Music and singing has always been a part of her for as long as she can remember. Gina was exposed to all kinds of music at a tender age and was active in choirs, solo performances and drama/musical theater productions in school. Although she has a degree in business, she chose her passion and started out with popular music in the Philippines but was listening to Jazz, blues, gospel and broadway music during her spare time. "When opportunities knock, priorities change' she quotes. She believes that the key to a successful singer is the ability to listen to others and to yourself.
Her performances has taken her to many parts of Asia while based in Kuala Lumpur, and has traveled to South America, Australia,Europe and the US. One of her cherished moments was performing live at the Cotton Club in New York with their in-house swing band.
Based in Malaysia, she’s performed with some of the region’s top notch musicians both local and international.She was the vocalist for Asiabeat (with Lewis Pragasam), Face First(with Greg Lyons), Aztec Jam (with Stuart Henderson), Jungle Jazz (with Dodong Jumawan), Eye to Eye jazzmix, Farid Ali, the Willie Rebano band, David Gomez, Jose Thomas, Stu MacAskie, WVC Trio with Tay Cher Siang, Patrick Terbrack of Chicago, Mike Veerapen, the Solianos, the Franciscos and fusion pianist Boy Katindig from Las Vegas to name a few. For 2 years in a row, she’s performed for the Netherland’s Queens Ball, thrice for His Majesty the King of Malaysia and an audience for the Duke of Argyle, royalties of the state, visiting dignitaries and recently for the FIP Royal Polo World cup with the Prime Minister in attendance. She has also taken part at the 1 Million Youth Gathering launched by Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Ministry held at Putrajaya and the proposed World Youth Jazz Festival in Putrajaya next year.
Her influences include Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Diane Schuur, Diane Reeves, Etta James, Anita Baker, Reginabelle, Cole Porter, Gershwin, Big bands, and acid/fusion groups. She has a strong inclination to Blues, and Latin music (having Spanish as part of her heritage) too, and has great respect for the music of Tania Maria, Ivan Lins, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Tito Puente, Elaine Elias and Poncho Sanchez.
Gina is currently active in the Kuala Lumpur jazz circuit with her quartet called GPjQ performing at jazz joints like Nero Fico Jazzeria, Mezze Lounge, WIP Bangsar, Alexis and No Black Tie.
She’s also taken part at the several jazz festivals like the Riau Jazz Festival in 2007, Indonesia, the highly acclaimed Sunrise Montkiara Jazzfest for 3 years. Alongside her GP Jazz Quartet, they recently performed a fabulous finale at the 4th Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival on June 18-19, 2010 with impressive reviews from SabahSongs Musicblog.
Radio appearances, and voice overs also include part of her schedules as she was interviewed at 90.3 FM Jazz Selecta in KL and her song 'Down in Rio' included in RTHK’s Radio 4 Jazzin’ Up in Hongkong. Add that to the jazz segments at Down Memory Lane on TV1 at Radio TV Malaysia and NTV 7’s Breakfast show. In Iloilo, she’s been featured twice in Cream magazine and also interviewed by Jet Yip by Iloilo Premiere magazine.
On April 30, 2008, she released her self produced, debut album-“FINALLY Gina Panizales” under Multinum Entertainment which she collaborated with Sabah’s fingerstyle guitarist Roger Wang including a track from Phil Morisson, founder of World Unity Jazz Ensemble and music awardee for the recent Beijing Olympics. The album is a contemporary mix of Jazz, Latin and R & B she calls an honest reflection of her passion, inspirations and influences throughout her musical journey.Her album is distributed in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
On December 2010 she co-produced ‘LOVE’S Tapestry’ album with Leslie Loh and Roger Wang under Leslie Loh’s Poppopmusic label, which is a stripped down acoustic version on audiophiles of beautifully selected 70’s and 80’s love songs that could melt anyone’s heart. The album was voted CD of the month for March 2010 by the Audiophile Magazine of Hongkong, its serialized limited and normal edition is currently available at major record stores in Kuala Lumpur and is also distributed in Hongkong, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan.
Now a member of internationally affiliated Music Authors Copyright Protection Bhd, Gina is hoping to make more music and more collaboration with other artistes. She celebrated her 25th year in music with a successful concert “A Golden Jazz Evening” on Oct 2010 at KL’s premier jazz club No Black Tie with some of Malaysia’s topnotch jazz musos. And she’s not only blessed with talent but also a big heart. Her weekends are spent teaching nursery Sunday school and also spares time for charity causes .
Related Links :
www.youtube.com/ginavox1
www.facebook.com/gina.panizales
http://cdbaby.com/cd/ginapanizales
www.allaboutjazz.com/ginapanizales
www.myspace.com/ginapanizales
www.reverbnation/ginapanizales