All Portraits by Gaya Feldhiem Schorr
Greg Dallas, St. Louis native, has been enamored with music from a young age. Raised in a home supportive of art and creative endeavors, he tried several instruments before meeting his match, the guitar. Soon after discovering his love for the guitar, he began performing frequently at local venues. Like many young guitarists, he was inspired by such greats as Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Jimmy Page. During high school, he found himself attracted to the virtuosity of jazz guitarists, which eventually drew him to study at the prestigious Berklee College of Music.
Upon arriving at Berklee, Greg was confident that such a diverse and talented community was the perfect place to continue to grow and learn. At Berklee, he was afforded the rare opportunity to study under the tutelage of some of the world’s greatest musicians and professors, like Tim Miller, David Tronzo, and Tia Fuller. His time at Berklee was formative and life changing in many ways, beyond just his musical development. After years of hard and rewarding work, he graduated in 2015 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Performance for guitar.
Since Graduating Berklee, Greg has moved into the world of songwriting, as well as being an active member of the New York jazz community. Influences can be heard from many directions in his songwriting, from Radiohead to Wayne Shorter. It combines the sensibility of lush modal jazz harmony with familiar and relatable songwriting structure.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous effect on the life of possibly every single person on the planet, and Greg is no exception. During the course of the pandemic Greg relocated to his home town of St. Louis. In an effort to turn a tough situation into a blessing, and feel less motivated towards making music during the pandemic, Greg turned to visual art. With no formal training, his personal style is simultaneously intuitive, detailed, vibrant, simple, complex. Alongside practicing his musical craft, he has a steady stream of commissions and pieces done purely from pleasure flowing out of his studio. The pandemic has presented an opportunity to grow as an artist, albeit not at all how he expected.
Greg’s goal is to make music that is uplifting and relevant, drawing from his education and the deep, evolving tradition of American music, and to create art that evokes any feeling that is able to be stirred in the viewer.