GARY REGINA BIO
Gary Regina, a professional musician for 35 years, began his career in his native New York. He attended Berkeley College of Music (Boston, MA.), and continued his studies at Naropa Institute, (Boulder, CO.) where he studied with the group Oregon. Gary moved to Santa Cruz, California in 1982.
Currently, Gary performs with Sista Monica, (Mo’ Muscle Records). He is featured on saxophone onher 2008 CD release “Sweet Inspirations” on the track #8 entitled “ I’m Happy with Me”. He has toured with her band to the Mexican Riviera on the Legendary Blues Cruise in 2007, to Sonora Mexico Blues Festival in 2008, to Canada and other parts of the United States over the years.
His musical influences are incredibly diverse with his ability transcending many styles and genres. He is as comfortable with straight-ahead Jazz as he is with World-Beat, Hip-Hop, Swing, Rock, Funk, Blues and Soul. He plays a myriad of instruments including: Tenor, C Melody, Alto, and Soprano Saxophones (sometimes two at once), Wind Synthesizer, Guitar, Percussion, Ethnic Flutes and Vocals.
Over the span of his career Gary has toured and gigged extensively in the US, Canada, Japan, Greenland, Mexico, The Republic of Palau and Australia. He has opened for Miles Davis, Maceo Parker, Spyro Gyra, Yellow Jackets and John McLaughlin, and has performed at countless festivals including the Concord and San Jose Jazz Festivals, and the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1997, 2003 and 2007.
Gary is an active member of the thriving independent music production scene in the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Areas, where he composes for, produces and engineers scores of local artists. He has also composed and released several CDs from his own projects: The Sense of Wonder and American Landscapes (The Nature Company), Gary Regina and Tranceport and In the Loop. These original band projects range from Acid Jazz and New Age to his pioneering efforts in the World Beat movement and his current work in Looping Music.
He also performs with Eric Lindell (Alligator Records), Peter Cor and The Jazzy Devils (True Life Records).