Gregg Karukas, Smooth jazz Artist
Gregg Karukas is a smooth jazz pianist who experimented with drums, guitar, trumpet, and keyboards as a child, but it was not until his teens that he pursued music professionally as a pianist, having played with the Bowie High School Starliners big band. When he was sixteen, he owned one of the first Minimoog synthesizers.
Karukas spent five years with Tim Eyermann in the band East Coast Offering. After moving to Los Angeles, he worked with David Benoit, Richard Elliot, Grant Geissman, Dave Koz, Ronnie Laws, and Melissa Manchester. He was a member of the Rippingtons when they recorded their first album, Moonlighting (1987), and has worked as a sideman with Craig Chaquico, Boney James, and Peter White. Karukas has received multiple Best Keyboardist nominations at the Oasis and National Smooth Jazz Awards. He has collaborated with Brazilian composers Dori Caymmi and Ricardo Silveira. He produced, arranged and engineered, and co-wrote two albums with Omar Akram, whose album “Echoes of Love” won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in 2013. He also owns and distributes most of his music on his label, Nightowl Records.
Born: Bowie, Maryland, USA
Genre: Smooth jazz, Brazilian, world Jazz
Grammy winning keyboardist and composer Gregg Karukas is enjoying the rare accomplishment of 2 consecutive #1 hit songs and THREE TOP 5 chart hits from his stellar 2014 CD release “Soul Secrets”. His 2nd single, “Rio Drive” was named the #1 most played song of 2015 on Alan Kepler’s Smooth Jazz Top 20! (#2 on Billboard’s 2015 airplay chart). It follows “Elegant Nights” which hit the top of the charts in January of 2015. “Only You”, the third single dedicated to Gregg’s wife Yvonne, hit #2 on Smooth Jazz Top 20 in July 2016. Most recently, Gregg has taken his ever present smile and energetic, show around the world to Java Jazz in Jakarta, Manila, Jazztrax Catalina Jazz Festival and The Mallorca (Spain) Smooth jazz festival.
One of urban contemporary jazz’s most versatile and acclaimed artists for over 25 years, Gregg won the Grammy for producing, composing, arranging, playing all keyboards and engineering Echoes of Love, which won Best New Age Album at the 55th Grammy Awards in February 2013. He was a founding member of The Rippingtons and since then has been in the company of the top acts in the Smooth Jazz and R&B pop genres, touring with Boney James, Peter White, Rick Braun, Dave Koz, Melissa Manchester, Larry Carlton, Sergio Mendes, Brenda Russell, Jeffrey Osborne and featured with various Allstar groups in recent years. He has had a diverse career in music with a long list of credits on CD’s and all media; Gregg arranged and played all keyboards on the theme songs to Disney’s Ducktales and Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers and is a veteran of lots of TV/Film music sessions, (Cheers, Stand and Deliver, Life Goes On, Mr. Wrong).
As a solo artist, Gregg’s 11 all-original CDs have garnered consistently solid reviews for his signature piano touch, pristine production, and melodies that are both soulful and sophisticated. Always in demand as a musical director and keyboardist, Gregg has received multiple Best Keyboardist nominations at the Oasis and National Smooth Jazz Awards. His best-known songs, “Elegant Nights (#1), “Rio Drive”(#1), “Girl in the Red Dress” (#4) “Nightshift” (#1), and Jessy J.’s #1 hit “Tropical Rain” showcase Gregg’s funky, melodic compositional style familiar to his fans.
“People say my music sounds romantic and uplifting – and I look so happy on stage,” he says. “It’s totally true. For me, the best music comes out of an inner feeling of either intense happiness or sadness. I always try to stay faithful to that original inspiration, because that is where the true ‘sound of emotion’ comes from.” Gregg’s contagious smile and positive attitude shows in his concerts, as he has emerged over the years as one of the genre’s most dynamic and inspiring live performers since he first took the stage in 1987 with the original Rippingtons and toured through the years with superstars Boney James, Sergio Mendes, and Larry Carlton.
Biographical information courtesy of Wiki and Gregg Karukas; for more reading see link below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_Karukas