Vinny Golia

Vinny Golia, the multi-woodwind player whose performances are meeting places for adventure and tradition, views music as a powerful force for emotional renewal. * "Music gives something to people's lives," Golia says. "I've had people come up to me after a show and say, 'I didn't feel good before your show and now I feel great.' That makes it all worthwhile." It makes sense that Golia, who became a musician after first being a painter, would consider his musical approach to be painterly.

By now, Vinny Golia looms fairly large in the ranks of Los Angeles' jazz scene, even from his perch outside the mainstream. The unstoppable multi-reed instrumentalist has been working diligently for the past 20 years. He has been involved in countless projects, has run his own label, Nine Winds Records, has toured internationally, and is generally considered a hub of--for lack of a better term--"avant-garde" jazz activity in the area.

The stage at Patriotic Hall bris tled with flutes, clarinets and saxophones of all sizes Friday as the 18-piece Vinny Golia Large Ensemble presented a program of its leader's ambitious, sometimes quirky originals. And Golia, a smart composer with a good ear for orchestration as well as a sense of humor, made sure all that firepower didn't go to waste. Passages during the long program recalled Bob Graettinger's impressionistic "City of Glass" that the Kenton band recorded in the '50s.

If Vinny Golia didn't exist, the cultural left end of Southern California's music scene would be a poorer place. For more than 20 years, the multi-reed player and all-purpose cultural lightning rod has performed and recorded with numerous groupings of his own, in addition to supporting new music endeavors. Increasingly, he has gained international renown in avant-garde circles, but he always comes home again. Golia has been a fairly regular visitor to Ventura County in recent years.

Although he may still be but a blip on the general-purpose jazz media screen, Vinny Golia is a certain kind of jazz hero. Over the past 15 years, Golia's name has become synonymous with the making and supporting of the avant-garde in Los Angeles, a town that tends to like its culture slick and straight.

The route to Vinny Golia's Elysian Park apartment is complicated and full of twists and turns, much like his jazz career. The visitor ascends a steep, winding path of lefts and rights, finally arriving at a dirt lane cut into a hillside that leads to an eroded patch of ground where Golia's vintage Volvo station wagon sits at a precarious angle.

A man stands in a forest of horns. Flutes, saxophones and clarinets of all sizes as well as some unfamiliar instruments are clustered center stage as an orchestra weaves quiet, stately lines before moving into an involved but rhythmic riff. The man in the middle, Vinny Golia, picks out the baritone saxophone from the lot, straps it on and starts to blow. That was the scene at Patriotic Hall in Los Angeles in December, when Golia led his 18-piece ensemble in a program of his original music.

**** Vinny Golia/The Chamber Trio, "Worldwide & Portable," 9 Winds. Golia pits a dozen-odd instruments from his woodwind arsenal against Wayne Peet's piano and Ken Filiano's acoustic bass. This vigorous music doesn't strictly adhere to the jazz tradition, but it's not devoid of rhythmic impact in offering unforced, organic improvisations that utilize a full, dynamic palette.

Vinny Golia, once strictly a free player, is now attracted to a more traditional, mainstream jazz approach, so his musical stance lies somewhere between the two modes. "I like playing with both freedom and structure," said the 41-year-old woodwind musician recently in his Westside apartment.

Although he may still be but a blip on the general-purpose jazz media screen, Vinny Golia is a certain kind of jazz hero. Over the past 15 years, Golia's name has become synonymous with the making and supporting of the avant-garde in Los Angeles, a town that tends to like its culture slick and straight.

The route to Vinny Golia's Elysian Park apartment is complicated and full of twists and turns, much like his jazz career. The visitor ascends a steep, winding path of lefts and rights, finally arriving at a dirt lane cut into a hillside that leads to an eroded patch of ground where Golia's vintage Volvo station wagon sits at a precarious angle.

Vinny Golia, the multi-woodwind player whose performances are meeting places for adventure and tradition, views music as a powerful force for emotional renewal. * "Music gives something to people's lives," Golia says. "I've had people come up to me after a show and say, 'I didn't feel good before your show and now I feel great.' That makes it all worthwhile." It makes sense that Golia, who became a musician after first being a painter, would consider his musical approach to be painterly.

**** Vinny Golia/The Chamber Trio, "Worldwide & Portable," 9 Winds. Golia pits a dozen-odd instruments from his woodwind arsenal against Wayne Peet's piano and Ken Filiano's acoustic bass. This vigorous music doesn't strictly adhere to the jazz tradition, but it's not devoid of rhythmic impact in offering unforced, organic improvisations that utilize a full, dynamic palette.

A man stands in a forest of horns. Flutes, saxophones and clarinets of all sizes as well as some unfamiliar instruments are clustered center stage as an orchestra weaves quiet, stately lines before moving into an involved but rhythmic riff. The man in the middle, Vinny Golia, picks out the baritone saxophone from the lot, straps it on and starts to blow. That was the scene at Patriotic Hall in Los Angeles in December, when Golia led his 18-piece ensemble in a program of his original music.

It's been called avant-garde jazz, new thing, new wave and (sometimes) disorganized noise. Whatever the label, it's not the kind of music one usually encounters on a casual cruise of Los Angeles' major jazz clubs. So veteran new-wave saxophonist/composer Vinny Golia decided to take matters in his own hands Saturday night at Hop Singh's. Fronting a big, high-decibel 19-piece ensemble, he celebrated his 40th birthday with a rare evening chock-full of his own determinedly vanguard music.

By now, Vinny Golia looms fairly large in the ranks of Los Angeles' jazz scene, even from his perch outside the mainstream. The unstoppable multi-reed instrumentalist has been working diligently for the past 20 years. He has been involved in countless projects, has run his own label, Nine Winds Records, has toured internationally, and is generally considered a hub of--for lack of a better term--"avant-garde" jazz activity in the area.

The stage at Patriotic Hall bris tled with flutes, clarinets and saxophones of all sizes Friday as the 18-piece Vinny Golia Large Ensemble presented a program of its leader's ambitious, sometimes quirky originals. And Golia, a smart composer with a good ear for orchestration as well as a sense of humor, made sure all that firepower didn't go to waste. Passages during the long program recalled Bob Graettinger's impressionistic "City of Glass" that the Kenton band recorded in the '50s.

Vinny Golia, once strictly a free player, is now attracted to a more traditional, mainstream jazz approach, so his musical stance lies somewhere between the two modes. "I like playing with both freedom and structure," said the 41-year-old woodwind musician recently in his Westside apartment.