In Memoriam: Gordon Goodwin, 1954–2025

By Michael J. West I Dec. 9, 2025

Goodwin was one of the most acclaimed, successful and influential jazz musicians of his generation.
(Photo: Courtesy Gordon Goodwin)

Gordon Goodwin, an award-winning saxophonist, pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger, died Dec. 8 in Los Angeles. He was three weeks shy of his 71st birthday. His passing was announced by his second wife, Vangie Gunn-Goodwin, who said that he died of complications from pancreatic cancer.

Goodwin was one of the most acclaimed, successful and influential jazz musicians of his generation on multiple fronts. His Big Phat Band, an 18-member ensemble consisting of some of L.A.’s finest jazz musicians, gained remarkable popularity for its combination of classic swing and contemporary jazz-funk fusion, a sound it applied to pop, rock and R&B covers.

In addition to writing for his own band, Goodwin was an in-demand studio arranger whose resume included work with Johnny Mathis (for whom he also played piano), Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Christina Aguilera and Leslie Odom Jr., among many others. He also frequently wrote, arranged and recorded for film and television productions, winning a Grammy in 2006 for his work on The Incredibles and Daytime Emmys for the animated programs Animaniacs and Histeria. His arrangements were also highly sought after by jazz educators. (The Big Phat Band was also a popular attraction on the college touring circuit.)

“I have a pretty positive worldview,” Goodwin told DownBeat in 2020. “I’ve been able to retain my gratitude that I can do [this]. That’s why the music is always a little optimistic-sounding. Tempos are a little bit brighter. Harmonies and different things that convey those emotions are more on the proactive side than a dirge or a comment on the woes of our culture.”

Gordon Lynn Goodwin was born Dec. 30, 1954, in Wichita, Kansas, to Gordon E. and Alice Goodwin. The family moved to Southern California when he was 4 years old; the following year he began taking piano lessons. One week, his teacher told him that if he practiced his scales she would let him write a song, beginning a lifelong journey. Another teacher — his seventh grade band director — started him on saxophone, introduced him to the music of Count Basie and encouraged him to write arrangements.

Goodwin studied music at California State University, Northridge, graduating in 1981. While still a student, he wrote his first film score, for 1978’s Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Upon graduation, drummer and bandleader Louie Bellson (who had frequently led workshops at Northridge) hired him for his big band and began inviting him to write arrangements. In addition, he got a day job playing piano at Disneyland, which led to his first job as a professional composer: writing for a live “Mouseketeers” show in the early 1990s. He spent much of the 1990s working as musical director and pianist for Johnny Mathis.

Hence Goodwin was already a successful musician and was working as the musical director on Animaniacs (for which he’d won two Emmys) when in 1999 he founded the Big Phat Band. It was intended only for a single performance at his alma mater and very quickly gained a following, with the band’s first album Swingin’ For The Fences, receiving critical acclaim and two Grammy nominations. The band made nine more recordings, with 2014’s Life In The Bubble winning a Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. He also had success with the eight-piece Small Phat Band, which recorded 2016’s An Elusive Man.

Outside of his bands, Goodwin wrote scores and arrangements for over 80 film and television productions, including the Disney Pixar films The Incredibles, Ratatouille and The Lion King.

In addition to his work on the bandstand and in the studio, Goodwin wrote five play-along method books for musicians and hosted a nationally syndicated radio show, Phat Tracks with Gordon Goodwin. He was a member of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia musical fraternity.

In addition to Gunn-Goodwin, Goodwin is survived by his mother, Alice; four children, Madison, Garett, Trevor and Garrison; and stepchildren Levi and Aria. DB