2024 has brought many highs and some scary lows too. On the high side, I released a trio album of all-originals with former Miles Davis alumni Steve Thornton adding a plethora of Latin percussion! Then I went back to my guitar/bass/drums ‘trio’ roots and recorded all first takes of songs from the Great American Songbook, an album titled, Standard Roots. The trio was all set to perform a mini-tour including Cleveland and upstate New York when life dealt me a major curve-ball!

I was hospitalized for nine days with a life-threatening infection which caused severe Kidney dysfunction. https://gregchako.com/blogs/gregs-blog/posts/7369534/from-touring-cleveland-and-upstate-ny-straight-to-the-er-and-a-9-day-hospital-bed Fortunately, I have fully recovered with a new lease on life, and a renewed purpose to get as much of the music inside of me out as quickly as possible. The notion of legacy has also been foremost in my mind recently . . . 

With the help of my best guitar student, Max Erwine, who is experienced with PC software like PowerPoint, I am releasing a 12-minute video synopsis of my life as a jazz player, teacher, and promoter. We are both proud of our efforts (it wasn't nearly as quick and easy to accomplish as we thought it would be!), and I am anxious to share it with you now. Here's is a YouTube link:

https://youtu.be/8YhP3YTPTqE?si=GOpRvRlB4DFyX4r1

Please watch the video and share your comments with me, or start a conversation! Consider subscribing to my YouTube channel, calling my for a lesson, or hiring one of my bands for your event:

Groove Latin - Latin-Jazz & Bossa-Nova grooves with vocalist/Percussionist Patsy Meyer

David & the HeartStrings - Soulful Blues & Swing Covers & Originals w/vocalist and Harmonicist David S. Burk 

The Vocal Stylings of Al West Jr. w/The Greg Chako Trio - Rich Baritone vocals by Al West of classic and contemporary jazz standards 

Greg Chako, Blog Post #19, from “2024 Highlights"