kevin gosa — saxophone

Vital Stats

Styles played:

classical, jazz, bluegrass, folk, pop, rock, experimental, chamber music

Instruments played:

soprano, alto, tenor saxophone, guitar, bass, mandolin

Performs(ed) with:

Jake Armerding, Sensorium Saxophone Orchestra, Ex Unum, Jason Harrod, Sarah Lentz, Maxidus, New Hotness Saxophone Quartet, The Magills

Venues Played:

The Birchmere, Knitting Factory, Bitter End, Joyce SOHO, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Bowery Poetry Club, Stain Bar, 33rd Annual International Saxophone Symposium at George Mason University, 15th World Saxophone Congress at Mahidol University in Bangkok

Education:

M.M. (with honors) & B.M. in Saxophone Performance from the University of Kansas

Honors & Awards:

DownBeat Magazine Award for Best Collegiate Instrumental Chamber Ensemble (2003, 2004); 2nd - 2004 Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City Concerto Competition; 3rd - 2004 T. Gordon Parks Memorial Concerto Competition of the Arapahoe Philharmonic (Denver, CO)

Equipment:

Selmer Series III, silver-plated, soprano saxophone on a Selmer S-80 D; a Selmer Mark VII alto saxophone on a Selmer S-80 C*; and a Yamaha Custom, YTS-875 tenor saxophone on a Selmer S-80D and an Otto Link 7* (NY Chamber)

Personal:

Married to smokin' hot chica; father to cutest little boy ever

Real Bio

Kevin Gosa is a part-time classical saxophonist who rarely plays classical saxophone, often getting hired to perform with singer/songwriters and folk musicians. He has never won a major or even minor solo competition - placing third just once. Nor has he ever masterclassed with Rousseau, Sinta, Delangle, Londeix, or Pittel. He does hold an MM in saxophone performance from Kansas University under the impeccable instruction of the much underappreciated Vincent Gnojek.

While a graduate student at KU, he was soprano saxophonist in a saxophone quartet that won two consecutive classical awards for collegiate chamber music from a jazz magazine - over five years ago. The overwhelming majority of all his performances have been for friends, family or other saxophonists and music students/faculty. He most often performs with a very gifted folk musician whose fans aren't primarily interested in Kevin; though, his presence is tolerated. He has performed and taught in the U.S. and Southeast Asia, however not by invitation and generally to smaller-sized gatherings.

He began playing the saxophone at 10 and never yearned to play classical music, intending only to play jazz - a genre in which he can now be considered semi-competent. Progressing year after year without lessons, he developed many destructive playing habits that demanded the first two years of his undergraduate work become a deprogramming seminar, leading to the less than inevitable decision to major in saxophone performance.

Kevin quickly became a medium-large fish in a small pond and after completing his Masters (with Honors - due to his uncanny ability to B.S.) he opted out of a DMA program and chose instead to become an infinitesimally small crill in the whale-filled New York City ocean.

Since moving to New York five years ago, his performance schedule has steadily grown from zero annually to fifteen - some of those for remuneration. He is never satisfied with the quality of his playing, always striving for a richer and more full sound. And, his attempts to practice a minimum of five hours a week are often thwarted by the living of life. Solace is sometimes found in the moderately arrogant belief that he has the talent to perform as well as many of the other saxophonists he hears, and perhaps better than some.

His potential to achieve greatness on his instrument - in his own estimation - is only summited by his colossal lack of accomplishment. Yet, he presses on, finding new avenues of blinding obscurity, praying for more opportunities to create good, true, and beautiful music, and all the while hoping that Sovereignty will intervene to blaze a trail toward success and notoriety he cannot avoid or accidentally screw up.