Vinny Golia

Vincent James Golia, Jr. (b. the Bronx, New York, March 1, 1946) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist specializing in woodwind instruments. He performs in the genres of contemporary music, jazz, free jazz, and free improvisation. His father was Vincent Golia Sr., and his mother was Lena Casella; they were both from Staten Island. He grew up in the Bronx and New Jersey.

Career

As a composer, Golia fuses the rich heritage of jazz, contemporary classical music and world music. Also a bandleader, he has presented his music to concert audiences in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the United States in ensembles varying dramatically in size and instrumentation. Golia has won numerous awards as a composer, including grants from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Lila Wallace Commissioning Program, the California Arts Council, Meet the Composer, Clausen Foundation of the Arts, Funds for U.S. Artists and the American Composers Forum. In 1982, he created the ongoing 50-piece Vinny Golia Large Ensemble to perform his compositions for chamber orchestra and jazz ensembles.

A multi-woodwind performer, Golia's recordings have been consistently picked by critics and readers of music journals for their yearly "ten best" lists. In 1990, he was the co-winner of the JazzTimes TDWR award for Bass Saxophone. In 1998, he ranked 1st in the Cadence Magazine Writers & Readers Poll and has continually placed in the Down Beat Critics Poll for Baritone & Soprano Saxophone.

In 1999, he won the LA Weekly award for "Best Jazz Musician". Jazziz magazine has also named him as one of the 100 people who have influenced the course of jazz in the 21st century. In 2006, the Jazz Journalists Association honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2013, he won the Down Beat Critics Poll in the "New Star" category for baritone saxophone.

Golia has been a featured performer with Anthony Braxton, Henry Grimes, John Carter, Bobby Bradford, Joëlle Léandre, Wadada Leo Smith, Horace Tapscott, John Zorn, Tim Berne, Bertram Turetzky, George E. Lewis, Barre Phillips, the Rova Saxophone Quartet, Patti Smith, Harry Gibson, Eugene Chadbourne, Kevin Ayers, Peter Kowald, John Bergamo, George Gruntz, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink, Lydia Lunch, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Golia founded the jazz record label Nine Winds in 1977.