A Hospitality Partnership in Search of Its Next Home  

Part 1 – The Beginning

After more than fifty years as a professional musician, I've reached an interesting point in my career.

People sometimes ask me what I'm looking for next.

…

For most of my life, I've been introduced as a jazz guitarist.

While that's true, it's only part of the story.

Over the years I've come to believe that the best hospitality musicians are not primarily performers. They are stewards…

I recently had a piece published in Jazz Guitar Today titled Playing Honest.

It’s something I’ve been thinking about for many years—how what we play is inseparable from who we are.

Writing it clarified some ideas, but also left…

Live music has long been part of the restaurant experience. From piano lounges and jazz trios to solo guitarists and small ensembles, music has the ability to transform a dining room from simply a place to eat into a place…

The Power of Music in an “Empty” Room

Not too long ago, my bass-and-guitar duo was hired to play in a newly renovated building.

There were no seated guests.
No dinner service.
No dance floor.
Just an empty space.

Ten…

There are various elements to what constitutes the perfect gig in my opinion, and it's not only about the money one makes. It's also about WHO you're playing with, and WHO you're playing for . . . i.e. the environment…

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…

In between preparing for gigs, recordings and teaching music, I can get pretty busy in the kitchen! I made my own version of a Morrocan Tomato Soup a couple days ago: 1 lb of Garbanzo Beans, LOTS of fresh tomatoes…

These days where I live, most bars and (some) restaurants are  interested only in hiring artists and bands that can draw a new crowd that their venues don't already have! Sometimes, the venue doesn't have enough of its own loyal…

My newest group, David and the HeartStrings, competed last Sunday in the Cincy Blues Challenge @Elements Eatery. We didn't win, but we had a good time as we always do when we perform together! We begin recording our first…

Today's blog piggy-backs on the publication of my most recent article for Just Jazz Guitar, a marvelous online magazine of which I'm an author of instructional and inspirational articles (https://jazzguitartoday.com/author/gregchako/).

In the past week or so, I've…

I received unsolicited private text messages complaining that I did not mention the word GOD in my last blog post which described my recent medical setback. It was a conscious choice on my part because I do not want to…

I was so excited and prepared to play this past weekend . . . so many plans were made and there were so many people I looked forward to seeing during my recording trio's trip to Cleveland and upstate NY…

My first gig in Shanghai got off to a scary start! I had purchased RT air tickets for all my band members and had an executed contract with the hotel, but I found out less than 48 hours before my…

I played two nights in a row this weekend in a guitar-led trio with bass and drums. I and everyone there had a blast! When you're playing with musicians you like for a receptive audience, it's so much fun, and…