” After receiving awards from Berklee College of Music and DownBeat, Goldberg left at age 17 for NYC. At the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in 1991 he had his first taste of jazz in the big city, and at school he met many of his current contemporaries and friends, including Omer Avital, Brad Mehldau, Roy Hargrove, Ali Jackson and others.
In 1992 he returned to Boston and enrolled at Harvard College. While at Harvard, Goldberg worked with a wide variety of artists from nearby Berklee and beyond, and won the International Association of Jazz Educators’ prestigious Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship award as well as first place in National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Recognition and Talent Search in 1993. Soon he was discovered by vocalist and first lady of jazz Betty Carter and was a founding member of her historic Jazz Ahead program. He continued to perform at clubs around both New York and Boston, often commuting in the wee hours, and it was not long before he met both Rogers and Harland. Goldberg graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1996 with a degree in History and Science and a concentration in Mind, Brain and Behavior. On the weekends he held a long-time residence at Wally's Cafe in Boston, and the fall after graduation he moved to Brooklyn.
Goldberg wasted no time in the Big Apple. He quickly established himself as a stellar sideman, performing with a vast array of leaders including Al Foster, Stefon Harris, Tom Harrell, Freddie Hubbard, Mark Turner, Greg Tardy and others. In 1998 he joined the band of Joshua Redman, with whom he toured for 4 years and recorded two albums (Beyond, 2001 and Passage of Time, 2002). Most recently, in addition to leading his telepathic trio Goldberg toured and recorded for two years with guitar guru Kurt Rosenwinkel. In addition in 2005 he toured South America with Madeleine Peyroux, and spent 6 months performing with Wynton Marsalis in his quartet as well as with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
Goldberg’s long and impressive list of recorded credits includes work with a diverse spectrum of artists ranging from Guillermo Klein to Terry Gibbs/Buddy DeFranco, as well as with his fellow leaders of the next generation, including John Ellis, Jimmy Greene and Eli Degibri. In 2004, Goldberg produced and performed in Jazz for America's Future, a fundraising concert for John Kerry's presidential campaign that also featured Savion Glover, Brad Mehldau, the late Michael Brecker, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Christian McBride and others. He is currently the musical director of All Souls at Sundown, a jazz and poetry series at Manhattan's All Souls Church. His first recording as a leader, Turning Point, was released on the J Curve imprint in 1999, followed by Unfolding in 2002. Aaron is also a member of the OAM Trio, which recorded Trilingual (1999) and Flow (2002) for the Fresh Sound/New Talent label, as well as two collaborations with saxophonist Mark Turner: an upcoming studio project and the acclaimed Live in Sevilla (2003) on Lola Records.
On his new album, Worlds, Goldberg has adopted the global and made it personal. With an eye always tuned to his sociopolitical environment, Goldberg hopes his trio will have an increasing impact not limited to the jazz world. “Jazz, a language like any other, is open to Creole forms – indeed like America it was born to mixed parents,” he says. “Yet this album is no fusion, except perhaps of minds. Rather it attempts to prove that song is cross-cultural currency. All music is social, emerging out of a womb of trust, empathy, and a common goal. Our world is now many … may we also be one.”
