Soul Man: New Orleans-born artist Greg Banks Is the Saint of Soul Music
Photos by Marlenê Duperley, Clarence Klingebeil, and Michael Pollack. Originally printed in AphroChic magazine Issue 9, Summer 2022.
Have you ever had one of those days? A terrible day, right in the middle of everything being bad, when you can’t remember how good it used to be and can’t imagine it ever being that good again? And then something happens, someone happens, they do or say something that cuts through all the bad, and they didn’t even know what they’d done? With music and song, Greg Banks has been that person to break through on more than one occasion. We know, because he did it for us.
We were walking through Union Square in Manhattan killing time between doctor visits just as we were beginning to grapple with Jeanine’s long COVID diagnosis. Her body was weak, her steps shaky, and we had no idea how long she would take to improve — or if she ever would. Then we heard someone singing. Playing in a corner of the square, people crowded around, Greg Banks was doing his thing. Looking like he was channeling Lenny Kravitz and Jimi Hendrix with a sound that was soul, r&b and funk all at once, his voice brightened our day and the days of everyone close enough to hear.
We weren’t the first to be mesmerized by this incredible artist who was bringing music straight to the people through his Concert on the Block series. The series began two years ago, at the start of the pandemic, as Banks’ way of fighting against the darkness and fear we all felt in 2020. Since then, it’s grown beyond his block, taking him around the globe as he uplifts a populous weary of disease and war with music that stirs the soul. We had the opportunity to sit down with Banks to discuss his life, career, concert series, and his upcoming album — and to say thanks for being in the park on the right day.
AphroChic: What first drew you to music?
Greg Banks: Coming from New Orleans there's a tradition called Super Sunday where tons of musicians come together. They have this procession that goes throughout the city. And I was fortunate enough to live on one of the routes. So as soon as I was about five, when they would come I would go to my front door and I would stand out watching. And at that moment, I understood the power of leadership. I didn't understand what came with it. But what I saw was this man leading the band and all these people coming around and wanting to be there. And it was positive. I understood that much. It was a joy and love that resonated in the air that people wanted to be a part of. I didn't quite know at that age what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to have that impact.
AC: New Orleans is one of our favorite cities. It truly does feel like music is in the air. You grew up there during Hurricane Katrina. How did that harrowing event influence your life?
GB: Hurricane Katrina was a moment that really changed my life. I was a sophomore in high school, and a great student. And I was in the marching band. Everything I thought was normal got turned upside down. Some of my friends I’ve still never seen since then. My childhood home was destroyed, all of my childhood photos, all those things were lost. My siblings were all over the United States for months at a time. The only thing that got me through that, outside of the grace of God, first and foremost, was that one thing that stayed present throughout my life, and that was music. And at that age, I was able to realize, if this ever happens in life again, this unforeseen circumstance, I want to continue to do what got me through. And the one thing that got me through was my music. Not just keeping it to myself and holding it.
It was about sharing it, being a vessel of hope, and using it to bring others the joy that I found by holding on to it. So coming from New Orleans going through Katrina really cemented for me that I needed to be a musician.
AC: What brought you to New York?
GB: A couple of months after Hurricane Katrina, I ended up in Natchez, Mississippi. I went back to New Orleans after Natchez and I got a full scholarship to Xavier University where I studied classical voice. And while I was there I felt like this is cool and I’m creating a buzz, but I felt like there was something more that needed to happen. I felt like I wanted to be more than a hometown hero. And for me, the best way to prove that was to go to a city, the biggest town there is and be a small fish until I became enormous. So that's what I did. I packed up what I had and I moved.
AC: You’ve been in New York now for quite some time, performing and building your craft as a musician. How did Concert on the Block come about?
GB: When the world shut down and music venues closed and festivals, I was scared, to say the least. Because as an artist who's cultivated a career following somewhat of a blueprint — which is you go out, you perform at the venues, you make connections, you build up your brand, you build up awareness, and then you can live off your art. I was finally at a point where I felt like that was about to happen and then the world shut down. So for me, it was about how can I take complete ownership of where I am with all that I can and can't control? Secondly, am I doing everything I can do to manifest my dreams? One day, I was like, I'm not gonna sit on the couch anymore and moan and complain. I'm gonna make something happen. So that's what I did.
I started the pop-up Concert on the Block Series on the corner of my neighborhood in Brooklyn. I got up, did my first concert on the corner two years ago, and that first day neighbors were just kind of walking around and when I started playing they stopped and they came over and had blankets and they ran and called more neighbors and it was such an overzealous moment. And they asked me when was the next one. And I was like, I don't know, maybe tomorrow. And then it was like 100 people the next day. And I was like, okay, this is really gonna work and more than my neighborhood needs it. So I started going to different places and bringing the love to as many places as I could.
ACM: You are definitely spreading the love all over New York City and have even been recognized by Pepsi as a goodwill ambassador for the city. There’s one particular person whose life has been changed by an interaction you had with him at one of your pop-up concerts. Can you tell us about your friendship with Jayson Corwise, an unhoused man who you met in the subway?
GB: I met Jason indirectly at Jay Street Metro Tech. And I was playing a song, Something in the Air, and he was on the other side of the platform. And I just saw him staring and he walked over and came down. He stood there for about 20 minutes and was like man, that’s a beautiful song and he walked away. So I saw him again at Metropolitan on the mezzanine and this time he sung a couple of words as he was passing by. The next time I saw him I was playing the same song and I talked to him and he just let it out and started singing about this lost love that he misses and he wishes he could make it right again.
Two things happened that night. I got home and showed my manager the video, and she said, "You got to put this up." So I put it up and the next day I had 500,000 likes on Facebook. People started saying: "We love this so much, thank you for this moment." So I was like, what he did was monumental, I’m going to go find him. So I bought a prepaid cell phone and I went back to the same station, week after week and I finally saw him again. I told him what happened with the song and how amazing it was, and I’m like, "Listen here's your phone, we're going to set up a studio session, we got to go to studio." So I gave him the phone. And a couple of days went by and we actually set up the session and he came.
We got him a hotel room, got him cleaned up, got him some new clothes and also started a GoFundMe to facilitate some housing for him because there's crazy changes happening in our subway system where they’re just saying, “I don't know where you're gonna go, but you gotta go.” And he expressed to me on many occasions that many times he just felt ignored and he just stayed to himself and didn't bother other people. But at this moment, he felt like he made it. And I was like, “Man, you matter so much more than you ever know.” So now we're actually prepared to release it.
A couple of days later two young ladies reached out to me on Instagram. One was his niece and one was his daughter who hadn’t spoken to him in years. I gave them his phone number, they began to talk and this beautiful connection happened.
AC: Wow! Such an amazing story and it absolutely shows where your heart is in your work as a musician. Are you working on new music with Jayson?
GB: Yes. We’re putting out the first single, Something In The Air featuring Jayson Corwise. And that will be followed by another single titled My Way, that tells the story in three minutes about how I’ve come to realize that I have a specific purpose. And that will be followed by a single called God Stepped In. And God Stepped In was a song that I wrote during the pandemic, because what I was seeing was these catastrophic wars and all this chaos happening in the world. My mother raised us on the Bible and reading the Bible, there were so many stories where man was faced with an obstacle bigger than him and God's intervention was the only thing that changed it. So the song is a story of all these things happening in the world and how it will all change and become different if God intervenes. I believe that intervention will be a change of heart for us, who knows what it will be in our lifetime, but it has to happen in order for life to change.
Check out Episode 8 of the AphroChic Podcast for the full conversation and music from Greg Banks
