With still
only two solo CDs to his name at that time, Chaquico was
instantly invited to hook up with established smooth jazz concert
veterans and fellow Smooth Jazz radio favorites; Richard Elliot,
Warren Hill, and Peter White as one of the original
cast members of the extraordinarily popular annual Guitars
& Saxes all-star tour. This later led to collaborations
with all three appearing on some of Craig's own best selling CDs.
Although
mainly focusing on leading and recording with his own band now,
Craig recently headlined the summer G&S tour
which also featured Jeff Golub, Warren Hill, and Jeff
Kashiwa in the line-up, which also led to Hill and Kashiwa
recording with Craig's
own band on the Shadow and Light CD,
which featured two #1 radio tracks penned by Craig
and his now longtime
award winning proven hit making songwriting partner, keyboardist,
co-producer, arranger, and musical
director, Ozzie Ahlers.
Following
his first collaboration with saxophonist and crowd favorite, Richard
Elliot, on A THOUSAND PICTURES,
Craig went on to record ONCE IN A BLUE UNIVERSE
in1997 which also featured Richard along with the talents of sax
virtuoso, Dave Koz, smooth jazz pioneer, John Klemmer,
fellow guitarist Peter White, and the Grammy®
award winning Native American flutist, Douglas Spotted
Eagle. A smash hit among contemporary and smooth jazz afficionados,
the album - along with the subsequent success of Craig's duo colaboration
album with Russ Freeman (....of the Rippingtons) which also featured
Ozzie Ahlers, David Benoit, and Paul Taylor, CRAIG
CHAQUICO AND RUSS FREEMAN-FROM THE REDWOODS TO THE ROCKIES
- led to more work with 3rd Force, Rick Braun, and Boney James over
the years and all over the radio.
Even before
most recently scoring two back-to-back #1 national smooth
jazz radio hits with Cafe Carnival
and Luminosa, Chaquico was voted #1
Best Pop Instrumental Guitarist by GuitarPlayer Magazine's
most recent Readers' Poll and later named to Jazziz
Magazine's exclusive list of Top 100 Jazz Guitarists
in History, "...for his compositional
and technical skills and influence within the genre."
During this time Craig licensed the rights to his own design sepecifications
and modifications for the 1st Craig Chaquico signature series acoustic
guitar that he had used to record with. Craig stipulated that
a tree would be planted for EACH of the thousands of guitars
made with his name on them. "We can all do something
to help the environment when we have a chance even if it's just
a little thing that we do, together they all add up to being
big things and can almost make us the 'Guardians of Eden' whenever
that happens"
a close-up
through-the-guitar-strings and into the sound hole view of the 1st
generation signature series CC guitars "..has planted
one tree for each guitar to exemplify our dedication to
the environment"
While writing and recording the songs for SHADOW AND
LIGHT (2002), the shadowy events on a sunny 9/11 day
caused him to see the album's concept in a new light. "It's
helped me to really appreciate the blessings we all have day and
night when you can compare it to something so horrible and emphasizes
the importance of telling the people we love that we love them while
we can. Because you never really know if you will ever get
another chance in this world," he says. "As bad as that
day was and still is, it also made me think about the more
subtle and enjoyable dualities of light and darkness in life,
too.
"Maybe
sometimes we find ourselves in the middle, in a ballance between
extremes on our journey together, travelling the path between the
shadow and light, between karma and coincidence, between science
and spirituality, between magic and music, and perhaps somewhere
between the angels from above and the angles of arithmetic. The
music and many of the titles on that album were inspired by the
places we all share in between, and to remember not to take even
life's so-called 'simple pleasures' for granted -to always remeber
gratitude"
Chaquico
continues his exploration into other inspirartions that might otherwise
be overlooked or unexpected on the new CD, MIDNIGHT
NOON (2004) ...street date September 28th, 2004
A title that
may cause a moment's pause, the story behind Her Boyfriend's
Wedding is based on a true tale about a woman's invitation
to her ex-boyfriend's wedding. "It's not a sad song at all,
because they will alwyas be lifelong friends, so when she is invited
to the wedding she is happy for the happiness of her friend.
Or maybe she's just happy that she's not the one actually getting
married to him after all?
"But
at the reception, she meets someone new. Who woulda thunk?
That's the true story behind this uplifting song with a happy ending
to a happy ending inspired by finding the unexpected silver lining
to a silver lining wherever that might be. It's inspired by
the faith that maybe there's always a happy ending even if sometimes
you just have to wait for it. Wait for the classic 'Wedding
March' (...aka 'Here Comes The Bride')
which was written by Wagner centuries ago and now appears
digitally recorded while played on electric guitars at the very
end of the song ....who woulda thunk?"
The
song, Always With You again takes the
element of the unexpected to the more musical side. "Perhaps
a true love is always with you, no matter how unlikely or unexpected
that may appear at first glance, so here alongside the smoky
vocals of April Hendrix and a very classic rock feel, we enjoyed
mixing in a hint of classical Spanish nylon string acoustic guitars
inspired by the great classical masters like Segovia in several
places alongside sitars and electric guitars inspired by both Hendrixs,
Jimi and April. Along with mysterious keyboards and a haunting
sax, it's a very passionate mix of Spanish, psychedelia,
and soul that hopefully brings together a lot of unlikely and unexpected
styles into one song."
Opposites attract as
well on Outlaw In The City, inspired by
the idea of someone exploring areas outside of their element - like
a traditional tribal singer, medicine man, or sacred seer, feeling
their unbridled spirits roaming barefoot among the iron horses in
a big concrete city, skyscrapers breathing humanity in and
out of lungs made of glass and steel.
"It
could almost be something inspired by the classic Clint Eastwood
(...perhaps an unlikely, but very well known, jazz connoisseur and
supporter who also has a son named Kyle) movie, Coogan's Bluff,
with the lone acoustic guitar sounding like a ranger in a strange
land, interacting with many electric guitars in this modern territory
of the big city" mentions Chaquico. To convey such a rough-around-the-edges,
but spiritual character, Chaquico weaves many acoustic and electric
guitars together around some of his very own classic rock-based
themes and roots. "It almost feels to me like acoustic Eagles
meets Eric Clapton meets Willie Nelson and The Allman Brothers at
a Rolling Stones/Grateful Dead concert during a pow-wow in Golden
Gate Park" he muses, "...tumbleweeds and tie-dye,
moccasins and meter maids"
Chaquico draws on his wide range of experience and influences to
bridge styles and express mostly upbeat moods on MIDNIGHT
NOON. "I learned the language of music by playing
guitar along with viny l LPs in my bedroom with the door locked
all day and sometimes into the wee hours of the morning, and then
wearing a fake mustache at night to play nightclubs as a teenager,
and eventually by playing all the lead guitar parts in Jefferson
Starship and Starship. But it all started as a kid listening
to my musical heroes - Clapton, Santana, Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Larry
Carlton and George Benson on guitar, to name only but a few - and
the MIDNIGHT NOON album was a perfect
opportunity for me to reflect on all of those musical heroes' influences
at least once on this record, and to also reflect and
realize my parents were also the real heroes when they went to work
every day to put food on the table and to support a family and the
music within it by letting me play the guitar they bought me in
the room they provided me while i discovered 'jazz noon' at an early
age and sometimes in my bedroom with the door locked.
"Plus
I just recently overcame a potentially permanent debilitating hand
injury this year, and after not knowing if I would ever be
able to play again, or support my own family by playing the
guitar, the happiness and joy of being able to actually play
again, made me want to express all that in the overall optimistic
mood of my playing on this CD"
"...a big high five to
everybody for all the helping hands of yours, encouragement, prayers,
and especially for hangin' in there
with me during that
prolonged hand injury of
mine! ..wheeew! ...all's well that ends well! "
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