Dean Grech
Dean has played guitar from the age of 8, and became a professional musician at age 11. Dean’s guitar playing is reminiscent of Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall and Johnny Smith, blended with the more modern sounds of Peter White and Norman Brown. Vocally, he has captured the essence of Kenny Rankin, with a taste of Michael Buble, and the soulfulness of Bill Withers.
His music can be found anywhere from movie sound tracks to jazz radio. The song “Two Strong Arms” (Dean Grech/Reggie Ashley), was featured in Dustin Lance Black’s 2011 motion picture release “What’s Wrong with Virginia”, starring Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Roberts and Carrie Preston.
In December 2010, Dean’s Christmas song, “What do you want for Christmas” (Grech/Ashley), rose to #1 most added song on Smooth Jazz Radio (Smooth Jazz.com), beating out Quincy Jones, Spencer Day, and Dave Koz. It was also in the top five most added songs to the Groove Jazz chart list. The YouTube posting garnered over 21,000 views in three weeks, and for several days was the most viewed video. This led to Grech being a featured artist on the Cox Cable Christmas Special, and performing with David Benoit, Greg Adams, Michael Paulo, Ricky Lawson, Greg Scharmat, Blake Aaron, Greg Vail, and Will Dinato. As a Lace product endorser, Dean can be found in the Lace Music guitar pickup demonstration videos.
His compositions have been featured on many radio, internet and DMX stations. His first single, "Funky Talk", was the song of choice for the Japanese McDonald’s Healthy Choice campaign, and for Smooth Jazz Beach Radio’s promo underscore. “Funky Talk” charted #1 on Billboard’s BDS Radio Chart, was most added on the DMX Smooth Jazz List and Groove Jazz Charts. Dean has performed on stages all over the world, including Finland, Malta, Canada and Costa Rica. Most recently, Dean performed at the KSBR Jazz Fest/Birthday Bash, as a solo artist and also with Brian Bromberg and Greg Adams.
His debut album, “Look Out”, was a featured CD on the JazzNet247 Radio Show, “Make It Saxy”. In October 2009, “I Don’t Believe” was a featured track on Café Jazz Radio, with Ted Hasiuk, as the “best track for 90 days”. In December 2009, Dean was the featured artist of the month for Lace Guitar Pickups, Smooth Jazz Beach Radio, and WUMR Memphis’ top 10 weekly countdown.
Dean has played guitar from the age of eight, and became a professional musician at age 11. He studied classical guitar with world-renowned guitarist, Rey Dellatorre, and went on to study jazz at the Berklee School of Music. Grech has written, recorded, toured, and performed with some of the best in the pop and jazz world, such as Sting, Eric Marienthal, John Pettitucci, Russ Ferrante, Francis Buckley, David Benoit, Scott Martin, Brian Bromberg, Greg Adams, Ricky Lawson, Greg Vail, Blake Aaron, Michael Paulo, Greg Scharmat, Michael Musillami, Will Dinato, Rob Whitlock, Tim Heintz, Tom Kubis, Abe Most, A Flock Of Seagulls, Klique, Bobby Kimble, Shae Chambers, Mirror Garden, Jeff Coffey, Idol Cure and Matthew West to name a few.
Dean Grech was also Musical Director for the Radio Disney 2000 World Tour band, backing Hollywood Records artists Youngstown, Nobody’s Angel, BB Mac and Sister to Sister. This led to appearances on Soap Talk with Lisa Rinna and Latin TV. Ventaneando. Currently, Dean continues to keep a constant performance schedule playing jazz festivals, concerts and clubs, TV and Radio programs.