Greg Chako Music

three years with a partial scholarship, and played occasionally with top artists like Junior Cook, Bill Hardman, Othello Molineaux, Johnny Lytle, Bobby Watson, Herb Ellis, Jimmy Raney & many others. Moving to Hong Kong in 1992, Chako’s professional music career blossomed. He played in Broadway musicals including West Side Story, concerts with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, performed in clubs with jazz greats Curtis Fuller and Richie Cole, and recorded his first CD, Everything I Love, in 1994, just before moving to the sunny, tropical island of Singapore. In Singapore, from 1994 until a steady gig brought him to Shanghai in 2002, Greg recorded four more CDs (Sudden Impact in 1996, Live at Raffles in 1998, Integration in 2000, and Integration II in 2001); made 6 videos; a documentary movie; and appeared on TV and at major jazz festivals throughout SE Asia. Leading his 1st gig in 1994 with drummer Redd Holt, he also worked with singer Jean DuShon and bassist Victor Gaskin, and in 1995, landed a “dream” job that was to last for almost 7 years, leading his own jazz trio 6-nights a week at the world-famous Raffles Hotel. After finishing a successful 9-month gig in Shanghai with singer Dee Dee McNeil, pianist Jack Holland, and bassist Donald Jackson, Greg moved to Japan with his Japanese wife (of 3 years). But, shortly after arriving, he discovered his wife had terminal cancer. The shocking, all-consuming experience that followed caused a 2-year recording hiatus. However, after his wife’s death in 2004, Greg propelled himself into a passionate whirlwind of writing and recording again, starting with a double-CD release in 2005 dedicated to his late-wife called, Where We Find Ourselves, featuring all-original compositions played by a tight, swinging horn ensemble. The fresh, varied arrangements are mostly mainstream, with splashes of Latin and World, and even a couple vocal tracks showing off Chako’s own lyrics, which are as thoughtful and supremely lyrical as his improvising. Less than a year later, he released his 7th CD, Two’s Company, Three’s a Crowd, a series of swinging duets of guitar/piano and guitar/vocal covers, some recorded live in Japan. His 8th CD in 2007, Paint a Picture, Tell a Story, documents the continued evolution of a masterful, expressive composer and his rich, story-telling abilities conveyed through the jazz language. Featuring special guests Don Byron and Delfeayo Marsalis, it spent time on the Jazzweek, CMJ and RMR Jazz Charts, including several Top Ten spots. Greg quickly followed that up in 2008 with his 9th CD, Everybody’s Got a Name. Some reviewers believe it is his strongest CD yet, further elevating Greg’s popularity as guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In 2009, Greg returned to the USA to attend a Masters in Music program at the renowned jazz program of William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. Successfully completing the degree with an impressive 3.9 GPA, he continued his academic studies at the famed Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he now resides, having just completed coursework in 2014 for a DMA (Doctor of Music) degree. While studying at Eastman, Greg’s compositions were featured in public performances by the award-winning 17-piece Eastman Jazz Ensemble, conducted by Bill Dobbins. As subject of his Eastman DMA Lecture-Recital called, How to Write for the Guitar, Instead of Just Playing What You Know, a pedagogy merging jazz and classical arranging techniques, he recorded his 10th CD, My World on Six Strings, a solo-guitar release. a total orchestra, the complete package . . . ”. Greg also established himself as an expert on the music of Horace Silver, with his paper titled, Horace Silver - A New Definition of Greatness. His academic accomplishments include numerous papers involving the merging of music and spirituality. For the most recent, completed in 2014, Greg conducted weeks of ethnographic fieldwork in the USA and India, for a paper titled, A Study of Bhajan Ensembles at Spiritual Programs of Mata Amritanandamayi Devi. While continuing to explore the mysteries of spirituality and music, Greg’s already authored much new music, ready to record as soon as the necessary monetary funds to do so are raised: a sequel to his first solo-guitar release; a Brazilian-Jazz septet featuring two vocalists singing Greg’s original music and lyrics; a 4-horn octet with vibraphone playing original works called Back to School; and Big Band Chako, a 17-piece jazz ensemble featuring Greg’s newest big band writing. And finding his soul-mate and love partner for life, Jocelyn Cabanatuan Eswagen, Greg remarried January 8th, 2013 in Singapore, and is anxiously awaiting his beloved’s arrival in the USA, after which a new and final chapter in Greg’s personal and artistic life will begin, dedicated to “giving back” through education, spiritual growth and selfless service. Greg’s rocky life history has enhanced and matured his music, and, in the words of one reviewer, “From World Music to Bossa-Nova to Smooth Jazz, this remarkable guy is the epitome of eclectic . . . The life story of this extremely gifted guitarist has all the required ingredients to make for a super screen play . . . Listen, and discover his magic!”