Jerry Goodman

Violinists have seldom risen to prominence in rock, since the instrument seldom figures in the genre's typical lineup, though David Cross of King Crimson, Darryl Way of Curved Air, and John Weider of Eric Burdon & the Animals remain familiar names. Jerry Goodman, the sole American in that small circle, became the most widely recognized through repeated airplay of his band's most successful recordings.

Born and raised in Chicago, Goodman began playing violin in childhood. Although classical training equipped him with the technical facility for a career in that realm, he lacked the necessary commitment, ultimately finding the repertory unsatisfying. He drifted to the edges of the scene, serving as a roadie for the Chicago ensemble the Flock, which had recently rebranded from the Exclusives and was gaining local attention on an independent imprint. His entry into the band injected fresh tonal possibilities into their music just as the rock-jazz fusion movement gained momentum, resulting in a Columbia Records deal and the release of their self-titled debut. That album quickly attained cult status as the first major platform for Goodman's instrumental voice. The Flock soon joined rock's emerging upper tier, sharing festival bills with Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin and appearing in the European documentary Stamping Ground. Goodman's time with the group concluded in 1970, after which he withdrew to rural Wisconsin.

He remained there until early 1971, when John McLaughlin sought him out for a violinist. McLaughlin's initial preference, Jean-Luc Ponty, faced potential immigration complications as a non-American. The Flock connection led McLaughlin to Goodman, who contributed to the solo album My Goal's Beyond. That session placed Goodman in the original Mahavishnu Orchestra, where his work shared the foreground with McLaughlin and keyboardist Jan Hammer. On the three albums The Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire, and Between Nothingness and Eternity, Goodman cultivated a global audience through a blend of folk, rock, classical, and jazz elements delivered with equal measures of force and melody. The ensemble disbanded in 1973 amid internal tensions, leaving behind unissued studio recordings later issued as The Lost Trident Sessions more than twenty years afterward. Goodman and Hammer promptly recorded Like Children for the Nemperor label.

A decade passed before Goodman returned to record stores. In the mid-1980s he surfaced on the new-age-focused Private Music imprint with On the Future of Aviation and Ariel; the former emphasized minimal violin, while the latter highlighted strings more prominently. The 1987 concert release It's Alive drew primarily from those two studio sets. During the same period Goodman entered film scoring, composing for Lily Tomlin's The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe and appearing on soundtracks for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), The Truth About Cats and Dogs and Waiting for Guffman (both 1996), and Best in Show (2000). He also joined the reunited Dixie Dregs, a fusion outfit shaped by Mahavishnu Orchestra influences, in the early 1990s and toured with the new-age ensemble Shadowfax.

Throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s Goodman worked extensively as a session player, contributing to projects by Toots Thielemans, Hall & Oates, and keyboardist Derek Sherinian on multiple occasions. After a hiatus from live performance he rejoined Gary Husband's Force Majeure in 2004, documented on the 2005 live DVD Live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. In 2009 he appeared on progressive metal band Dream Theater's Black Clouds and Silver Linings. Goodman has sustained an eclectic schedule, including a 2015 collaboration with jazz drummer Billy Cobham on the Spectrum 40 tour and accompanying concert album.