I’ve been playing jazz saxophone in the Bay Area for many years. The son of arranger, big band leader, and RCA recording artist Marty Gold, I grew up listening to the standards of such songwriters as the Gershwins, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hart. Though my regular groups play modern jazz (Miles, Monk, Coltrane, Bill Evans, Jessica Williams, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Charles Lloyd…) as well as our own original music, I also feel a strong connection to those earlier tuneful melodies from Tin Pan Alley and Broadway.
The Bernal Jazz Quintet features an unconventional front-line grouping of me on saxophone, percussionist/drummer Jim Zimmerman on vibes, and Derek James on trombone, complemented by the driving, creative rhythm section of drummer Curt Moore and bassist Chuck Bennett.
The Ad Lib Ensemble likes to take a looser-than-usual approach to quartet jazz, with band members throwing musical curve balls in real time. Guitarist Ari Caprow and I lead that group, which often includes bassists Ken Lenga or Carl Herder and drummers Russell Lundgren, Evan Williams, or Darryl Kniffen.
The Michael Gold Quartet includes Paul Mindrup on piano and more often than not Tom Hassett on drums and, if we can get him, Scott Chapek on bass. An earlier version of the quartet, with Sean Nelson on drums and Matt Montgomery on bass, recorded “Personal Standards” on the Evander Music label. (Listen to some audio clips.)
As often as I can I team up with my long-time musical partner guitarist Bruno Pelletier-Bacquaert. And I’ve had a blast playing several seasons with the SFJAZZ Monday Night Band.
I come from a musical family. In addition to my father, Marty, my musical relatives include my niece Debbie Cavalier, senior vice president of online learning and continuing education at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and leader of the children’s music band Debbie and Friends, which is gaining a national reputation. Not to mention Debbie’s own musical niece and nephews (the Philadelphia-based Cavalier family), most of whom have inspired and often are featured in much of Debbie’s music. My nephew David Feldstein is a Los Angeles songwriter, singer, and producer who also is president of Playin Time Productions, an educational music firm. David’s father (and my brother-in-law), Sandy Feldstein, was a music education guru and prolific author and publisher. (Here’s a video clip of David and Sandy talking about working together as a writing team.)
Drawing on my “day job” experience as a writer, editor, and consultant in print and digital publishing, I have also served as the editor of Strings magazine and edited several books on improvisation and jazz arranging. One of the last acts of journalism I committed before retiring from editorial work is this article I wrote for Newsweek about the 50th anniversary of A Love Supreme, John Coltrane’s seminal recording.