Today we had the great pleasure of sitting down with Sofia Goodman! We discuss her time at Berklee College of Music, her journey to Nashville, and why she chose to form her own jazz group. We also explore her thesis, titled “The Art of Incorporating Afro-Latin Rhythms’ In the Style of Maria Schneider”. We hope you enjoy!

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesofiagoodmangroup
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thirtyseven.sofia
Website: https://www.thesofiagoodmangroup.com

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Music Featured in this Episode:
‘Hope’ by The Sofia Goodman Group

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About Sofia:
Sofia Goodman is a drummer and composer residing in Nashville, TN. Before enrolling at Berklee College of music for her Bachelor’s, Sofia was fortunate to learn, perform with, and be encouraged by jazz icon Esperanza Spalding in a Berklee summer program. After graduating from Berklee, Sofia moved to Nashville and worked as a freelance musician and teacher. Her playing has been described as “brilliant” by Tony Rounce of Ace Records. The Manchester CT Jazz Festival reported that she is “one you’ll be hearing more of.”

In 2017, she began leading The Sofia Goodman Group, a modern jazz ensemble that performs Sofia’s original compositions and fuses American, Afro-Latin, and Middle Eastern genres. Her debut album “Myriad of Flowers” was released in 2018 and was nominated by NIMA for Best Jazz album. In 2020, Sofia was nominated by NIMA for Best Jazz Instrumentalist. In 2021, she earned her Master’s Degree in Composition at Belmont University. Recently, she won the Pathways to Jazz Grant to fund her work on her next album, Secrets of the Shore, which will be out before the end of 2022. The Nashville Scene described her music as “truly progressive and fundamentally jazz…and a reason to be excited about the continuing evolution of jazz in Music City.” She is a member of Nashville Women in Jazz and loves to share her passion for drumming with students.

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Interview by: Dan Ainspan, Nathan Sletner
Recorded June 2022 in Nashville, TN