The other night, during a break from our trio show at Vivaldi's Restaurant in The Symphony Hotel in Downtown Cincinnati, I met a charming couple, the wife from Cincy and the husband from Eastern Pennsylvania/New York. The man commented on how “parochial” Cincinnati is. I can relate because when I first returned here in 2017, I would be asked where I went to school, and as I would begin to describe my college (Graduate) education in New York, they'd interrupt me and say that they wanted to know what high school I went to! I've zero interest in talking about that, and zero interest in talking to anyone who is only interested in knowing what high school I went to. The bulk of my learning didn't occur until I had left Cincinnati, and the most significant aspect of my high school memories was that I had no intention of ever returning here. I felt that Cincinnati was too conservative. A summer-long visit to New York City to attend The Guitar Workshop as a teenager opened my eyes to not only jazz music, but to a place where cultural diversity and awareness was more prevalent; a place where the underpinnings of White privilege and racism seemed less oppressive; and a place teeming with far more role models and sources for inspiration and opportunity than here. NYC was definitely more my style!
I moved to NYC and bought a house in Brooklyn. Later, I relocated to Hong Kong (2 years), Singapore (7 years), Shanghai (2 years), and Japan (6 years). I relocated back to Cincinnati to be closer to my Mother in 2017, and it was a good thing, because she passed away in 2021 and I was with her (bedside in fact) right up until her last dying breath! I will always miss her, and I know she wanted me with her at the end. I was privileged to be there when she needed me the most, since most of my adult life I was physically too far away from her too often to cherish those most intimate and memorable moments of life with her.
Though I will be forever grateful to share those meaningful final moments with my Mom in Cincinnati, after having established a very successful career abroad as a performer and recording artist, and doing 300+ gigs a year for consecutive years at a time, returning to my hometown of Cincinnati was to be virtually anonymous and unacknowledged in my own birthplace. Very few individuals (if any) remembered me for booking a weekly jazz concert series (Doc's Place) in Cincinnati with both local and internationally-known artists for almost two years or so in 1985, or for being a first-call sub for Maestro guitarist Cal Collins at the Hilton Netherlands Plaza's Palm Court in downtown Cincinnati. In 2017 upon my return, I had no gigs, no students, no friends. For money, I worked managing a music store (DHR Guitar), delivered pizza for LaRosa's, and drove a semi-truck over-the-road. My first playing gig was not even in Cincinnati! It was in Louisville at the now defunct Jimmy Can't Dance, as a sideman in the Brooks Giles Group. Brooks and I met while on tour in Asia and became friends then, almost 30 years ago. Fortunately, he remembered me as a bad-ass guitar player with International experience and acclaim, i.e. a kindred spirit … a brother from another Mother! This is us in Brooklyn, before we both ended up in the Midwest.
Gradually, I began getting some work and doing some teaching, but it felt like starting all over from scratch in a place where none of my broad international professional background mattered to anybody here. To-date, Brooks is the only guy that I know of who has experienced working nightly week after week, month after month, as a professional jazzman for literally years at a time, and at the same time, who is not affiliated with a University, a Symphony Orchestra, a wealthy family, or has a well-paid day gig in an industry completely outside of music (such as law or computer technology). In other words, neither of us have ever had any help from financial benefactors, patrons of the arts, or a ‘day-gig’, and hence rely entirely on the playing gigs or the paying students we acquire for our total living income.
Feeling to be an outsider in a Midwestern city that's not Chicago doesn't make things any easier. Here it seems to me that the more I promote myself in order to get work and exposure, the more the locals consider it boasting, too aggressive, or they imagine I'm a professional marketing person. It's not any of that at all. It's my downright survival! I can't afford to be anonymous, physically or mentally! Nobody's going to take notice of me unless I relentlessly put myself out there. I can practice alone at home all I want, but if nobody ever calls me for a gig, what's the point?
Unfortunately, I don't typically get called by any of the local Cincinnati musicians. I am not a UC student, a church-goer, or a member of any clique. I did get called in 2022 by the jazz sub-label (Raining Music) of Mint400 Records though, and that call led to my getting signed to the label. The label head told me that my talent really stood out to him; I was only one of over a thousand artists he'd heard from across the nation that he considered for signing. Hearing such high praise from a fellow muso, with decades of experience running a recording label in the Greater New York City area, was re-affirming to me. It reminded me of how (well) I'd been treated while living abroad, before returning to the States.
The signing enabled me to reissue old albums that had never really gotten any exposure at all, and more importantly, it allowed me to break an 8-year long recording hiatus. Just months after signing with the label in 2022, I produced my first album in 8 years titled, “Friend, Old & New.” And due to the support of the label, the few musicians working closely with me, and a marvelous partnership with a local engineer, Joshua Deitner of Great Wave Recording, I am well on track to surpass the prolific recording work I accomplished during those years that I lived in Asia. Since Dec 2022, I've released 13 albums, 8 new and 5 re-issues.
Composing and recording with a label for the first time in my life helped with my mental sanity, because though I get little respect from the locals, I am getting huge praise from reviewers, DJs, and other industry professionals from across the entire country. In December of 2023, I was in Miami, Florida to do a series of shows with some fantastic players there, and one of the shows will be released as my 21st album next month, titled The Miami Project.
While the activity described above really helps me feel better, it does little for my ‘physical’ well-being, i.e. earning adequate money from teaching and playing locally to pay my bills. That's an ongoing struggle . . . but over the past year there have been improvements with that. I have come to the realization that as long as I'm still playing and creating, I'm happy where I am. After the Miami shows, I seriously thought I wanted to live there! But then those two hurricanes passed through Florida last year and I thought to myself, living in Cincinnati isn't so bad after all . . . It's certainly more affordable living here than in Miami or NYC. And, those places are just a car drive away anyway.
Last year I joined BNI (Business Networking International) in order to sharpen my networking skills among real business owners. In BNI, there's a common interest to develop more meaningful interpersonal relationships and increased business for everyone. The relationships I'm only beginning to make as a result of joining BNI is like planting some seeds that I expect to sprout over the next year or so as more and more people come to know and trust me, and the services I offer.
Wrapping up on a positive note, I'm happier here in Cincinnati than ever before, largely because I am doing more of what I love most than I was earlier: Playing and Recording Music! I'm still plagued by those unfortunate moments that can creep into my daily life, in which I dwell on negative aspects rather than the positive, and on the money and fame that I lack instead of that which I now possess, but on the whole, I'm feeling far more satisfied with my time and place than I ever have since moving back to my hometown in 2017. I think Cincinnati is parochial, and it certainly has a far ‘lower ceiling’ (for me) when compared to cities such as Chicago, Miami, or NYC, but through patience, perseverance, and my willingness to leave no stone unturned, I have faith in what the future holds for me. I welcome sincere and mutually respectful dialogue - we don't have to agree in order to share with each other as good neighbors.
The 1-page bio below is for bookers, DJs, or anyone wishing to see my musical life summed up briefly with appropriate hyperlinks.
Greg Chako 1-Page Bio: https://gregchako.com/campaigns/1003166
Below is a 12-minute movie made from a PowerPoint presentation that highlights my life promoting and playing jazz, with an emphasis on my activities in Cincinnati.
“The Jazzman - A Life Playing and Promoting”: https://youtu.be/8YhP3YTPTqE?si=gsdOW74MANJwPjKa
Related blogs: Marketer or Musician?: https://gregchako.com/blogs/gregs-blog/posts/7433293/marketer-or-musician Hometown Disadvantage: https://gregchako.com/blogs/gregs-blog/posts/7338962/blog-4-hometown-disadvantage
Blog #23 What's on My Mind?