Alex Goodman
guitarist and composer

Winner of first prize (and the Public's Choice Award) at the 2014 Montreux Jazz Festival International Guitar Competition, Alex Goodman has been hailed as "among the most promising talents of [his] jazz generation" (JazzTimes), "a definite musical voice" (Guitar International), "one of New York’s most vital young guitarists" (Jazziz),  “an important emerging voice on his instrument” (New York City Jazz Record) and as a player of “fluid lyricism” (Downbeat). Alex has been featured on multiple Grammy and Canadian JUNO-nominated recordings.

Goodman has released seven albums as a leader or co-leader. His 2011 debut album, Bridges, was nominated for a JUNO as the year’s best contemporary jazz record. Goodman is featured on recordings alongside such artists as John Patitucci, Dave Douglas, Ambrose Akinmusire, Dick Oatts, Mike Rodriguez, and Rich Perry. Alex regularly plays and records in ensembles led by Manuel Valera (José Marti en Nueva York, Distancia), Lucas Pino (Covers), Mareike Wiening (Reveal, Future Memories, Metropolis Paradise), and Remy Le Boeuf (Architecture of Storms, Assembly of Shadows), as well as having performed with musicians like Bob Mintzer, Charles Lloyd, Dan Weiss, Eric Harland, and John Ellis. Alex was the guitarist in the touring band of Lea Delaria (Orange is the New Black) and has contributed to work on film and TV produced by Pixar, The New York Times, and Amazon Prime.

He has regularly toured Europe and performed at New York’s top jazz clubs, including Blue Note, The Jazz Standard, Smalls, and Jazz Gallery, as well as at such venues as Lincoln Center and National Sawdust. The guitarist has also performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Massey Hall in Toronto, as well as at such festivals as Winter Jazz Fest in New York, the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and further afield in China, Chile, Brazil, Poland, Ukraine, and Bulgaria.

Goodman has won an ASCAP Herb Alpert Jazz Composer Award and has written scores for jazz and chamber groups, orchestras, big bands, and various string ensembles. He composed and recorded a book of solo guitar etudes that was released as a book and recording in 2013. In 2022, he received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to compose a program of adventurous new music for string quartet, guitar, and bass that premiered on a European tour in 2024. He graduated from the Master's program in Jazz Performance at the Manhattan School of Music. Alex is the Professor of Jazz Guitar at the Kunstuniversität Graz in Austria.