Groove is at the heart of Antar
Goodwins playing. This fact has made him one of New York's first call players.
Equally comfortable in the studio and on the stage, he has played electric and
acoustic bass on many of NYC's best stages
Born in Philly, bassist and composer
Antar Goodwin spent the early part of his life moving with his family. He had a
desire to play that showed at a very early age. By the age of five, he was
playing drums, and by seven piano and classical violin
When asked how he got started in music, Antar states that, "music started in me". His earliest memories are of plunking
out melodies on his family's worn out piano or beating out rhythms on chairs.
His first set of drums was purchased after his parents realized that a used drum
set was cheaper than new chairs. By the time he was in his teens he traded in
his violin and was playing bass, piano and beginning to write songs.
Already a Berklee College of Music
alum, Antar next received a scholarship to study at Kripalu, in Lenox MA. Here
he met an older fellow traveler who had a measure of success in the music
industry, but had become disillusioned with the direction in which he saw his
career going. The two became instant friends. Antar spent the next sixty days
listening to stories and absorbing musical concepts. It was his new mentor that
gave him his first acoustic bass, and even more importantly, the conceptual
foundation that would shape his sound for years to come.
The next experience would prompt him to
start his own group. While in rehearsal with Abbey Lincoln, she pulled him
aside and told him that he "was jazz, past and present and future"
and that he "had all that [he] needed to be great, [he] just had to let it
out."
Played/Toured/Recorded with:
Sting, MIZE, Ezina LeBlanc, Lauryn
Hill, Tutu, PJ Cotroneo, Abbey Lincoln, Jae Paris, Big Nancy, Benny Golson, Lee
Hogans, Johnny Allen, Ruth Brown, Mark D. Conklin, Pursuance, Matisyahu, Soul
Cycle, Mean Venus, Nine Days, Mo’Soul, Spoonfed Soul, Patty Smythe, Last Tribe,
Myleka, Glen Burtnik, Loose Booty, Rhoda Nkojo, Sharon Jones, Saria Idana, Lee
Stone, Slam Allen, Kareem Walkes, Keith Marks, Sarina Bridgette Bach