The artist, E.J. Gold, was born in New York City in 1941. His art career began in 1944 with an exhibit for the Children's Art Academy at MOMA. (Children's Art Academy at MOMA)
As a young artist Gold worked with the New York School -- including Kline, de Kooning, Pollock and Lee Krassner -- many of whom were habitues of the Cedar Bar. (Cedar Bar)
Gold spent the late '50s and early '60s on both the East Coast in the circles of young jazz greats as Donald Byrd, Herbie Hancock, and Philly Joe Jones and on the West Coast in association with the renegade California Nine. He also studied and later taught at Otis Art Institute, where Rico LeBrun, Fritz Schwaderer, Millard Sheets and Bentley Schaad made their impressions on him.
Called a "perceptional scientist" by his biographer, Linda Corriveau -- More Color Less Soul, a Photobiography of E.J. Gold, Gateways 2002-- Gold's work often transcends scale, incorporating illusion in perspective and dimension. (More Color Less Soul)
Gold's Herbie Hancock portrait acquired by the Smithsonian: is in the permanent collection of the National Museum of American History.
A jazz musician in his own right, Gold's canvases for the Wynton Marsalis Concert installation spawned an entirely new genre of artistic synergy -- The Jazz Art Tour. Gold has painted for numerous jazz performances including those of: Wynton Marsalis, Ted Nash, Oscar Peterson, Nancy Wilson, Marian McPartland, Chick Corea, Howard Johnson, the Dukes Men, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Toots Thielemans, the Jazz Bakery, the Hollywood Bowl and the prestigious International Association of Jazz Education (IAJE) in Toronto, New York and Long Beach. Gold was named the official artist for the IAJE providing JazzArt every year since 2003. (official artist for the IAJE)
Gold's JazzArt exhibited at the premier of San Francisco's Jazz Heritage Center (SFJHC) / Yoshi's Jazz Club which opened November 2007. (premier of San Francisco's Jazz Heritage Center) The following year Cool City Hot Jazz, a JazzArt show including the artist E.J. Gold, opened in the SFJHC's Lush Life Gallery. (SFJHC's Lush Life Gallery)
Gold's JazzArt has set the stage for two seasons of 90.9 KXJZ Studio Jazz Series concerts at Mondavi Center, UC Davis for performers -- Jenny Scheinman, Miguel Zenon, Lionel Loueke, Delfeayo Marsalis, Tord Gustavsen / Solveig Slettahjell and Vijay Iyer. (90.9 KXJZ Studio Jazz Series concerts at Mondavi Center, UC Davis)
Both in 2011 and 2014 Wynton Marsalis on tour with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has performed in northern California surrounded by Gold's 11 ft. tall stage JazzArt panels. (2011)
Gold's original works number in the thousands, as does his list of collectors, which includes celebrities: Catherine Oxenberg, Curtis Armstrong, Herbie Hancock, Ginger Baker, the Clintons, Milt Hinton, Peggy Lee, Billy Barty, the late King Hussein of Jordan, and in the White House to name a few.