Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Diamond.
Greg, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Music has been a part of my life since childhood. I come from a musical family. My father was a classically trained pianist and vocalist, born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I grew up listening to him practice Chopin, Bach, and Rachmaninov on the piano from our apartment in Queens, he also devoted a considerable amount of time teaching my sister voice. Parties and family gatherings were frequent in my home, my sister singing with my father accompanying her was always the highlight of these occasions. I wasn’t really an active participant until much later. I took some lessons on piano with a Russian teacher when I was maybe 6-7 years of age, unfortunately, it didn’t go anywhere. I took up violin in school when I was 10 but I also didn’t have much interest in that. My music teacher would notice that I never read any of my parts and I often would play the parts of other instruments from other string sections during our orchestra rehearsals. I started getting into guitar in my early teens hanging out at my friend’s basement (in Westport, CT where we had been living since 1985) listening to classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Doors, and we even got into some heavier stuff like AC/DC, Black Sabbath, and Metallica. My close childhood friend’s father was a writer as well as a carpenter/luthier with a massive workshop. They had a huge basement in their home with several vintage guitars (many built by himself) and amps. He also was the first person to teach me the blues scale (a very important fundamental scale for most guitarists). I remember trying to navigate the instrument and I’d also try playing back the guitar solos of some of the records that we’d be listening to by ear. For a couple of years, I was self-taught before getting my first teacher who introduced me to chord/scale theory and jazz. Throughout those hazy and woefully underachieved high school years my love of music continued to grow exponentially. I made considerable improvement as a guitarist, but I was still very green and full of self-doubt. After high school, I felt a deep desire to get out of US and spend some time abroad in my mother’s native country, Colombia. I went there with the idea of spending a semester studying music and teaching English, I ended up staying there for over two years. I studied at a small academy where I learned solfège and theory, I took private lessons in jazz and classical guitar with a great maestro, and I also had my first exposure to traditional Colombian Andean folk music, vallenatos, cumbia, and salsa (which oddly enough is native to New York, and still to this day is extremely popular in the country – particularly in Cali). In 1999 I moved to NYC for the first time as an adult and enrolled in Queens College as a full-time student. I was still unsure of my ability to make it as a musician, but I was still very committed to music and I delved into the local jazz scene in New York during the late ’90s, hanging out at small jazz clubs like Smalls, Detour, Izzy’s Bar, and a host of other clubs that are no longer around. I also was exposed to some of the live music venues that featured Latin music like S.O.B.’s. I also started forming my own band playing arrangements of Piazzolla’s “Libertango,” Mongo Santamaria’s “Sofrito,” as well as some of my own compositions. We would play at venues like The Knitting Factory in Tribeca and a little spot called Flutebar in Gramercy and Midtown. Over time I would play more and more with different players from the scene, gaining in skill and confidence, I also was beginning to cultivate a vision as an artist. I was immersed in the jazz scene in New York deepening my understanding of the idiom and the tradition, and at the same, I was also really delving into the vibrant and eclectic Latin music and Latin jazz scene in NYC. In 2006 I completed a master’s degree at Queens College, in 2007 I competed as a semifinalist in the Gibson International Jazz Guitar festival hosted by the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland where I had the honor of performing before the great George Benson. Later that same year I recorded my first album, “Dançando Com Ale.” This was a harrowing experience for me, but with the help of some of my peers, particularly my dear friend the great composer/arranger Emilio Solla I was able to get through it. I had some incredibly talented personnel on it, particularly one of all-time heroes, the world-renown saxophonist Seamus Blake. The band was essentially a sextet with two saxophones, upright bass, drums, percussion, and, of course, guitar. Emilio was a guest on a couple of tracks, and he produced the session. I also invited my sister Vanessa to sing on one track. Half of the album were originals, and the other half were covers by Piazzolla, Santamaria, Hermeto Pascoal, and one jazz standard from the Great American Songbook. This album was a whirlwind of emotion, self-loathing, stress, and financial sacrifice (making a record and promoting it is dauntingly expensive) but in the end, there definitely was some great content in there. With this album, I was able to get my group into bigger rooms in New York like the Blue Note, Smalls Jazz Club, Iridium, Joe’s Pub, and Nublu a great club in the East Village where we had a residency for many years. I made my debut at some jazz festivals in Colombia like Barranquijazz and Jazz al Parque in 2009. In 2010 I toured in Spain for the first time as well with some dates in Valencia, Salamanca, Badajoz, and San Sebastian. Momentum was building as well as my confidence as a composer. My vision of creating a Latin jazz sound that interweaves a litany of styles and rhythms was now really beginning to take hold. We recorded my sophomore album “Conduit” (Dot Time 2012) with similar instrumentation and personnel in 2011, practically the entire album is original music. In 2011 I toured again in Colombia, in 2012 I also returned to tour in Spain to promote Conduit, performing in Madrid, Valencia, Bilbao, Girona, Barcelona, and Murcia. That tour had some musically sublime moments but financially and logistically it was disastrous. In 2015 I recorded “Avenida Graham” (ZOHO 2016) with essentially the same band. This was in the same vein as its predecessors albeit more refined, complex, and mature as a production as well as a creative oeuvre. With that record, I toured in Colombia for a third time performing in Barranquilla and Medellin with a fantastic band. Unfortunately, the daily grind of living as a freelance artist in NYC for almost two decades began taking its toll. In 2017 I was presented with a scholarship opportunity for a D.M.A. in jazz performance at the university of Miami, so I packed up with my girlfriend and my dog and took the plunge. Since then, I have produced two solo projects on guitar, one is called “Musings and Origins” (Chasm 2019) which is recorded on a flat-top acoustic guitar; the other, “Calera Solo Sessions” (Chasm 2022), came out a couple of months ago and it was recorded on classical guitar in Colombia. During the pandemic, I got back into studying classical guitar and this is, for all intents and purposes, a fruit of that extended period of isolation. The solo projects have been rewarding and affordable undertakings and they also have made me a stronger and more complete musician. I feel that these were a steppingstone towards my next project which is a trio album which I recently recorded with my friends and long-time collaborators, Edward Pérez and Ludwig Afonso. I’m hoping to get this one out Spring/Summer 2023 and I will probably name it Beata after my mother Beatriz.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I would say that in my case has it has been a meandering road, and yes, full of bumps. I’ve made about every mistake imaginable, and most times at my own financial peril. I’ve lost my shirt paying my band out-of-pocket on door gigs, self-producing records, hiring publicists, dealing with unscrupulous record labels, getting stiffed by venues while on tour abroad – when you start to take inventory of all these things it’s kind of mind-blowing. Making and promoting records alone is extremely costly and there’s essentially no way to even break even with the current de facto business model of streaming – it’s kind insidious the way indie artists are more often than not ill-compensated for putting out quality work. In light of all of the missteps that I’ve made in the past, my only recourse is to remain stoic and determined. I endeavor to treat each individual mistake that I make as a life lesson that contributes towards my individual growth and just keep moving forward.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m most known for my work as jazz/Latin jazz guitarist and an innovative composer. I think what sets me apart from others is the sound of my group, my compositions, and above all my many facets as a guitarist and recording artist. I perform and record on several different types of guitars, from electric guitars to flat-top acoustics, archtop jazz guitars, classical nylon string, and flamenco guitars. They all have their own intricacies and character and I really get so much pleasure out of exploring them individually.
What do you think about luck?
I don’t feel that luck has had much of a role in my trajectory. I believe in the universal law of causality and as such, I bear the responsibility for the actions and consequences that have taken place in my career. I’ve definitely faced a considerable amount of challenges and I’ve never really had a “break” that has catapulted my career, but I can’t complain either. I feel blessed that I have been able to create and perform music on a very high level, and I hope to continue doing so for many years to come.
Contact Info:
- Website: gregdiamondmusic.com
- Instagram: @gregdiamondmusic
- Facebook: @gregdiamondmusic
- Twitter: twitter.com/gdiamondguitar
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@gregdiamondmusic
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0hVJKafWotAq3XpB2m6lSO?si=Ilg1Nu7JT9GypWEArAqOBw
Image Credits
Philip Avello
