About
Photo: Ben Arons
Continuously seeking out the unfamiliar, Justin Goldner harbors a deep passion for groove, culture and connections. At a relative young age, Justin’s musical explorations have taken him from coast to coast to 28 countries around the world, all radiating from the hotbed of musical activity that is New York City. As a bassist, guitarist, producer, arranger and bandleader he has been fortunate to work with world-renowned artists, long-established legends alongside popular newcomers who are presently changing the musical landscape.
Born outside Philadelphia, Justin began teaching himself guitar at age 13 and immersed himself in all the music he could find, from blues and funk to bluegrass, hip-hop, Latin-American, Afro-beat, gospel, reggae, Balkan, flamenco, Arabic, and Greek music. At New York University, Justin combined studies in classical and jazz guitar with a deep love for the bass to tackle his wide-ranging interests one- (and sometimes several-) at-a-time.
Photo: Matt Stine
With his budding interests came a commitment to musical traditions on their own terms– performing on banjo, mandolin, bouzouki and Mexican guitarrón– and remixing them in new and innovative settings. A restless traveler and self-professed “language junkie”, Justin is conversant in 8 languages. In recent years, his muse has led him to Egypt, Abu Dhabi, South Africa and Latin America, where he has performed and engaged with local cultures, led workshops in 3 languages and exchanged experiences and music with others from across the world.
Outside of touring and recording, Justin writes, produces and arranges for independent artists with Funky Butter Productions, including recent recordings with Grace McLean, Morgan Karr, Abby Bernstein, Carrie Manolakos and Shaina Taub, as well as arrangements and recordings for new musical The Daughters. Justin also finds time to create his own music; 2008′s Una Passeggiata showcased his affinity for jazz and world music while the long-awaited Made of You revealed his sophisticated-yet-soulful songwriting and composition as part of the group Funky Butter.
Feature article in Indie-Musik Expressions
He has been privileged to make music with the likes of household names Frankie Avalon, Paul Shaffer and Lenny Pickett to jazz and classical virtuosi John Scofield, Chris Potter, Wayne Krantz, Richard Bona and Mark O’Connor and an ever-increasing host of others; as well as his mentor, Meshell Ndegeocello.
Credits / Discography / Funky Butter Productions
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Contributing author(s) karmeck360 is an experiment from the minds and phones (mindPhones?) of Morgan Karr and Lindsay Meck, culture curators and event producers. Mutually obsessed with social media and the arts, Morgan & Lindsay met as students at Northwestern University in the days before hashtags. Morgan Karr is an actor/singer-songwriter who has performed on varied stages from coffeehouses, to Broadway, to music festivals across the U.S. Lindsay Meck is an NYC producer whose credits include Broadway revivals, rock concerts, new work festivals, and comedy cabarets. They’ll be discussing ways artists and thinkers around the globe blur the line between digital and live (theater, music, art, everyday life) to inspire and create unimaginable new experiences. We want to be responsible for this. We are responsible for this.
