Golia started his career with Spirits In Fellowship (october 1977), on which he played various reed instruments accompanied by John Carter (clarinet), Roberto Miranda (bass) and Alex Cline (drums).

He reunited Baikida Carroll (trumpet and flugehorn), Nels Cline (guitars) Roberto Miranda (bass) and Alex Cline (drums) on Openhearted (february 1979). His trio with Miranda and Cline was documented on the live In The Right Order (september 1979) and in the four lengthy pieces of Slice Of Life (april 1981).

After his Solo (july 1980), Golia he created a quintet with Miranda, Alex Cline, Wayne Peet (piano) and John Rapson (trombone) that debuted on The Gift Of Fury (june 1981). The quintet later recorded: Goin' Ahead (march 1985), where Ken Filiano replaced Miranda and John Fumo (trumpet and flugelghorn) relieved Rapson; Regards From Norma Desmond (October 1986); Out For Blood (september 1988), on which Michael Vlatkovich (trombone) replaced Fumo; Against The Grain (October 1993), with new members Billy Mintz (drums), Nels Cline (guitar) and Rob Blakeslee (trumpet and flugelhorn); Razor (april 1995), with new bassist Joel Hamilton; Nation Of Laws (july 1996), with Blakeslee, Hamilton and the two Clines; Dante No Longer Repents (april 1996), with new bassist Michael Bisio and Tad Weed on piano; the live double-disc One, Three, Two (september 2001), recorded with Scott Walton (bass), the two Clines and Micahel Vlatkovitch (trombone).

The triple-LP Compositions For Large Ensemble (march 1982) document the line-up of Bobby Bradford, John Fumo, John Rapson, Michael Vlatkovich, Doug Wintz (brass) John Carter, Tim Berne, Wynell Montgomery (woodwinds), Rickey Kelly (vibraphone) Wayne Peet (piano) Roberto Miranda, Eric Von Essen (basses) Alex Cline (drums) in seven lengthy pieces composed by Golia (who also played various woodwinds), notably the 33-minute The Pale Crescent.

No Reverse (february 1984) and Intersections (june 1986) document duets, the former with pianist Wayne Peet, the latter with bassist Bertram Turetzky.

In 1982 Golia created his Large Ensemble (that would welcome more than 50 musicians over the next 30 years) to perform his compositions for chamber orchestra. Recordings include: the live Facts Of Their Own Lives (july 1984), Pilgrimage To Obscurity (december 1985), including the 31-minute The Kreikan/Robusqued, Decennium Dans Axlan (april 1992), the double-disc Commemoration (October 1991 and April 1992), Tutto Contare (november 1994), the live Portland 1996 (february 1996), including the 26-minute Blue Hawk; The Other Bridge (september 1999), that also featured three celloists; and the double-disc Overview 1996-2006 (Nine Winds, 2018), documenting three performances of 1996, 2000 and 2006.

More duets surfaced on The Art Of Negotiation (march 1996), with Ken Filiano; 11 Reasons To Begin (march 1996), with bassist Bertram Turetzky; Circular Logic (march 1998), with saxophonist Steve Adams; Duets (may 1998), with harpist Susan Allen; Music For Electronics & Woodwinds (february 2001), with Mark Trayle on electronics; The Entire Time (february 2003), with guitarist Nels Cline; Birdology (march 2003), with fellow reedist Peter Schmid; The San Diego Session (january 2009) with Bertram Turetzky on double bass; Mythology (april 2000), with bassist Peter Kowald; Empiricism In The West (Pitch, 2013), with saxophonist Urs Leimgruber.

At the same time Golia was busy with all sorts of trios: Worldwide & Portable (february 1986) with Filiano and Peet; Puff Of Smoke (august 1989) with Filiano and Billy Mintz; Haunting The Spirits Inside (april 1992) with bassists Joelle Leandre and Filiano; Triangulation (may and September 1996), with Turetzky and trombonist George Lewis; Prataksis (april 1997), with Turetzky and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith; Glossarium (august and November 1998), with Turetzky and reed player Ed Harkins; No Train (august 1997), with Mintz and bassist Steuart Liebig; Win This Time (january 1998), with George Cremaschi (bass) and Garth Powell (drums); Trigniton (september 1998), with bassists Barre Phillips and Turetzky; Antipodes (june 2000), again with Mintz and Liebig; Triangulation II (december 2003), again with Turetzky and Lewis; etc.

Lineage (august 1998) was a quartet with Filiano, Alex Cline and trumpeter Bobby Bradford.

Clarient (november 2000) was his second solo album, performed on clarinet.

His Octet released Low and Inside (may 2009).

A quartet with Bobby Bradford (cornet), Ken Filiano (bass) and Alex Cline (drums) recorded Take Your Time (july 2007).

Abstractions and Retrocausalities (july 2011) featured Dan Rosenboom (piccolo, trumpet and flugelhorn), Gavin Templeton (alto sax), Alex Noyce (electric guitar), Jon Armstrong (electric bass) and Andrew Lessman (drums).

The Ethnic Project (november 2011) collects duets between Golia on ethnic woodwinds (danso, kaval, moxeneo,, marori bone flute, etc.) and a variety of double bassists: Barre Phillips, Joelle Leandre, Bert Turetzky and Lisa Mezzacappa.

Low and Inside (may 2009), subtitled "music for baritone saxophone", featured an octet with Gavin Templeton (alto sax), Dan Rosenboom (trumpet), George McMullen (trombone), Alex Noyce (electric guitar and effects), Ken Filiano (acoustic bass), Matt Mayhall (drums) and Brian Walsh (e-flat and bass clarinet).

Golia played saxello, sopranino & tenor saxes, bass clarinet, kaval & Turkish ney, on Elongation (may 2009) with Filiano on contrabass & electronics.

Hell-Bent In The Pacific (december 2011) documents a quartet with Marco Eneidi (alto sax), Lisa Mezzacappa (acoustic bass) and Vijay Anderson (drums).

Creative Music For 3 Bass Saxophones, Vol 1 (april 2011) documents a live collaboration between Scott Robinson, JD Parran and Vinny Golia (bass saxes) and Warren Smith (percussion and vibraphone).

Empiricism In The West (Relative Pitch, 2014) was a duet between Vinny Golia (on bass flute, soprillo, sopranino and bass saxes, B-flat and contra-alto clarinets) and Urs Leimgruber on soprano and tenor saxes.

The DVD Live At Redcat Los Angeles (april 2014) documents a concert by Golia's New Music Orchestra (16 strings, 11 woodwinds, 11 brass, piano, guitar, 3 percussionists and voices), built around Golia's sextet (trumpeter Daniel Rosenboom, saxophonist Gavin Templeton, guitarist Alex Noice, bassist Jon Armstrong and drummer Andrew Lessman).

Ross Hammond And Vinny Golia (february 2016) documents duets with acoustic guitarist Ross Hammond.

Intercommunications - Music For Woodwinds And Percussion (pfMENTUM, 2017) contains solo music for piccolos, flutes, bass clarinet, soprano & sopranino saxes, Tibetan trumpets, gyaling (a Tibetan double reed), fujara (a Slovakian overtone flute), Maori bird call, singing bowls and gongs.

Vinny Golia played gongs, singing bowls, barra cymbals, kyzee, gyaling, sheng, hulusi, mouthharp, piccolos, flutes, saxes, clarinets, bassett horn, birby on Music For Woodwinds, Strings, Piano And Percussion (march 2017) accompanied by Cathlene Pineda (piano), Ken Filiano (contrabass), and a string quartet. Syncquistic Linear Expositions And Their Geopolitical Outcomes (march 2017) features Vinny Golia on sopranino, soprano & baritone saxes, bass clarinet, kwala (an Egyptian flute), kayzee & gongs, the Rova Sax Quartet's Steve Adams on alto sax, Ken Filiano on bass & pedals and Tina Raymond on drums.

The quartet with John Carter on clarinet, Bobby Bradford on cornet and Glenn Ferris on trombone recorded the Live At The Century City Playhouse (may 1979), containing a 30-minute Chronos.

The double-disc Trajectory (Nine Winds, 2018) features Gavin Templeton on alto sax, Daniel Rosenboom on trumpet & flugel horn, Alexander Noice on electric guitar, Miller Wren on bass and Andrew Lessman on drums.

"Have You Heard?" (Pet Mantis, 2017) documents a collaboration with fellow baritone saxophonist David Mott.

Astral Plane Crash (april 2018) documents two lengthy improvisations by Golia (flute, sopranino, soprano, baritone saxes, saxello, Bb clarinet, piccolo), Henry Kaiser (guitar), Bob Moses and Weasel Walter (both on drums, percussion) and Damon Smith (amplified double bass): the 44-minute Fountain of Dreams and the 35:30-minute Mysterious Journey.

Hunter's Moon (october 2016) documents a collaboration between Golia (on alto flute, alto, sopranino & mezzo soprano saxes, contrabass sax, clarinets & basset horn) and Nathan Hubbard (on percussion, field recordings, samples) contains a 70-minute improvisation, What Are You Looking For? Oh, Two Doors Down

Trio Music (april 2017) was a collaboration among Golia (various woodwinds and ethnic aerophones), trumpeter Stephanie Richards and contrabassist Bertram Turetzky.

Explicit (october 2014) documents a collaboration between Golia (soprillo and sopranino saxophones, Bb and A Basset clarinets, piccolo and alto flutes) and Gianni Mimmo (soprano sax).

Golia also composed music for chamber ensemble and jazz orchestra. Golia also contributed original compositions and scores to ballet and modern dance works, video, theatrical productions, and film.

The two lengthy improvisations of Borasisi (october 2018) document Vinny Golia and Patrick Shiroishi (both on saxes), Alex Cline (drums, percussion) and Dylan Fujioka (drums).

Golia played piccolo & alto flutes, sopranino & soprano saxes and B-flat & bass clarinets on Next Outpost (march 2019) that features Steuart Liebig on 6-string fretted & fretless basses and Nathan Hubbard on drums, marimba & percussion and contains three lengthy pieces, notably the 32-minute Trees Across Walls.

The double-disc A Love Supreme Electric (february 2019) contains music inspired by John Coltrane's A Love Supreme and Meditation performed by a quintet with John Hanrahan (drums), Henry Kaiser (guitar), Wayne Peet (keyboards) and Mike Watt (bass).

Golia played sopranino, soprano, alto & tenor saxes on Left Outside (november 2018), accompanied by Vicki Ray on piano, prepared piano & melodica, Miller Wrenn on bass and Clint Dodson on drums.

The ten-hour 12-disc boxset Inoculations / Music For Orchestra And Soloists (composed in 2020), the first movement of the monumental work in progress Even To This Daya, features Steve Adams and Kyle Bruckmann on reeds, Dan Clucas on cornet, Jeff Kaiser on trumpet, Wayne Peet on piano, organ and synth, William Roper on tuba, Ken Filiano on contrabass and electronics, Nathan Hubbard on drums and percussion, and many others, in 158 compositions.

A new project, CRAG, consisting of Christian Asplund on keyboards, Steven Ricks on trombone and electronics and Ron Coulter on drums, percussion and electronics, was launched with the live Polychromy (september 2019), that contains lengthy improvisations like the 32-minute Fire Of The Nobody and the 21-minute The Anticipation That Comes With Travel.

To Live And Breathe… (february 2017) documents a collaboration with French contrabassist Bernard Santcruz and Italian drummer Cristiano Calcagnile.

A trio with Matt Smiley (bass) and Ron Coulter (drums and percussion) is documented on Effloresce (april 2021) and Refractories (april 2021).

Golia played sopranino, soprano, baritone and bass saxes with Danny Kamins (alto and baritone saxes) and Garrett Wingfield (alto, tenor and baritone saxes) on The Ojai Sessions (july 2018).

Golia played baritone & sopranino saxes, saxello & B-flat clarinet on the five lengthy live improvisations of No Refunds (august 2014), accompanied by Max Johnson on contrabass and Weasel Walter on drums.