DAVID'S BIO - David Goodlett’s earliest recollections were growing up in a Philadelphia apartment listening to the soulful sounds of James Brown, Aretha, the J5, Al Green, Bill Withers and Jesus Christ Superstar, Moving to Omaha and going to his first concert (James Brown backed by Bootsy, Catfish Collins, Maceo and crew), going to see the Earth, Wind & Fire Gratitude tour featuring  EWF, the Emotions and Brothers Johnson at the height of their powers for his b-day in 8th grade and getting absolutely turned out by it, and laying down between the stereo speakers on the floor of his bedroom and being baptized by the P-Funk Live Earth Tour and One Nation Under a Groove albums, as well as the Commodores, ConFunkShun, Cameo, Heatwave and War, and the Essential Jimi Hendrix Volume one. Being in Omaha, David was also exposed to classic rock like Frampton, Boston, Chicago, Grand Funk Railroad

 

A late starter, it wasn’t until his last year of high school that Goodlett received his first guitar as a Christmas present from his mother, a completely unplayable model from a local department store. “The intonation was so bad that it was impossible to tune, let alone play, but I tried my best and was still very grateful to her for giving me my start.” It wasn’t until the summer after his freshman year that David bought another guitar, which he played throughout college. “The action was very fast, but that Peavey T-60 weighed about 60 lbs.” After moving to San Francisco Goodlett became best known for being a strat man, for a long time playing a ’95 Japanese model and later moving to a Fender Elite – his guitar of choice, though you might often see him get it in on his PRS Hollowbody II, Epiphone ES335 or even his Les Paul. Goodlett also plays various acoustics, his favorite being a Yamaha NTX700. Goodlett prefers to use a ’65 reissue Fender Twin Reverb for it’s ability to cut through in any setting and reputation as a transparent pedal platform. “I blew out an old Polytone trying to play with Kev Choice’s 10 piece ensemble. Never again, I told myself,” Goodlett chucked, referring to the Fender Twin’s legendary power.

 

While attending Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, Goodlett immersed himself in more Hendrix and Santana's Abraxas, then Benson, the Crusaders, Stevie's Songs in the Key of Life and Hotter Than July, Rufus, and Prince's 1999 and Controversy. Goodlett got his first taste of performing when a classmate talked him into joining a rock band for a talent show at school. 

 

Playing by ear, Goodlett joined his college jazz band “picking up a few chords here and there”. Around this time Goodlett inhaled a hearty portion of Bob Marley and the Wailers, Gil Scott Herron, Curtis Mayfield, Fela Kuti,, Miles Davis and John Coltrane and developed an appreciation for music as a cultural force and soundtrack to a movement, which is an orientation that has continued to influenced his artistic choices to this day.

 

As great as his love was for music, Goodlett never seriously considered playing professionally until Anders Johansen, his old talent show fellow guitarist, planted a seed as he passed through L.A. where Goodlett was then working as an editor.  “He said here he is visiting L.A. trying to catch a break, while I could play better than him and I’m living in L.A. and not even trying. It didn’t make me change over night, but it began my long road to actually taking myself seriously as a musician. I owe him one for that.”

 

 Still, it would be years before Goodlett overcame his childhood shyness and actually began playing out after moving back to the Bay Area. “A very talented angel masquerading as a vocalist named Imani Uzuri was sent to me. She got me performing acoustic duets and some band stuff with her and introduced me to some other vocalists I came to accompany as well. It didn’t matter if I thought I was ready or not, she did. After one rehearsal she’d have me out there playing originals we wrote together, covers, whatever. If she said I could do it, I supposed it was true. She’s an amazing performer who puts her soul in it. Performing with her was the first time a performance I was involved in put people into trance. She’s been a mentor and inspiration to a lot of people around the world and she’s always managed to involve herself with some really gifted and genuine artists.”

 

Goodlett has gone on to play with a number of Bay Area notables like hip-hop legends The Coup, Kev Choice Ensemble, funk rock pioneers Martin Luther and Cody Chestnutt, hip-hop poet entrepreneur Ise Lyfe, gospel jazz rapper Sista Key, sultry soul rocker Femi, the futuristic Isis Genisis, Panamanian rappers Los Rakas, Boogie Shack, award winning indie r&b artist Khela, Cuban hip-hop legends Obsession, Nigerian vocalist and filmmaker Siji, Fillmore legend Oscar Meyers, and Candice Antique. Goodlett has also recorded for such Bay Area hip-hop notables as Zion-I, Mistah Fab, Rico Pabon, the Grouch and Bicasso. David was also a founding member of the reggae/world music band Sacred Journey which shared stages with Reggae legends like Midnight and Israel Vibration, as well as Nigerian master drummer Olatunji. Goodlett also started the soul/folk group JUA along with the inspirational vocalist Ajuana Black and master percussionist Kele Nitoto of Wolf Hawk Jaguar reknown.

 

Then the first love of his life gave him the love of his life. While playing a gig in San Francisco with the Oakland-based cover band Soul Mechanix, Goodlett was introduced to captivating soprano Latriece Love by vocalist Luqman Frank who had invited her to be guest vocalist on the gig. She sounded so good that bandleader Graal Schwartz invited her to join the band. Five years later they were married and Soul Mechanix, naturally, was the band at their wedding. Goodlett and Love have their own musical duo GoodLOVE, and perform regularly at Wose Community, the legendary East Oakland-based African spirituality-centered community where Goodlett is musical director for the house band SOUNDS OF MA’AT. The group plays everything from afrobeat and highlife inspired songs to funk, blues and jazz and reggae while paying tribute to our Ancestors, Kemetic spirituality and other spiritual practices of the diaspora and continent. Together, David and Latriece have formed a label, SIMBA SIMBI - Congolese for hold up that which holds you up, featuring the band SIMBA SIMBI, GoodLOVE, SOUNDS OF MA’AT, and David Goodlett as a solo artist.

 

Goodlett says that before finally venturing out on his own. “I had played a gang of gigs, written and arranged songs for people, directed bands, done session work, and people kept asking when was my stuff gonna come out. I had way more songs and styles than any of them even knew about. Finally, I couldn’t keep the lid on the pot any longer. I began to get out of my own way. I’m still working on it, overcoming my reluctance to be in front.  I try to remember that it’s not about me. We’re all just vessel. Spirit moves through us, so we gotta keep our doors and windows open.” 

 

As far as influences go, Goodlett lists many. “As a guitarist, I’m inspired by lots of players—Hendrix, the whole P-Funk crew of Hazel, Hampton and Shider, Benson and Montgomery, Santana, Nile Rodgers, Al McKay, Wah Wah Watson, Tony Maiden, Grant Green, Gabor Szabo, Ray Parker Jr., Prince, the many great blues, jazz, soukous and zouk players, as well as Gambian Ngomi music, and Malian, Ethiopian, Indian and Arabic music. But at the end of it all, the goal is to sound like your self. You can never be better at being someone else than they are. And nobody can do you better than you. Besides, music is about expressing yourself and musical communion with others.”

 

When asked about his music, Goodlett often has a hard time characterizing it. “Soul, funk, jazz, afrobeat, rock, hip-hop, bossa, latin, reggae, house, whatever. I’ll let you name it by the song. Even though my music spans a number of genres, I think I have a recognizable sound and songs. It’s really all about songs. No matter the style of music, the artist and the musicians involved must all bow down and serve the song. I like what Jimi said, there’s only two kinds of music, good and bad. I’m just trying to be true to my name and make each song a little piece of beloved goodness.” Goodlett’s goal, he said, is to, “create a lifetime full of sublime, soulful, lush, funky, transcendent music, share it with audiences all over the world, and be the soundtrack to the Pan African Revolution and the spiritually evolved, environmentally sustainable, and economically just new historical epoch. Ashe!”

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