Vinny Golia

Since 1971, when multi-instrumentalist Vinny Golia gave up painting to pursue music full time, he has worked internationally as a composer, bandleader, and performer in jazz and other creative musics. Golia draws influences from jazz, world music, and contemporary classical music, and has performed in Europe, Japan, and North America in a multitude of ensembles. He plays 20 different woodwinds (as well as some ethnic aerophones), has placed many times in the Downbeat critic's poll on various instruments, and in 1990 won the Jazz Times' Talent Deserving Wider Recognition award for his bass saxophone playing. Golia is also involved in other arts and media besides jazz and improvised music: he has composed for ballet, modern dance works, theater, video, and films such as Serpent's Lair and Blood and Concrete. Golia's label, Nine Winds Records (formed in 1977), focuses on releasing music from North America's West Coast.