Photo of Jason Gould by Jaime Lim, styled by Ringgo Marquez.

Melody Maker Jason Gould Faces the Spotlight

By Stacey Gualandi

“I love the creative process because it’s like painting with sound. That’s what making music is to me: painting with sound.”

By the sound of his music, singer-songwriter Jason Gould may be working on a masterpiece.

But for a professional music artist, this Los Angeles native’s career got a late start. Gould says he’s making peace with that by making up for lost time. “I crossed the 50 threshold when you don’t care what other people think anymore,” Gould admits.

In 2017, he broke ground on his first record, “Dangerous Man,” alongside legendary producer Quincy Jones.

Since then, Gould has released several EPs, many of which are standard covers. But in March of this year, he released the ethereal and absorbing “Sacred Days,” a collection of original club-worthy songs he co-wrote and produced—and his most personal record yet.

“I think there’s more of me in the last collection of songs than anything I’ve put out before,” Gould admits. “I try to write songs that mean something to me, the things I care about: I care about integrity. I care about the planet. I care about democracy. I care about animals. I love peace and ice cream. I haven’t written the ice cream song just yet. ha!”

Gould says he loved to listen to music as a young boy. “I remember my first favorite record was ‘I Say a Little Prayer’ by Dionne Warwick. I had the 45 and the plastic record player you would lift. ‘Up, Up and Away’ was my other favorite song,” Gould says.

His music appreciation comes naturally. After all, his parents were “it” 60’s couple Barbra Streisand and actor Elliott Gould. “My mother was pregnant with me while she was doing ‘Funny Girl’ on the London stage, so I was exposed as a fetus, you know what I mean?” Gould jokes. “It’s part of my DNA.”

As a child, Gould was once seen singing into a hairbrush with his mother, but he suppressed the urge to take it any further. “I had musical instincts that I wanted to explore and express, but I was afraid to,” Gould says. “I was insecure and had no self-confidence.” Gould admits if there had been an “American Idol” in his teens, “I wouldn’t have auditioned for that because I’m too shy. I don’t like the camera in my face.”

Yet, as the son of two Hollywood icons, cameras were constantly in his face. Looking back, he says his childhood was unconventional. “I wanted to be a part of the Brady Bunch because a sense of a close family was something I didn’t have,” Gould says. “My folks separated before I even remember them together. My mother was consumed with a major career, and my dad was off doing his own thing and starting another family, so that’s challenging for any child.”

A young Gould appeared in two Streisand films, “Up the Sandbox” and “The Prince of Tides,” and teen flicks like “Say Anything,” but ultimately, he walked away from an early acting career. “I was outed more than 30 years ago in the tabloids, which definitely would’ve changed the trajectory of my acting career, but I didn’t care that much,” Gould admits.

“I had a lot to work out being born into celebrity and fame. It’s a very intense, complex experience because no one gives you a handbook or explains what’s real and what’s not. How to make your way was something I had to figure out. It took a long time to make sense of it and to find out how I fit into this world.”

I caught up with Gould at his personally-designed Americana-themed farmhouse, that sits high atop a mountain overlooking Santa Barbara County. Now, Gould is mostly at peace with the trauma from his past. He seemed so at peace; he didn’t even flinch when a tarantula showed up during his photo shoot!

Gould says that his need to express himself through music became greater than his fear, allowing him to seek out his own identity. “That was also part of the work I had to do on myself was to be able to walk through that fear,” Gould says. “If you don’t explore those parts of yourself, they can turn against you.”

Once he found his voice, Gould found himself in uncharted territory. “In my incremental small way, I was starting to write music. I tried recording a song I didn’t write; I shared it with my mother, which was scary,” Gould says. “She said, ‘I want to sing this with you, and will you come on tour with me?'”

In 2012, Gould took center stage with Streisand to perform the Irving Berlin classic, “How Deep is the Ocean?” “It’s an intimate thing to sing a song with anybody in front of 18,000 people,” Gould teases.

But it was a tremendous shadow for him to walk through. “I never expected to go on tour with my mother or make an album with Quincy Jones,” Gould says. “These weren’t things that I foresaw at all. It wasn’t my plan, but I said yes because when you say yes to life, you grow; if you say no, you probably don’t. I wanted to grow and find out if I could do it.”

In the years since his mother-son debut, Gould has grown more confident and more at ease with the creative process. “When I write, the melody comes first, and sometimes it comes with some words, and I just allow it. I don’t judge it. I don’t analyze it. I try to get it down and then see what the song wants to be.”

For “Sacred Days,” he wrote and produced with stellar talent, including songwriters Liz Vidal and Dorian Cheah, and Allan Rich, who wrote “Run to You” from “The Bodyguard.”

I asked if it is easier for him to work and write with people. “It depends on the people,” Gould jokes.

But seriously, he’s pleased the feedback on his record has been extremely positive. “I’ve always loved dance music, but I didn’t set out to make a dance record,” Gould says. “I just happened to make danceable music with this collection.”

But it’s a bittersweet moment for Gould. He had to say goodbye to his beloved pup Eli just days before our interview. “My dog Eli was my best friend for the last 12 and a half years, and in a sense, I was never lonely, even though I may not have been in a relationship,” Gould says. “But even though it was incredibly sad, it was also very beautiful because he was so loved and knew it.”

Gould is back in the studio recording classic love songs for the other half of his latest record. He says his pet’s passing is helping to inform the meaning and feeling behind those songs.

“Eli’s going to be a part of my music for sure,” Gould says. “I recognized that Eli opened my heart in a way and showed me that I have the capacity to love deeply, to feel deeply. With love comes loss, and that’s part of this human experience. That’s a big part of the music I make.”

Gould says to expect new music from him in early 2025.

In the meantime, this self-described survivor is “grateful to be intact” and continues to follow his own path. “I don’t know anybody who isn’t a survivor because we all have trauma.”
Gould said Streisand is proud of her son and the music he’s making (just check out her Instagram).

“My relationship with both my parents is very honest. We all do our best because nobody’s perfect,” Gould admits.

For now, this once-insecure kid-turned-confident performer says he’ll keep evolving, creating and painting his music canvas. And that sounds just right.

“I’m not somebody who has regrets. I don’t live in the past at all. I try to live in the present as much as possible, and I don’t live in the future too much,” Gould says. “I just want to be at peace and comfortable in my own skin and integrity. So, that’s how I live my life. I do what feels right for me, and it isn’t always what other people think I should do, but that’s okay.”