As a composer  Vinny Golia fuses the rich heritage of Jazz, contemporary classical and world music into his own unique compositions. Also a bandleader, Golia 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. Mr. 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 on-going 50 piece Vinny Golia Large Ensemble to perform his compositions for chamber orchestra and jazz ensembles. 
 
A multi-woodwind performer, Vinny's recordings have been consistently picked by critics and readers of music journals for their yearly "ten best" lists. In 1990 he was the winner of the Jazz Times TDWR award for Bass Saxophone. In 1998 he ranked 1st in the Cadence Magazine Writers & Readers Poll and has continually placed in the Downbeat Critic's Poll for Baritone  & Soprano Saxophone. In 1999 Vinny won the LA Weekly’s 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 our Century. In 2006 The Jazz Journalists Association honored him with a Lifetime Achievement  Award.
Golia has also contributed original compositions and scores to Ballet and Modern Dance works, video, theatrical productions, and film. As an educator Vinny has lectured on music & painting composition, improvisation, Jazz History, The History of Music in Film, CD & record manufacturing and self-production throughout the  United States, Europe, Mexico, New Zealand and Canada. He currently teaches at California Institute of the Arts. In 1998 Golia was appointed Regent's Lecturer  at the University of California at San Diego. In 2009 Vinny Golia was appointed the first holder of the Michel Colombier Performer Composer Chair at Cal Arts.
 
Vinny has been a featured performer with Anthony Braxton, Henry Grimes, John Carter, Bobby Bradford, Joelle Leandre, Leo Smith, Horace Tapscott, John Zorn, Tim Berne, Bertram Turetzky, George Lewis, Barre Phillips, The Rova Saxophone Quartet, Patti Smith, Harry "the Hipster"  Gibson, Eugene Chadburne, Kevin Ayers, Peter Kowald, John Bergamo, George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennick, Lydia Lunch, Harry Sparrney and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra amongst many others. 

The Vinny Golia Sextet

For over a decade, The Vinny Golia Sextet has dedicated itself to the compositions of Los Angeles creative music legend and multi-instrumentalist Vinny Golia. Juxtaposing composition with dynamic improvisation, Golia's music engages the mind and the heart, and radiates an enigmatic spirit that has inspired generations of musicians. Trajectory presents an epic collection of music written and performed in every-evolving ways over the last 10+ years, and features an adventurous lineup that shines on Golia’s unique approach to modern jazz language.

Golia’s reputation in the jazz world is sterling, but in Los Angeles he has also been a major driver of the creative music scene and mentor to several generations of musicians. Through his record label, Nine Winds Records, he has supported countless musicians’ visions at various points in their careers, and as a teacher he has influenced and guided developing artists in the pursuit their craft. The Vinny Golia Sextet features Vinny alongside 5 of his former students who have become prominent members of the Los Angeles jazz and creative music community. Saxophonist Gavin Templeton, trumpeter Daniel Rosenboom, guitarist Alexander Noice, bassist Miller Wrenn, and drummer Andrew Lessman have a deep understanding of Golia’s complex compositional style, and bring intense vitality and strong individual personality to the music, as Golia leads the way. 

With roots in the visual arts, Vinny Golia approaches music in a highly colorful way, using swaths of instrumental timbres and motivic melodic elements in a modular way. Golia is well-known as a woodwind specialist, but on Trajectory he also showcases an array of unusual percussion to expand the album’s sonic palette. The mysterious whirring of the bull roarer that opens “Ts’emekwe (as real as any hoax can be?)” sets the tone before launching into the segmented phrases and driving rhythm that characterize Golia’s writing. The rhythm section is powerful and pointed throughout the record, accenting the angular lines, and propelling the improvisations with dynamic jazz-rock fire. Groove underlies the intricate writing, but several of the tunes on Trajectory stretch in an ethereal, dream-like fashion, as in “Ugly Bags of Mostly Water (I knew some people like that once…),” allowing the band to drift into beautiful floating expression as well. There is no shortage of virtuosity from Golia on his various woodwinds, particularly the saxophones, as well as from the rest of the band. Each band member is featured in a variety of contexts and shines with a remarkable range of soloistic expression.

With Trajectory, The Vinny Golia Sextet makes a bold artistic statement that is both an arrival and a point of departure. The Sextet is an ongoing project with a huge catalog of unrecorded compositions, and this milestone double album hardly contains the complete picture: it's a stop along the way for the visionary composer and his ensemble, as they push forward into the future.

Members of The Vinny Golia Sextet ALSO APPEAR ON:

ORENDA 0048 - Fine Dining | Quoan
ORENDA 0047 - Beyond the Void | DR. MiNT
ORENDA 0037 - Voices In The Void | DR. MiNT
ORENDA 0034 - Burnt Hibiscus | Jon Armstrong
ORENDA 0033 - Music Made With Voices| Alexander Noice
ORENDA 0030 - Burning Ghosts | Burning Ghosts
ORENDA 0029 - Ballast | Gavin Templeton
ORENDA 0027 - Book of Storms | Daniel Rosenboom
ORENDA 0023 - Resonance | Daniel Rosenboom
ORENDA 0019 - Prisms, Cycles, Leaps | Derrick Spiva Jr. & Bridge To Everywhere
ORENDA 0014 - Astral Transference & Seven Dreams | Daniel Rosenboom
ORENDA 0013 - Inn Paradiso | Kubilay Üner
ORENDA 0009 - Some Spinning, Some At Rest | Gavin Templeton Trio
ORENDA 0008 - Farewell | Jon Armstrong Jazz Orchestra
ORENDA 0006 - Kingsize Sessions | DR. MiNT
ORENDA 0004 - Ritual | DR. MiNT
ORENDA 0002 - Boiling High Idol | Falsetto Teeth
ORENDA 0001 - Fire Keeper | The Daniel Rosenboom Quintet