SIMI VALLEY STANDOUT JAZZ PIANO PRODIGY JUST 18.

Byline: ERIC LEACH Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - He has performed as a Spotlight Award jazz instrumentalist winner at the Los Angeles Music Center.

He's played at the Monterey Jazz Festival and for Hurricane Katrina relief at the Lincoln Center in New York.

He's accompanied jazz greats Jon Hendricks and Bradford Marsalis and is a member of the Ralph Peterson Sextet.

And he's only 18.

Victor Gould loves to play jazz piano, and this weekend he's the youngest performer at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition in Washington, D.C. The Simi Valley prodigy was selected as one of 12 semifinalists in the competition for worldwide musicians from ages 18-30.

The event has helped launch the careers of jazz stars, but Gould, who is attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston, is already doing well for himself.

``I think one of the reasons for being selected as a semifinalist was because they could accept me for doing something honest and something that I love,'' said Gould, who grew up in Burbank and Simi Valley and attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. ``I was really excited to find out that I was in it, and was the youngest.''

The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz was established in 1986 in memory of the renowned jazz pianist and composer. This weekend's event celebrates the 20th anniversary of the competition designed to showcase the talents of the world's most gifted young jazz pianists.

The gathering is being taped as a documentary for Black Entertainment Television and the BET J cable network. The evening's hosts will include Quincy Jones, Phylicia Rashad and Billy Dee Williams.

Gould is in his second year at Berklee, where he was awarded a presidential scholarship. He started playing the piano at 4 and seemed from the beginning to play music by ear, said his mother Arleen, who called him ``a little prodigy.''

Victor and his father, who plays jazz on the flute, both said Victor's ability is the result of constant practice and support from both parents, his teachers and others who have encouraged him. Years of lessons gave him the background he needed, his father said.

``He did the rest himself,'' Hollis Gould said. ``After he got to loving jazz, it made him practice more. He has a passion for jazz. At first my plan was to play with him, but after a while he went past me. I'm a serious musician, but not a professional.''

Victor said he has listened to jazz all his life, including his parents' records and his father's flute-playing. His inspirations include McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett and Wynton Kelly.

Hollis Gould said his son's work as a teenager at the Simi Valley Missionary Baptist Church playing with the youth choir also gave him valuable experience.

``The church provided gospel music and a playing opportunity,'' he said. ``They were very important for him. Gospel music and jazz have a connection, and he connected the two.''

His mother said she had always wanted Victor to play the piano, but the way it worked out amazes her.

``He played classical music for nine years,'' she said. ``He was probably 9 when he started playing jazz. It just took him away.''

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(color in Simi edition only) Victor Gould is a semifinalist in the 2006 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, which started in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.