For Tiffany Goode, creativity is a holistic practice rooted in sound, healing, spirituality, and service. From touring with Orchestra Noir to launching genre‑blending projects like Jazz MixStories, collaborating through House of Horns, and creating community spaces such as the Lioness Den Music Festival, Goode sees music as both a personal North Star and a collective healing tool. Whether amplifying the legacy of women in jazz, mentoring young musicians through Brown Girl Buzz, or exploring herbal medicine and tarot via her Tea N Tarot podcast, this season of her journey is defined by full alignment—an intentional choice to share every facet of her gifts and invite others to do the same.
Hi Tiffany, thank you so much for taking the time to share your story and what you’ve been creating lately with our readers. We’re excited to dive into this next chapter with you, so let’s jump right in. You’ve shared that the guiding forces in your life are Music, Medicine, Mystic — and Mom. How do these pillars show up in your day-to-day creative work and the way you approach new projects?
These three things are the building blocks of my day-to-day work. Music is in my blood and I have been an active musician since the third grade. So it I many ways has been my first love, best friend, my peace and my reflection. It has guided me and always been a North Star. It is a form of medicine for me and for people who experience me. But my medicine comes in many forms, I am also a person that believes in natural healing through herbs, exercise, fasting, being deliberate about what is being consumed on all levels. Healing is a life long journey because the medicine is for the whole body, mind and spirit. As an adult we are healing wounds we know of, as well as wounds that are in our DNA. We aren’t trying reshaping and reprogramming the thoughts that were taught to us that no longer make sense. So our medicine takes us to the next level. Lastly Mystic! This is a realm that I am getting more comfortable evolving into. I am understanding that God & Universe can’t be relegated to books or churches but if we don’t seek the Hod within then we are failing. There are so many thoughts about what it means to be a good “put your religion here,” but really God wants you to be a good person. There should be no blockers between you and God. Once again I am reprogramming my mind, because as an African-American many of my ancestral religious beliefs and practices were stripped from us in order to control us. They were demonized alongside us, our skin, our talents. So it is important to touch back into that lineage for me. To undo what was done & tap back into our greatness in a major way. So in my every day I touch music, I create medicine and I grow my spirituality. It’s a must.
You’re continuing to tour with Orchestra Noir while also launching new musical concepts like Jazz MixStories. What inspired you to create a jazz band and DJ collaboration that tells your personal story through different musical genres, and what do you hope audiences feel when they experience it live?
I am always trying to evolve and create. If you aren’t changing and evolving than you are dying in place. Ideas like MixStories and Jazz Xchange are things that will be launching in 2026. We will also be doing our 2nd “Lioness Den Music Festival” this year where we celebrate women musical artists much like Lilith Fair used to be for women. The world would have you become complacent but that’s not what is intended. One of the best ways to heal yourself and others is through storytelling, whether it is musical or oral. Your story can help someone through whatever. You showing evolution and creating new things just drops the pebble into the ocean and causes the ripple that inspires not only yourself but others to say that they have a dream or an idea as well to pursue. I have in real time seen my music move people. I’ve heard testimonies of downloads. I try to create those atmospheres to allow people to enjoy themselves while simultaneously tapping into their higher selves.
You’re also part of House of Horns, blending house and jazz alongside collaborators like Kristina Magz, Reggie Hines, and DJ Doc Ramadhan. What excites you most about fusing these genres, and how does collaboration push your artistry in new directions?
House is a spiritual music backed by a beautiful spiritual drumbeat. This collaboration taps into that energy but also taps into America’s classical music, Jazz. I love fusing my musical genre loves. Let me be clear that I love & appreciate all music. As a studying ethnomusicologist, I have been exposed to so much music from around the world. When I see what we are bringing, together with these masterful
Artisans, it is special. I adore working with such masters like Reggie Hines & Dj Doc Ramadhan. What we are creating together blends so much between the performance aspect and musicianship that it is a legendary collaboration on multiple levels. You combine these things with the sacred art of dance that House Music inspires and demands and we are now in a new universe. It is definitely a portal well worth traveling through. If you are in Atlanta definitely be on the lookout for it, but don’t trip if you aren’t because we will definitely be touring it as well.
Education is clearly woven into your performances, especially your work highlighting the legacy of women brass players throughout jazz history. Why is it important to you to amplify these stories on today’s stages, and what reactions have you seen from audiences when they learn this history?
It is very important to me that people understand that outstanding women Musicians have been around forever. We are starting to see more all-women bands and more women brass players standing out. This is not easy because we still deal with some inherent things that come from being a women in a male dominated space. One of the reasons that I started my all women fronted music festival, “The Lioness Den” was to create spaces that allow for women to let their guard down and just create, be loved and express. You will note when you see many of the female trumpet players of today that they are or have payed homage to the women that paved the way like Clora Bryant, Valaida Snow, Tiny Davis, Dolly Jones, Edna Williams & Cynthia Robinson to name a few. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was an iconic all-woman big band that toured the world. We have to remember that when men went to fight in World War 2 the women picked up the instruments and kept music alive in many places. All the women you see playing now are just extensions of this history and legacy. We stand on the shoulders of giants and we are grateful to do so and to take the baton forward. I am diligently working to ensure that I am
Setting an example for young ladies to follow well after me. This is so important. This begins with exposure and to that end I also have a community arm to my music called “Brown Girl Buzz” that encourages young ladies to pick up brass instruments and create a buzz that creates new paradigm shifts. Asé
In addition to music, you’ve launched the TeaNTarot podcast, blending custom teas with tarot and astrology conversations. What inspired this new platform, and how does it connect to the “medicine” and “mystic” aspects of your life and creative expression?
I am so excited about “Tea N Tarot.” I am a tea enthusiast who researches herbs in order to understand their medicinal components. I come from a lineage of medicine women who understood how to use the earth to heal. I adore creating healing teas. I find out what problem that someone is facing and create personalized teas for them whether it be physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. Let’s open those blockages. My sister, Jayme Alilaw gives the tarot downloads. I am a journeyman when it comes to Tarot but I’m learning and understanding more each day. So we dive into what the energy is saying from a Tarot and astrological perspective. I love dissecting the numbers and giving the meaning around that. It’s another way of tapping in & giving people insight and hope.
As you look ahead, with touring, new musical experiences, and expanding into podcasting, what feels most aligned and energizing about this current season of your journey?
That’s the beauty of it! Everything feels aligned! I made a promise to myself to hide no parts of me under a bushel but to let all of me shine. Not to be afraid to show all aspects of me, because that frees someone else. I am excited to share all of my fruits and see which ones taste good to different people. I am not one thing and we are not one thing and we shouldn’t be relegated to that. We are abundantly beautiful, multi-dimensional people with a plethora of gifts to explore and to share. One of the things I love to say and I guess I will say it’s my quote. “Ultimately to not share your gifts is a selfish act.” God gave you gifts to share with others. So if you believe in God/Universe and you aren’t sharing your gifts you are shunning the very thing that ultimately sustains you. Energy moves and is reciprocated by some means and not always by the means you are expecting. So your blessings come in your ability to tap into your gifts, tackle your fear and share. This is a daily process and feel free to watch me as I deliberately wake up and slay the dragon everyday to get to God’s promise for me and for you.
