Vangie Gunn-Goodwin on Finding Purpose, Carrying the Big Phat Band Forward and Keeping Gordon Goodwin’s Music Alive
At the intersection of legacy and possibility, Vangie Gunn-Goodwin is carrying an extraordinary musical story forward—honoring Gordon Goodwin’s singular vision while shaping a new chapter for the Big Phat Band, 25 Years of Phatness, and a creative life defined by purpose, musicianship and an unwavering belief in what comes next.
There are moments when a life in music is measured not by applause, recordings or accolades, but by what remains when everything familiar has changed.
For Vangie Gunn-Goodwin, that moment arrived with a responsibility few artists could ever prepare to inherit. Following the death of her husband and musical partner, Gordon Goodwin, in December 2025, she was left not only with the private enormity of losing the person she loved, but with an extraordinary musical world whose future suddenly required an answer.
The answer has been action.
Today, Gunn-Goodwin stands at the center of one of the most consequential chapters in the history of Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band. She is helping guide the ensemble forward, overseeing the continuation of its work, bringing 25 Years of Phatness into the world, developing an ambitious long-term future for The Big Phat Pod, performing, writing, producing and ensuring that the body of music Gordon spent decades creating remains something audiences can encounter in the present tense.
It would be easy to describe that undertaking simply as preservation. It would also be incomplete.
What Gunn-Goodwin is building is less a monument than a living musical ecosystem—one in which memory, performance, education, archival storytelling and new creative work continually inform one another. The distinction matters. Legacies survive most powerfully when they remain useful, audible and capable of reaching people who were not there for the beginning.
For Gunn-Goodwin, that understanding is deeply personal, but it is also profoundly musical.
Long before she assumed her present responsibilities, she had established a formidable career of her own. A sought-after Southern California session vocalist, live performer, vocal contractor and educator, she has spent decades working in the demanding environments where versatility is not an aesthetic preference but a professional necessity. Her voice has moved through film, television, animation and video games, while her live résumé has placed her alongside artists and musicians spanning jazz, R&B and popular music.
That breadth is important to understanding the woman now guiding the next era of the Phat Band. Gunn-Goodwin did not arrive at this responsibility from outside Gordon’s musical universe. She understood the architecture from within.
Their professional connection began years before their personal partnership. She worked as a session singer on projects involving Gordon, experiencing firsthand the precision of his writing and arranging and the atmosphere he created in the studio. Eventually, that relationship expanded to the stage with the Big Phat Band—a musical environment whose combination of virtuosity, discipline, humor and sheer physical energy became an important part of her own artistic life.
The ensemble Gordon founded in 2000 was never conceived as an exercise in nostalgia. Its identity emerged from the collision of big-band tradition with a restless contemporary imagination. Swing could sit beside funk; cinematic orchestration could coexist with rock energy; intricate writing could remain playful. The sophistication was formidable, but so was the sense of possibility.
That philosophy now becomes particularly significant. If Gordon’s work was always concerned with moving the large-ensemble language forward, then honoring it requires more than repeating what has already been accomplished. It requires keeping that spirit of movement intact.
25 Years of Phatness arrives at precisely that intersection.
The album marks a quarter century of the Big Phat Band while carrying the poignancy of Gordon’s final collection of new compositions and arrangements. Yet its significance extends beyond chronology. It documents the musical language of a composer who spent his career refusing to treat genre boundaries as walls and an ensemble whose extraordinary musicianship gave that language its scale.
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Gunn-Goodwin is not merely adjacent to the recording. As co-producer and vocalist, she is embedded within it. Her presence can be heard on “Everywhere U Look,” “In This Moment,” “Change Is Good” and “SHINE!,” with songwriting and lyric contributions further revealing the creative partnership behind the public story.
The album is therefore simultaneously retrospective and immediate: an anniversary, a final body of Gordon's new work, and a point from which the next chapter can begin.
That next chapter has also found a voice through The Big Phat Pod.
Co-hosted by Gunn-Goodwin and Andrew Kesler, the podcast takes an unusually granular approach to musical storytelling. Rather than treating Gordon’s catalog as something to summarize from a distance, it enters the music piece by piece, bringing musicians, collaborators and stories into conversations about how the work was actually constructed.
Its origin makes the project particularly meaningful. The concept was something Gordon himself had wanted to pursue. Circumstances prevented him from realizing it, but Gunn-Goodwin recognized that the idea still had a future.
What has emerged is part oral history, part musical classroom and part continuing conversation.
That combination suits her remarkably well. Gunn-Goodwin is not simply a performer speaking about another musician’s catalog; she is an educator with decades of experience, a collaborator who understood the working process, and someone with intimate knowledge of the human life surrounding the compositions. Those perspectives allow the podcast to move between technical insight and personal history without treating either as secondary.
There is also something quietly radical about the scale of her ambition. The project is not conceived as a short commemorative series. Gunn-Goodwin has already envisioned seasons extending across Gordon's albums, creating the possibility of a substantial recorded archive of conversations, musical analysis and first-person recollection.
It is preservation through participation.
The same philosophy informs the future of the Big Phat Band onstage. The ensemble continues not as an imitation of an earlier period, but as a gathering of musicians who understand the standard Gordon established and the communal identity that grew around the music. Performances incorporate his presence through the compositions themselves as well as visual and spoken elements, allowing audiences to experience continuity without pretending that nothing has changed.
And change, inevitably, is at the heart of this story.
There is no elegant way to make profound loss uncomplicated. Gunn-Goodwin does not attempt to. Her grief and her determination occupy the same space. That honesty gives this new phase its emotional gravity. She can miss Gordon profoundly while simultaneously making decisions about tours, recordings, musicians, production, publishing and the innumerable details required to keep a major ensemble functioning.
Behind every romantic idea of “carrying the torch” lies administration, logistics and relentless work.
Gunn-Goodwin has embraced those realities.
A working day can move between vocal practice and band business, podcast production and future booking, writing and recording, technical preparation and family life. The discipline is revealing. Her approach to her voice, for instance, resembles that of an athlete: regular vocalization, hydration, rest, physical conditioning and close attention to anything that could compromise the instrument.
It is an attitude that reflects a larger characteristic of her career. Passion may provide the reason, but preparation makes longevity possible.
That principle extends into her own developing music. Gunn-Goodwin's artistic identity draws from a wide musical vocabulary shaped by gospel, jazz, R&B, funk and rock. She grew up singing in church, and the influence of gospel's emotional directness exists alongside an admiration for distinctive voices including Chaka Khan, Nancy Wilson, Michael McDonald, Al Jarreau, Janis Siegel and Pauline Wilson.
Her forthcoming work promises to bring those influences into conversation with the musical partnership that she and Gordon shared. That distinction is important because the future need not force a choice between carrying Gordon's work forward and continuing her own evolution. The two can exist together.
Perhaps that is the deeper story of Vangie Gunn-Goodwin at this moment.
She has inherited an extraordinary responsibility, but she refuses to allow responsibility to become paralysis. She is looking after a catalog while building a podcast. She is protecting an ensemble while planning future recordings. She is honoring a musical partnership while continuing to sing, write, produce and imagine. She is carrying history while insisting upon a future.
There is enormous tenderness in that undertaking, but there is strength in it too.
The Big Phat Band's music has always depended upon motion—the propulsion of rhythm, the architecture of an arrangement, the tension of a phrase finally resolving, the exhilaration of world-class players meeting a difficult chart without hesitation. In an unexpected way, Gunn-Goodwin's present journey embodies something similar.
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She is moving through what cannot be changed by creating what can still become possible.
And perhaps that is why the work feels larger than commemoration. Gordon Goodwin's legacy does not survive simply because recordings remain on shelves or charts remain on paper. It survives when musicians perform them, students study them, audiences discover them, collaborators tell their stories and another generation finds its way into the music.
Gunn-Goodwin understands that distinction.
Her task is not to keep the past frozen at the moment it was lost. It is to give an extraordinary body of work enough care, structure and imagination to continue traveling.
That is a formidable responsibility for any musician, producer, educator or partner to assume. Vangie Gunn-Goodwin happens to be all four.
And as the next chapter of the Big Phat story begins to take shape, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: she is not standing in the shadow of what came before.
She is standing at its threshold, carrying it forward.
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Featuring Vangie Gunn-Goodwin alongside exclusive interviews, editorials, and contemporary culture features from the August 2026 edition
The story of Vangie Gunn-Goodwin, however, is best understood not only through the music she is carrying forward, but through the conviction behind it. In the conversation that follows, she reflects on the responsibility of guiding Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band into its next chapter, the deeply personal origins of The Big Phat Pod, the significance of 25 Years of Phatness, and the discipline that has shaped her own life as a vocalist, educator and creative force. Speaking with remarkable openness about loss, purpose, performance and what lies ahead, Gunn-Goodwin offers something more intimate than a retrospective: a portrait, in her own words, of an artist determined to honor an extraordinary history while continuing to build the future.
Q&A with Vangie Gunn-Goodwin
Talk about your new project coming out?
VGG: 25 Years of Phatness is both a celebration and a legacy. Marking a quarter century of Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, this album showcases Gordon's final collection of new compositions and arrangements. Music that reflects his boundless imagination, unmistakable voice, and relentless pursuit of excellence. Every note embodies the joy, humor, passion, and brilliance that defined his career. More than an anniversary release, 25 Years of Phatness is a tribute to an artist whose music continues to inspire, challenge, and bring people together. Gordon's voice lives on in every chart, every solo, and every performance, ensuring that his legacy will continue to resonate for generations to come.
Talk about your podcast? Who’s been on your podcast?
VGG: We have had all of the current band members on as guests as well as special guests including, Aubrey Logan, Matt Bates, Brian Kilgore, Ryan Mowrey, Singers Aria Gunn, David Loucks, Fletcher Sheridan, Alvin Chea, and more! Each future season will have more amazing guests.
What do you talk about?
VGG: Each episode focuses on one song from the album the season is about. Season 1 is exclusively about, 25 Years of Phatness. Season 2 will be another one of Gordon’s brilliant albums.
What inspired you to do a podcast?
VGG: This was Gordon’s dream in early 2025. We talked at length about starting the Big Phat Pod because he could break out a bit more on the pod than on his radio show. Sadly, due to his diagnosis the Pod never got off the ground with him. So, after the dust settled in life I decided to take up the mantel and get this podcast going to honor Gordon.
Do you think Gordon Goodwin would have loved this podcast?
VGG: Very much! He was a talker. I am a talker. We are both educators, musicians, and visionaries. He would love that I took his vision and ran with it to continue his life’s goals.
What’s the plan for the podcast?
VGG: I have at least 13 seasons already in the works! This will go on for a very long time focusing on the brilliance of Gordon’s music, mind, life and legacy along with amazing interviews and stories of his musical journey.
Who are some future guests that you are excited about?
VGG: Herb Alpert, Eric Marienthal, Take 6, Eddie Daniels, Brian McKnight, Lee Ritenour, Dave Gruson and more.
What is the plan for touring?
VGG: We are currently booking into 2027 all over the world.
What is the plan for local shows?
VGG: We will continue to perform twice a year at our home venue, Catalina Jazz Club, with an occasional showing at Vibrato and in San Diego.
Do you love performing live?
VGG: Yes, more than anything else that I do. Especially getting to stand and sing alongside the world’s greatest musicians in the Phat Band. What an honor, and Gordon opened the door for me which I will be eternally grateful.
What are your vocal techniques?
VGG: That is a broad question! Bottom line my technique is “trained” alongside “natural” and “real” to keep my voice working until I am very old! This means that I vocalize every day, I eat correctly, I drink correctly (water, tea) to stay hydrated, I have vocal therapy (manual manipulation) regularly, and I am constantly aware of how and what is impacting my voice. It is a lifestyle. I am a vocal athlete and take the routines extremely serious. Sleep is vital too! I also am very aware of how much I am talking as talking can be hard on a voice. That includes never yelling on rides or at a game. My voice is my life, so I must protect it at all times.
What’s a typical day for you?
VGG: Oh, my days change consistently being a free-lance musician and business owner, but what remains the same is vocalizing daily to keep my chops ready, working on the Big Phat Pod’s many details, booking the band, which is a huge responsibility, and continuing to look towards the future at what needs to be done in the next few months and years. I set goals and markers to hit each month and each quarter to keep the train moving smoothly.
I have the occasional recording session as a singer and vocal contractor for film, TV, and Video games, which I love to do and keeps me busy. I am also writing music daily as well including lyrics, arrangements, and more. That is pure joy, not work. I have a few things that are normal for me - I work out all the time (advanced Pilates, Barre, HIT, Heavy Weights, etc.), I sit in my backyard and drink tea with my puppy, I hang with my amazing 4 kids (Lexi, Emma, Levi and Aria) and their partners AND occasionally play with my wonderful grandkids (4 & 3). I have amazing friends who check in on me regularly. I am blessed! Then I try to get to the beach and hike here and there. I stay busy.
Talk about your music?
VGG: The music that is written and being finished for my album is a mix of jazz, R&B, Funk and Rock. It screams both Gordon and me. We were a wonderful team and combination musically. Can’t wait to get it done and get it out!
Talk about your inspiration for your music?
VGG: I grew up in gospel music. I sang in the church from age 5-45! It really shaped me. I also grew up listening to and loving jazz, vocal jazz, funk, R&B, black gospel, rock, and disco. My biggest vocal influences are Chaka Kahn, Janis Siegel, Pauline Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Michael McDonald, and Al Jarreau.
How has life changed since Gordon Goodwin’s passing?
VGG: It has been devastating, horrible, so sad, so lonely, and I want him back every day. And yet, through this unfathomable experience, I have found my purpose. My whole life and my whole life’s purpose is Gordon, his legacy and his music. It’s an amazing thing how one’s life starts to line up when you find its purpose, and that is exactly what is happening. During Gordon’s treatment we started to face the reality of what might happen, which was awful. It was at that time he asked if I would consider carrying on the Phat Band. I didn’t hesitate and yelled out a resounding, yes. Actually, I said, HECK YES. I watched the relief cross his face. He told me he knew I could handle it, and that I would take good care of all of it. So, I take that responsibility seriously with honor and focus. I want to honor Gordon in every way possible which means keeping the band strong and gigging, releasing new music every year, recording the Podcast, keeping his charts published, and growing all of it in whatever way possible. It is my honor and my joy to do all of this. Plus, I love it! Truly, my whole life has trained me for this. I am more than ready and more than capable to take this baton and role. And almost every day, I thank Gordon for everything he has given me.
Talk About Gordon Goodwin’s music?
VGG: The best way for me to talk about Gordon’s music is to say it In Gordon’s own words:
“The Big Phat Band has always been about taking the tradition of big band jazz and giving it a contemporary voice. I never wanted to recreate the past—I wanted to build on it. Whether drawing from swing, funk, film scores, rock, or modern production techniques, my goal has always been to write music that's exciting, unexpected, and alive with content. At the heart of it all are extraordinary and world class musicians whose artistry brings these compositions to life. If the music is hard to categorize and pin down, that's exactly the point.”
Who is your mentor?
VGG: I don’t have a Mentor necessarily, but I do have a very small circle of close friends and family that I trust to fall apart to and discuss life decisions. I am very grateful for them.
Who was the first recording artist that you remember hearing?
VGG: My mom’s piano playing, plus - Andrae Crouch, Earth Wind and Fire, and Michael Jackson.
What’s on your playlist right now?
VGG: Big Phat Band, 70’s Funk, Jacob Collier, Dirty Loops, Israel Houghton, Michael McDonald, and Chaka Khan.
Talk about some of the producers you have worked with?
VGG: Oh, lots! Gordon Goodwin (My favorite of all time!), Tommy Vicari, Michael Lloyd, John Debney, Russell Brower, Danny Jacobs, Charlie Brissette, Scott Erickson, Nelson Kole, Michael Giacchino, Jeff Kryka, Nami Malamud, Charley Pollard, Wayne Bergeron, Gregg Fields, and Mark Kibble.
Talk about your podcast?
VGG: This has been a labor of love and purpose. About a year and half ago Gordon and I were approached about starting the Big Phat Pod. Both of us were very excited about the prospect and wanted to get it going. Sadly, Gordon got sick before we could really get it up and running. A few weeks after my love passed, I started working on all the Phat Band items I promised I would do for him including releasing 25 Years of Phatness. I began thinking about ways to promote it more effectively than the podcast idea popped back into my mind. Within an hour I had mapped out 13 seasons of this incredible Podcast with each season focusing on one of Gordon’s perfect albums. So far it has been very fun, a lot of hard work, and very successful. I love creating the show and honoring my sweet Gordon all while keeping his music and the history alive.
How did you get involved with Gordon and The Phat Band?
VGG: Many years before Gordon and I fell in love I worked for him as a session singer working on his films, Disney parades, and more. I always enjoyed working for him in the studio. His writing, arranging, communication skills, and more were evident in those recording days too. Plus, the sessions were just fun. One day a few years into working for him, I told him that I should and would love to sing with the Phat Band. He completely agreed and I ended up singing on a gig soon after that. It was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life. It changed my life, and to this day is the most joyful time I have in music. I am grateful for my extra family with the Phat Band.
How does the Phat Band carry on without him?
VGG: I promised Gordon that I would continue the Phat Band while he was going through chemo. When we had to face the reality of his prognosis, he looked at me and asked me if I would be willing to carry the Phat and on. I Immediately responded with a strong, YES. So, it has become my life’s purpose. We keep Gordon’s spirit alive in every performance not only through his music, but through video, spoken word and more. It is really beautiful and the audience feels his presence in every concert.
How do you prepare for a show?
VGG: Preparation starts weeks in advance. I make sure we have the set list. I make sure the charts are in order, I make sure we have the proper amount of merchandise. I also have to make sure all of the players are secure for each gig. If they cannot make it to one of them, they must provide an approved sub for the gig weeks ahead so that we are not missing any seat. Ryan, our sound and tech guy, and I speak regularly to make sure we are on track for all things sound, video, and tech. This is a complicated part that takes a great deal of time to dial in. And all of this is only just a fraction of what we have to do to guarantee a smooth and solid show. it truly is a full-time job.
Where do you see your music going in the next 5 years?
VGG: We will continue in the journey we are on, but I also have new recordings planned for release for at least the next 5 years. It is exciting. We will also continue to tour around the world.
When did you know you wanted to be a musician as a career?
VGG: I am lucky. I knew from a very young age. For a while however, I thought about being a doctor because I excelled at school, love being a “healer”, and had a science and math brain which contributed to the desire to be a doctor. After a great deal of thought and reflection, however, I decided that music was the driving force in my life. I am glad for my choice though it has been more difficult financially, I am sure. Music is in my DNA. I sang my entire childhood and adult life and have pursued all things music. It has been an incredible life filled with challenges and excitements, sacrifices and rewards, and so much more. I have no regrets at all and am thankful I chose this path.
If you were able to say one thing to Gordon Goodwin now, what would it be?
VGG: Thank you, my love, for changing my life, for encouraging me, for lifting me up, for protecting me, but mostly for loving me full hearted and without question. You are everything to me. I love you, forever.
As Gordon Goodwin's remarkable legacy enters a new chapter, audiences around the world have more opportunities than ever to experience the music, stories, and creative vision that continue to shape contemporary jazz. Discover The Big Phat Pod for exclusive weekly episodes, follow Vangie Gunn-Goodwin and the Big Phat Band across their official social platforms, and visit the band's website for concert dates, news, and upcoming projects. Whether you're a lifelong jazz enthusiast or discovering Gordon Goodwin's artistry for the first time, this is an invitation to become part of a legacy that continues to inspire musicians across generations.
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- Big Phat Pod on YouTube
- Instagram: @bigphatpod • @bigphatbandhq • @vangiegunn
- Official Websites: Big Phat Band • vangie.me
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