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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! "

About Craig Bio Cont'd (Page 3) -Click Here

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