Goode was born in Kingston, Jamaica. His father was a choirmaster and organist who promoted classical choral music in Jamaica and his mother sang in the choir. As Goode recalled: "My name comes from my father putting on a performance of Samuel Coleridge Taylor's Hiawatha's Wedding Feast as a tribute to him.... I was born a year after.""Coleridge Goode - Double Bass", Jazzwise, 4 October 2007. ."Coleridge Goode, double-bass player - obituary", The Daily Telegraph, 15 October 2015. Goode came to Britain in 1934 as a 19-year-old student at the Royal Technical College in Glasgow (later the University of Strathclyde), and then went on to read for a degree in engineering at Glasgow University. He was already proficient as an amateur classical violinist but turned to jazz and took up the bass after hearing the music of such stars as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Louis Jordan. Abandoning his plans to return to Jamaica to work as an engineer, Goode decided to embark upon a musical career.
