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BIOGRAPHY

     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 and perform with Esperanza Spalding in a Berklee summer program jazz ensemble. Esperanza's encouragement inspired Sofia to perfect her craft. After graduating Berklee in 2011 (Drum Set Performance), Sofia moved to Nashville in 2012. In Nashville, Sofia's resume grew and she worked as a freelance musician and teacher. Tony Rounce of Ace Records said this about her playing at the Poretta Soul Festival:"There isn't enough time to do full justice to the qualities of every member of Heart & Soul, but it would be wrong not the spotlight the unit's brilliant drummer Sofia Goodman, whose drive and precision across 5-6 hours behind her kit each night put her in a class with any of the world's great soul drummers, from Al Jackson Jr., Howard Grimers and Roger Hawkins to Benny Benjamin, James Gadson and beyond." She also performed at Bonnaroo with New Age group HuDost and recorded on a song of theirs with Jon Anderson from Yes.

     In 2017, she was inspired to begin leading her own group, called The Sofia Goodman Group. The group performs a variety of jazz and they have performed at various festivals such as The Elkhart Jazz Fest (2x), The Alex City Jazz Fest, USM Jazz and Blues Fest, Fort Harrod Jazz Fest (3x), West Georgia Jazz Fest, and more. Her debut album "Myriad of Flowers" was released in 2018 and was nominated by The Nashville Music Industry Awards for Best Jazz album of 2019. The album was jazz fusion, with funk and rock influences. In 2020 she was nominated by The Nashville Music Industry Awards for Best Jazz Instrumentalist. In 2021, she earned her Master's Degree in Commercial Music Composition and Media Writing and won The Pathways to Jazz grant from Boulder, Colorado for her upcoming album, Secrets of the Shore. She is a Zildjian artist and is on the Vic Firth Education Team.

PRess Articles

alex city jazz fest line up announced in the outlook newspaper

The Sofia Goodman Group will be performing at the Alex City Jazz Fest June 9th before Delta Rae.

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