| Jon Gold is a composer and pianist originally from Palo Alto, CA. He began studying classical piano with the renown Spanish pianist Francisco de Hollas (himself a pupil of Gyorgi Sandor/Bela Bartok). Jon also studied delta blues guitar listening to and influenced by the greats such as Lighting Hopkins, Elmore James and Black Ace. It was natural that the two would merge into an interest in jazz. His earliest childhood influences in jazz were Mose Allison and Oscar Peterson.
In high school he discovered and become consumed by the music of John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter. While still in high school, Jon had the opportunity to study with and perform with legendary saxophonist Joe Henderson. This was deeply inspiring for him and he credits much of his inspiration to Joe. Another opportunity in high school brought Jon together with Dizzy Gillespie to film a program for KQED-TV. Jon was awarded the Charlie Parker Jazz Award in his senior year of high school. Jon began to study jazz improvisation under Dwight Cannon (CBS Orchestra) at San Jose State University. During this time Jon worked with Eddie Gale (Cecil Taylor/Sun Ra) and performed throughout the West Coast. With time, Jon developed a fascination with Brazilian and Latin jazz. He began to work with a number of luminaries in the San Francisco Bay Area including Latin jazz band "Tambó" that included the drummer Jimi Fox of the Doobie Brothers. Jon began to focus more on Brazilian music, study Portuguese and began a band with the Rio de Janeiro born, award-winning vocalist Claudia Villela. He and Claudia performed throughout northern California including the Monterey Jazz Festival. He recorded a CD featuring Claudia ("Aqua Regia", Pacific Street Jazz PSD0039), which also included incredible performances from the iconic Airto Moreira (Chick Corea) and bassist Harvie S. Jon also maintained an interest in wine and wine-making which led him on a parallel journey. During this time, Jon completed a Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Parts of his graduate work were done at Cornell University where he gained noteriety as the first person to melt a diamond. Upon completing his doctorate degree, Jon decided realize his dream of studying Brazillian music. Jon moved to Rio de Janeiro where he taught at the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. This was a productive time and Jon had the opportunity to meet and know luminaries such as A.C. Jobim, Hermeto Pascoal and Carlos Malta. He and Carlos formed a group called "Trio Maricá" and performed throughout Rio de Janeiro. Jon also had the opprtunity to play solo in various important cities of Brazil. After living many years in Rio de Janeiro, Jon returned to the States has where he settled in a small town 70 miles from NYC. |