Larry Goldings

In 2012 and 2013, Goldings was chosen to participate in both the Sundance Institute Documentary Film and Sundance Feature Film Composer Fellowship Programs. At the Documentary Film Lab in Sundance, Utah, Goldings scored scenes from filmmaker Johanna Hamilton's "1971." Goldings continued with Sundance Institute in 2013, at the feature film lab held for the first time in Skywalker Ranch, Marin County. There, he collaborated with filmmaker Pamela Romanowsky, scoring scenes from her film The Adderall Diaries. Goldings' Advisors in that program included noted film composers Mark Isham, Heitor Pereira, Harry Gregson-Williams, and Thomas Newman.

In 2007, Larry Goldings, Jack DeJohnette and John Scofield, received a Grammy Award nomination in the category of Best Jazz Instrumental Album Individual or Group for their live album, Trio Beyond - Saudades. In 2017, Goldings with Steve Gadd Band received a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for Way Back Home.

He has collaborated with musicians such as Maceo Parker, John Scofield, Carla Bley, Michael Brecker and Pat Metheny, John Pizzarelli, Jack DeJohnette, Anthony Wilson and Jim Keltner, Mike Viola, and Charlie Haden, in genres including jazz, Brazilian, funk, and pop music as pianist (since 2001) for singer-songwriter, James Taylor.

Goldings is known for his gifts as a bass player on the Hammond organ, integral to his collaboration with Michael Brecker and Pat Metheny on Time is of the Essence and evident in the Pat Metheny composition "Extradition" during their 1999–2000 world tour. James Taylor's One Man Band 2007 live album and world tour draws heavily on Goldings' bass playing abilities, making the one man band concept possible. The album and tour also include Goldings' composition "School Song." Larry Goldings' Hammond organ is heard on John Mayer's song "Gravity," on the Grammy award-winning album, Continuum.

Goldings' melodic style of organ playing has often been compared to that of Larry Young. On organ, Goldings cites as his first inspirations the solo piano style of Dave McKenna "who walks his own bass lines better than anyone" and Billy Preston accompanying Aretha Franklin on "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Other musical influences cited by Goldings include the Wes Montgomery records featuring Mel Rhyne and Jimmy Smith; Shirley Scott; Chester Thompson; Joe Zawinul; and Jack McDuff. Goldings' 1990s collaborations with Maceo Parker provided an authentic understanding of the language of funk music, and the voicings and rhythmic comping on the Hammond B3 organ as passed down by James Brown to Maceo Parker.

In 1988, Goldings began his development as an organist during a regular gig at a pianoless bar called Augie's Jazz Bar (now Smoke) on New York's Upper West Side. He was featured with several bands, and his own trio with guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart got its start there. His first release was Intimacy of the Blues in 1991.

Goldings moved to New York in 1986 to attend a newly formed jazz program under the leadership of Arnie Lawrence at The New School. During college he studied piano with Jaki Byard and Fred Hersch. While still a freshman, Roland Hanna invited Goldings to accompany him to a three-day private jazz party in Copenhagen. While there, Goldings met jazz legends Sarah Vaughan, Kenny Burrell, Tommy Flanagan, and Hank Jones; and he also played piano in a band with Vaughan, Harry "Sweets" Edison, and Al Cohn. While still a college student, he embarked on a worldwide tour with Jon Hendricks and worked with him for a year. A collaboration lasting almost three years with jazz guitarist Jim Hall followed.

Lawrence Sam Goldings (born August 28, 1968) is an American pianist, organist, and composer.