Joel Goodman

Joel Goodman is an American film score composer.

Prior to scoring films, Goodman composed music for advertising and produced records. and in 2002 co-founded the music licensing and publishing company MusicBox. Through his production company Hi-Fi Productions, Goodman created 4 production music catalogs that are distributed by Universal Music Publishing. Goodman conducts university master classes in the US and Europe, is a regular panelist for such organizations as ASCAP, IFP, AFI and SCL amongst others, and currently serves on the board of the Production Music Association, where he is the Chairman of the Performing Rights Committee.

Early life and education
Goodman was born in Brooklyn, NY and grew up in Queens, where he learned to play his first instrument (the trumpet) from the legendary public school music educator Allen Stier. He attended high school in Manhattan at The High School of Music & Art, studying jazz with Justin DiCioccio and orchestral performance with Sydney Baker while taking private bass lessons from Rich Samalin and Ken Smith. As a result, Goodman played trumpet in the orchestra, and wrote arrangements and played bass for his high school jazz band. Some notable classmates of Goodman's include Charley Drayton, Bernard Wright, Sterling Campbell, Tony Mangurian, Larry Aberman, Erik Sanko, Eric Rosenberg, Roey Shamir and Marcus Rojas.

Goodman attended the Berklee College of Music as a double major focusing on both bass performance and jazz composition and arranging. This gave him the opportunity to study with such greats as Herb Pomeroy, Michael Gibbs, Bob Freedman, John LaPorta, Gary Burton, John Abercrombie, Jerry Bergonzi, Steve Swallow and Bruce Gertz.

It was during this time that Goodman joined the jazz/world/fusion band Ananda founded by composer and guitarist Claudio Ragazzi. Their first album, titled Amazonia, was recorded for the record label Sonic Atmospheres and was produced by Craig Huxley. The band toured regularly in the Northeastern United States and on a few occasions included appearances by Ralph Towner as a member of the live band.

Film and TV scoring career
After graduating from Berklee in 1984, Goodman moved back to New York City and began his music career as a live and studio session bassist. In 1991 he became a staff composer for the music production house North Forty Music where he composed music for hundreds of major national television advertisements including those for American Express, Budweiser, IBM, Gatorade and Procter & Gamble. Goodman worked at North Forty Music until 1999, when he left to pursue composing for film full-time.

Goodman's first score, for a documentary film called My Knees Were Jumping, came about by a chance meeting with an old high school friend on the streets of New York City. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1996 and opened the door for many more film scoring opportunities to come.

While the music was being mixed into the film prior to its release, another film producer in the studio next door came in to inquire about the music, and this ultimately led to Goodman's next scoring project. Green Chimneys premiered at the Sundance Film Festival the following year. When the editor from Green Chimneys was hired to edit the Albert Maysles film Concert of Wills: Building the Getty Center, Goodman was asked to provide the music - an opportunity that played an important role in his subsequent founding of Museum Music.

Goodman has since gone on to score over 150 films and TV shows, and has collaborated with many distinguished directors and producers including Neil LaBute, Albert Maysles, Andrew Jarecki, Barbara Kopple, Wong Kar-wai, Rachel Grady, Marshall Curry, Sebastian Junger, Barak Goodman, Alexandra Pelosi, Michael Epstein, Joe Berlinger, Oren Jacoby, Irene Taylor Brodsky, Lesli lwerks, and Fisher Stevens.

In 2012, Goodman received an Emmy Award in recognition of his score to the HBO film Saving Pelican #895. The award was presented as part of the 33rd Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards in the category of Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music & Sound.

In 2023, Goodman released his debut album, An Exquisite Moment, playing keyboards and bass with Donny McCaslin (saxophones), Eric Harland (drums), Adam Rogers (guitar), Mino Cinélu (percussion), Scott Colley (bass). The album features performances from Randy Brecker (flugelhorn, trumpet), Brandee Younger (harp), Lisa Fischer (vocals), John Patitucci (bass), and Philippe Saisse (piano, vibes, marimba).

Discography
Beginning in 1996, Goodman produced four records for Chesky Records.