Before the advent of today's digital recording technology, this talented pianist-cum-guitarist got a decidedly lowbrow start in the music business. "When I was just a little kid, three years old, we got a piano. A couple of neighbors dropped off an old upright piano in exchange for a few cans of beer. I took piano lessons for about 3 weeks, that was all the piano teacher could take. I couldn't get through a single piece of music that my teacher gave me because I would improvise as I went. I'd get three or four minutes into a piece and then I'd just go off and start making things up."

This innate musical creativity is the origin of Gary's compositions. Gary wrote one of his earliest songs, "Suite #5," at the age of 15. Recorded in 2005 on the album Imaginary Piano, it's still one of his favorite songs. With more than a million streams and downloads, Gary's music has proved quite popular on web sites such as Amazon, iTunes, Napster, Soundclick, and many others.

So what's up next for this versatile composer? "I'm becoming a more project-oriented musician, creating music in conjunction with other folks. There are new kinds of multimedia projects thanks to all this new, less expensive, digital technology," he states, citing media projects such videos, games, animations, and movies. Gary's penchant for penning instrumental music has dovetailed nicely with several of these forms. In fact, an animation software company recently picked several tracks from the album Tube Music (2009) for inclusion in their new software. "It seems like a great thing to get into, just to see where all that goes."

For Gary, it's exciting to see what other people are doing with his music, and Tube Music is a standout example. His decision to allow all 19 tracks from the album to be used royalty-free has had intriguing results on video forums such as YouTube. "It's neat to see what people do," he says, describing how a fan in Poland used 'Paris Smiling' as the background music for the droll visual story of an empty can rolling down the beach. "And then somebody else in Japan used a different piece, 'Coronado,' in a memorial video - a completely different kind of thing."

Gary is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and is a three-time ASCAP award-winner. He also belongs to The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS).


Discography


o Beads of Light 1992
o Return to Earth 1999
o Life after Life 2001
o All of Us 2002
o Take Home Music 2003
o Imaginary Piano 2004
o Just a Word 2004 (re-release)
o Midnight Clear 2005
o Legacy 2006
o Big World 2007
o WildLife 2008
o Tube Music 2009
o Tough Love 2009
o Guitar Games 2010
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