Richie Good's Biography:
The youngest person ever inducted into the Pittsburgh Jazz Hall of Fame, bassist Richie Goods got an early start playing at clubs while still attending the Pittsburgh performing arts high school, CAPA.

After graduating from the prestigious jazz program at Berklee College of Music, Goods moved to New York City, where he studied under jazz luminaries Ron Carter and Ray Brown.

Goods made a name for himself through recording and touring with a variety of jazz and popular artists ranging from Louis Hayes and the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band, Mulgrew Miller, Milt Jackson, to Brian McKnight, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Whitney Houston, and Christina Aguilera.

Goods' lengthy discography even includes Grammy award-winning and platinum albums of Alicia Keys and Common. Most recently, Goods has become the new bass player for the world-famous Headhunters and The Lenny White band. When not on tour, he can be found in his studio, producing records for his company, RichMan Productions, Inc. His latest project is his debut solo album with his Fusion/Funk band, Nuclear Fusion, recorded live at New York City's famous Zinc Bar.

ABOUT RICHIE GOODS & NUCLEAR FUSION:
I have always enjoyed science and appreciated how many of its principles translate to music. One of the best examples I know of this is the principle of fusion in which separate components come together to make a powerful reaction much bigger than the individual parts. That's how good music should be made. And when I decided to put together my Fusion Jazz band, I knew I needed the right components to get that perfect balance.

The first component to be added was the drums. There was no doubt in my mind who I wanted on drums. A Fusion Jazz innovator, Mike Clark has one of the funkiest grooves on drums I have ever heard. I first played with Mike Clark in 2005 when I made one of several appearances with pianist Michael Wolf's band. I had heard Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters records with Mike on drums. And after playing with him, I knew he was a key ingredient for the music I wanted to make.

No matter what project I'm involved with, I always want Jeff Lockhart on guitar. Jeff is a Funk master from Boston who I first met when I was at Berklee School of Music, and we played together in my band. The way he makes the guitar talk Funk is electrifying. When Jeff said he was down, I had another key ingredient to the recipe.

Only keyboards was missing. I've played with some of the greats on the keys and piano. One of them was Helen Sung. I met Helen when she first moved to New York City. I loved the sounds and textures she could get out of the piano and wondered if she could get those same sounds and textures out of the keyboard.

Over the years we have worked together often and exposed each other to different types of music. In 2007, she won the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Competition, playing primarily straight-ahead jazz. When I approached Helen about playing with Nuclear Fusion, I knew I was asking her to step a little out of her element; but I also knew for her, being the classical & jazz virtuoso she is, it wouldn't be a problem. She didn't disappoint.

When the four of us played together for the first time that night at the Zinc Bar, I knew the equation was balanced. I could only marvel as this perfect mix of talent and energy became like a nuclear explosion, igniting the stage and exciting the audience in one beautiful chain reaction.

The best way I can describe what moved through me as we played was that Holy Ghost feeling you get after a good sermon in church. Just like the chemical reaction for which the band is named, the members of Nuclear Fusion create an energy that is so much more than any of us individually. That's how good music is made.