Gino Robair is an American composer, improvisor, drummer, and percussionist. In his own work (as a soloist and in improvisation ensembles), he plays prepared/modified percussion, analog synthesizer, ebow and prepared piano, theremin, and bowed objects (polystyrene, customized/broken cymbals, faux daxophone, metal). Although Gino is often referred to as a jazz musician, he grew up playing both rock and concert music.
Based on the cryptic liner notes of recent releases (for example, the duo CD "Sputter" with Birgit Ulher), it is not always clear what instruments Robair is playing. In recent interviews (Paris Transatlantic, The Wire), he notes that the term "energized surfaces" refers to the use of drums as resonators for other objects, which he bows, scrapes, rubs, or activates with an ebow, motors, or compressed air through a horn. "Voltage made audible" is used to describe analog electronics and circuit bent instruments.
As a composer, Robair has written pieces for a variety of ensembles (including the ROVA Saxophone Quartet), scored numerous Shakespearean plays with the California Shakespeare Festival (where he was music director for five years), and created jingles for radio and television. He also served as music director and composer (within the Club Foot Orchestra) for the CBS/Film Roman Saturday morning cartoon series "The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat".
His large-scale work, "I, Norton," is an opera based on the life of Emperor Norton, which combines improvisation, graphic scores, game pieces, and fully notated scores. The piece was featured in the documentary Noisy People, by Tim Perkis.
Gino Robair is the former editor of Electronic Musician magazine, current editor-in-chief of Keyboard magazine, and he runs Rastascan Records.
Robair frequently tours North America and Europe as a soloist and often improvises in ad hoc groups. He has recorded with Anthony Braxton, Tom Waits, John Butcher, LaDonna Smith, Otomo Yoshihide, Terry Riley, Lou Harrison, Eugene Chadbourne, Club Foot Orchestra, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Birgit Ulher, Beth Custer, and Fred Frith, and many others. In addition, he has performed with John Zorn, Nina Hagen, and Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. He is also a founding member of the Splatter Trio and Pink Mountain.
His academic work includes composition studies with Barney Childs at the University of Redlands and Lou Harrison, David Rosenboom, and Larry Polansky at Mills College. He studied percussion with Ron George, William Kraft, William Winant, and Eddie Prévost of AMM. He also studied Javanese Gamelan with Jody Diamond and Widyanto, and wrote several works for the instruments.
In addition to his work operating the Rastascan label, Gino Robair had been active in the 1990s organizing music venues, notably "the Dark Circle Lounge" series, which in the 1990s was located in the Hotel Utah bar in San Francisco. He has often been regarded as one of the more active members of the Bay Area Improv Scene.
Gino Robair currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.