‘Making music with class’
Magic Goodwin touch charms listeners
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ighty-eight keys never had better friends than Charles Goodwin’s two hands. The legendary Kingsport musician commenced training them three-quarters of a century ago, while only a boy in his hometown of Bristol, where he would play his guitar on street corners for donations from passers-by. A lifelong quest to “make music with class” began with few advantages for the middle son of George and Pearl Goodwin, growing up in a family of nine children. “We had a little family combo,” Charles recalls. “My sister sang, and my uncle played violin.” Charles taught himself to play the guitar, mandolin and Hawaiian guitar. His introduction to the keyboard came when his 5-year-old fingers formed their first chords on an old pump organ. Bertha Walls, owner of Bristol’s Big Jack Co., saw something special in the boy, and took him under her musical wing. “She taught me four years. She did it for free. My family couldn’t afford anything like that. She began by instructing me in chords, going through all the chords in each key. She gave me my first trumpet. “And when she saw I had gotten to the place that I needed something more, she took me to Charles Goodwin Dr. Clifford Loomis at Sullins College, and paid for my lessons.” The professor taught his new pupil on a Steinway concert grand piano he had donated to the college. The notes and chords stuck with Charles, and the desire to play only grew. He organized his first band, The Serenaders, in 1948, not long after the formation of the Jerry King Band. Goodwin joined Continued on Page 2
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King on April 1, 1952, ultimately buying the equipment and taking over the band when King quit playing in 1965. Charles’ resume reads like an entry for the hall of fame. He has played with big band royalty, including Bob Crosby, Tommy Dorsey (with Buddy Morrow), Glenn Miller (with Ray McKinley) and Charlie Spivak. He has been the featured artist with Guy Lombardo’s Royal Canadians. He has accompanied some of the biggest stars in music history – ranging from Kay Starr to Jerry Vale, and from Anita Bryant to Tennessee Ernie Ford. The Goodwin Orchestra has performed more than 1,000 concerts, including sellouts with the Kingsport Symphony Orchestra and the Western Piedmont Orchestra. But it doesn’t stop with Big band legends Charlie Spivak and Charles Goodwin. concerts. “We were formed as a dance band. The problem a lot of the remaining big bands that tour is that they play everything too fast. Ours is a true dance band. We play at that tempo, and people love that,” Charles said. Performing with Red Skelton remains a treasured memory. “He was the nicest guy. Just exactly like what you saw on TV. A lot of people don’t know it, but Red wrote a lot of music himself, including all the music for his show,” Charles said. “When Red came in to rehearse the second day, he knew each one and called them by name.” Continued on Page 3
‘When we play together, we both know where we’re going. It’s really something. He’ll come up with some chords from way out in left field, and I’ll know exactly what he’s doing. Then we’ll look at each other and just about break up laughing because we came out at exactly the same same spot.’
Fred Goodwin
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His collaborations with Spivak brought Charles a part in a Grammy nomination. “A lot of people don’t know it, but Spivak had the second biggest hit with ‘White Christmas’ after Bing Crosby,” Charles said. Spivak decided “he wanted to go out on the road one last time. He hand-picked the stompinest big band I’ve ever heard.” While many bandleaders were “arrogant and hard to deal with, Spivak loved his musicians.” Charles wrote three arrangements for Charlie Spivak Now, the bandleader’s final and Grammy-nominated album. That year’s statuette went to another fairly well-known musician: Count Basie.
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Charles wasn’t content to merely make music – he also passed on the gift of his hands to his son. Fred Goodwin started using them when he was 13, developing what his father lauds as his “gentle, expressive touch and phrasing that is very unusual in a bass player.” By the time he was out of college, the son had also toured with the Dorsey and Miller bands. For the next 25 years, his agile fingers carried him all over the country, performing with some of the biggest acts in show business, including The Temptations, B.B. King, Herb Ellis, Frank Sinatra Jr., Bob Hope and Wilson Pickett, and as the bassist for both the Goodwin orchestra and trio. Fred played trumpet in the high school band. He has played keyboards “all of my life.” Like most young East Tennessee musicians, he got his start playing in church. He went on to the high school jazz band, and then performed in some rock bands. “Good music is good music. That never Fred Goodwin works his magic on the bass. changes. And music has been very good to me. I’ve been extremely fortunate,” Fred says, motioning toward his dad. “I owe most of it to him.” Twenty-five years of performing – and sleepless car and bus rides – take a toll. “The worst had to be a one-nighter in Houston. We left here, drove to Atlanta. Got on a bus and rode to Houston. Played that night. The rode the bus back to Atlanta and then drove home. With no sleep.” Continued on Page 4
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But the Goodwins wouldn’t have missed the Houston gig for anything – they went south with Spivak, sharing billing for a joint concert with the Benny Goodman and Woody Herman bands. “Man, we were hot. We had to be. We were down there with two other bands that would eat your lunch,” Charles said. Fred’s love of music encompasses practically every genre, but his favorite place is in the bassist’s chair, far from the spotlight. “I love playing sideman, backing up the guy that’s the star. We’re utility players. We can come in and play whatever you’ve got. Country, jazz, whatever the book. We’re never going to be stars.” Father and son share what Fred calls “an amazing kind of telepathy” when they are performing. “There’s a big difference between reading and making music,” Fred says. “When we play together, we both know where we’re going. It’s really something. He’ll come up with some chords from way out in left field, and I’ll know exactly what he’s doing. Then we’ll look at each other and just about break up laughing because we came out at exactly the same chord at exactly the same spot.” The Charles Goodwin Trio was formed in 1974. Their most recent releases include For Sentimental Reasons and the acclaimed The Nearness of You with BMI recording artist Maddy Winer, entertainment director for The Grove Park Continued on Page 5
Good listening...
Great Is Thy Faithfulness features some of Charles Goodwin’s unforgettable keyboard creations – the well-known powerful chords are teamed with gentle, eight- and 10-note descending suspensions configured by hands that have spent a lifetime perfecting the jazz art. A fascinating arrangement of “Jesus Loves Me” by the late Fred Bock pairs the familiar hymn with counter-melody from Claude Debussy’s classic Clair de Lune. Charles wrote all the remaining arrangements. “And he uses a computer…” Fred quips with mock incredulity – “but his computer spits them out on papyrus.” Charles simply shakes his head, and denies rumors of extra fingers hidden inside pockets, or that he can stretch one hand across three octaves when no one is looking. Though, at first listen, it would sound as though extra hands must have been brought in to bring off the dignified rolls that embellish the second stanza of “’Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus,” in actuality, it’s only Charles’ two. They reprise similar dexterity and power on “There Is A Fountain.” For several years, Shana Edwards, the director of the church orchestra, has played flute with Charles for the occasional special. Upon learning she owned an alto flute, he arranged “He Hideth My Soul” for the instrument, resulting in “a beautiful, even haunting sound.” The album closes with a majestic, moving rendition of “Lead Me Gently Home, Father.” Such an exquisite milestone does not always come easily, as Charles explains in characteristically taciturn fashion. “The day of the recording, it was pouring rain,” he begins, pursing his lips during a “rest of the story” pause. “The chapel has a tin roof.” The piano tuner did not arrive. One of the microphone cables decided not to work that day. So Charles dug tuning tools out of his bag and “smoothed out the top strings” while recording engineer Martin Walters made a dash to buy a new cable. An accomplished musician, Walters’ recording is as crisp, full and perfectly balanced as any million-dollar studio could create.
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Inn Resort & Spa in Asheville, N.C. The Goodwins are joined by drummer Eddie Dalton, and occasional guests, guitarist Jimmy Hutsell and trombonist Rick Simerly. Dalton has played with artists such as Alicia Keys and Alison Krauss. Charles praises longtime friend Simerly, associate professor of music at Milligan College, where he directs the 22-piece Jazz Ensemble, as a “true musician. I have seen him turn heads. People can’t believe what he can get out of that instrument. He has the talent and the ability. He practices every day. He is one of those very rare people who can do it all – good performers are usually not good teachers, but Rick certainly is.”
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Music has been a way of both life and business for the Goodwin family. Fred is the director of instrumental music for First Christian Church in Johnson City. He and his wife, Carol, also own and operate Realty Executives in Boones Creek. Charles and his wife, Ruth, opened their Kingsport-based Charles Goodwin Music Co. in the mid1960s and operated until their retirement. Their daughters, Barbara and Emily, are choir directors at their respective churches, and Gayle sings Fred Goodwin and Red Skelton just before going onstage together. and plays the flute. But the Goodwins really mean business when they take their places onstage or in the studio. On his new CD, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, Charles returns to his musical roots with a collection of hymns requested by friends and members of First Baptist Church in Kingsport. He performs on the concert grand piano upon which he played as a student under Loomis’ watchful eye long ago. “The Steinway Company completely refurbished that piano and it is amazing,” Charles said. “Once you start playing on an instrument like that, all the cares and frustrations fall away.” It’s easy to tell. At almost the first moment the hammers strike string, the familiar, beloved melodies take on a fresh and interesting sound. “I try to alter the chords some. There are 100 different ways you can play those hymns. Normally, you use only about three chords,” Charles said. “Hymns lend themselves to improvisation,” Charles says. “They are generally simple melodies, with very basic chord structure,” Fred agrees. “My dad and I will play offertories, for example. Sometimes you have to fill in for someone, or come up with something quickly. You take a hymn and simply add in a few chords, and people will be asking, ‘Where did you get that arrangement?’” Continued on Page 6
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Every Sunday morning for the last 40 years, Charles has arrived on Church Circle in Kingsport. Rather than into the elegant sanctuary, his path leads him downstairs, to the rooms populated by eager young faces of the four youth and special education departments. The youngsters don’t know that the man sitting on the bench is a Grammy-nominated icon. They just know they like to sing, and he can sure play. “Sometimes they choose the music. A few Sundays ago, they wanted to sing patriotic songs. I played ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ just as loud as I could,” Charles says with a grin. T he Goodwin Trio rehearses with Maddy Winer. “I wanted everybody in that church to stand up.” At those moments, Charles Goodwin closes his eyes, and gives his own thanks, for good fortune, and the precious gift of music. Once his worship is complete, the musician is busy planning his schedule for the new week. And, once again, the son is finishing his father’s phrase, right on cue, in perfect time. “I don’t think he’ll ever retire,” Fred says. “And as long as he keeps going out, I guess I’ll be right there with him.”
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‘T he Nearness of You’ is a recent Goodwin release.