Jazz Articles

Greg Chako: Paint A Picture, Tell A Story

by Michael P. Gladstone
December 10, 2007

Perhaps reviewing guitarist Greg Chako's Where We Find Ourselves (CPB, 2006) and Two's Company, Three's A Crowd Jazz Duets (CPB, 2006), explains why his adventures, both musical and otherwise, remain amazing.

From Boston's Berklee College of Music, Chako relocated to New York, where he discovered his talent for culinary arts. In Amherst, Massachusetts, working as a chef, Chako found that he had talent as a jazz promoter of concerts and festivals, which also gave him access ...

Greg Chako: Two's Company, Three's A Crowd Jazz Duets

by Michael P. Gladstone
December 7, 2006

Having lived and worked in Singapore and Japan, guitarist/composer/entrepreneur Greg Chako takes this occasion to provide us with a series of duets with vocalist Andrea Hopkins and pianists Hiroshi Tanaka and Homei Matsumoto. When Chako arrived in Japan in 2004, he found a steady guitar/piano duo gig at the famed Imperial Hotel--the first time he worked without a bassist. Chako dubbed the ensemble “The Imperial Duo." On this recording he adds several vocals provided by the Atlanta-based Andrea Hopkins. Chako ...

Greg Chako: Where We Find Ourselves

by Michael P. Gladstone
November 16, 2006

Guitarist Greg Chako has led quite an interesting life. In addition to being a musician and composer, Chako has been a business entrepreneur both within and outside of the music industry. His life experience has led him to travel widely and explore different cultures.After three years of study at the Berklee School of Music, he moved to New York. Taking jobs in restaurant kitchens, Chako discovered that he had expertise in food preparation, and later, he found that ...

Greg Chako: Where We Find Ourselves

by Jim Santella
October 3, 2006

With his sextet of jazz improvisers and program of original tunes, guitarist Greg Chako stretches out with a smooth session of aural impressions. Warmth, inner passion and heartfelt charm pervade his writing, which addresses matters of the heart.The ensemble casts a varied shadow that's dominated by the sound of saxophone, trombone, guitar and a flowing rhythm section. Chako's fluid guitar brings cool harmony and mellow improvisation to the scene, while his band colors the performance with surrounding walls ...

Cal Poly Bands: 12 Seconds to the Moon

by Jack Bowers
December 1, 1998

Although everything is well–played (despite generally low–grade sound quality), there isn’t much of interest to the Jazz enthusiast in this hour–long recital by the various Cal Poly ensembles aside from the three selections (“Ain’t It Wonderful,” “Cat Race,” “Purple Porpoise Parkway”) recorded by the University Jazz Band. The larger Mustang Band does include among its five brief numbers Chuck Mangione’s “Echano,” but this is more a concert piece than Jazz composition. As for the Jazz Band, it fares respectably well ...