Andrew Gould Announces Debut Album “First things First”
Jazz and Pop phenom alto saxophonist hits his stride with his first recording of original music, colliding his influences with some of NYC’s finest rising stars.
NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. - After being a sideman on countless recordings, Andrew Gould has put the finishing touches on his debut release, “First Things First”, with Outside in Music. “First Things First”, an album 10 tracks deep, is a solid set of straight ahead jazz, with some tracks exploring the genre’s successors like funk, rnb and electronic music.
“First Things First represents the music that means the most to me, and the music I’ve been playing the most since I’ve gotten to New York.” - Andrew Gould
A few of the tunes pay homage to the players Andrew looked up to as a kid. “Mumbo Jumbo is a track on the album that’s a contrafact of Hocus Pocus, originally based on the standard ‘Mean to Me.’ I decided to write a contrafact of Hocus Pocus because I love Joe Henderson’s playing on the original recording. I would listen to it over and over, I could sing it from memory, I just love it so much.” Some of Andrew’s other tunes are inspired by his life experiences while living in New York City. 7am, for example, was named as a result of working on the tune overnight and finishing at the crack of down. “[7am] represented me being stressed out, just trying to finish this song and feeling delirious.” The tune is a microcosm of the life an artist leads.
Andrew is excited for this release as a leader, and as with any release it doesn’t come without a bit of help. The album switches between quintet and quartet configurations, with Steven Feifke on piano, Marco Panascia on bass, Jake Goldbas on drums, Ioana Vintu singing, and jazz trumpet veteran (of Village Vanguard Orchestra fame) Scott Wendholt. Having recorded for a bunch of different artists and collaborations, Andrew is really open to shaping his sound in different ways:
“I would be in the studio and [Mac Miller] would be in the control room, and he’d be telling me an idea to try. In that situation, you have to leave your own headspace and try to imagine what the artist is envisioning to the best of your ability. It takes a combination of flexibility and imagination to make a situation like that, work!"
First things First is available worldwide starting March 30th, 2018 at Amazon, iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, and everywhere you listen to music.
Andrew has performed with James Moody, Benny Golson, Wallace Roney, Jon Faddis, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Mambo Legends Orchestra, David Weiss, Ray Vega, Chuchito Valdes, Ricky Rodriguez and many more. He was a 2013 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition Semi Finalist and has recorded for MTV, Universal Records, Warner Bros Music, and Capitol Records for world famous artists including Fifth Harmony, Mac Miller and more. He has also performed live on the Today Show, ABC News, WBGO Radio, and at Winter Jazzfest, The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, Bermuda Jazz Festival and the Caramoor Jazz Festival. He has toured extensively around the world performing all over the U.S.A including Hawaii, as well as Bermuda, Europe, Asia, and Canada. .