Don Gooding

I was first exposed to jazz when I received an 8-track of Benny Goodman (I played clarinet at the time). It was my first attempt at improvising. Later, as an a cappella singer with the Yale Whiffenpoofs, I met Ella Fitzgerald at our final concert as a group of seniors, at the American Embassy in London. "Ella In Berlin" had frequented our turntables. I've had a long history of singing a cappella vocal jazz, which in groups is quite a bit different from solo vocal jazz. Much later, after a decade of singing Sinatra, I decided I wanted to learn how to sing "real jazz" (I don't think he does). That has set me on a trajectory in my retirement that has included jazz piano lessons, online scat workshops, a few gigs, and my latest obsession, the Black Jazz Composers Songbook. I've found as of this writing (Jan 2024) more than 650 songs written by black jazz composers with lyrics. My goal is to mix some of those with my more traditional Great American Songbook repertoire. And, to encourage many other singers to do so as well.