My Journey to the creation of this album is an interesting one. While getting a degree in Electrical Engineering, I gigged for many years in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens New York with a dance band called The Phil Edwards Orchestra. The Sax man in the band was Jazz great Davey Schildkrautat.  Davey played with Jazz legends Miles Davis, Stan Kenton, and Buddy Rich to name a few.  Davey taught me many things about musical expression and passion for writing. After getting into the high technology field, I decided to continue my music education attending California State University Long Beach.  I studied music theory and percussion performance under the tutelage of Greg Goodall.  Greg was a Percussionist in the L.A. philharmonic, and taught me many performance techniques that I employ today. 
The feedback I have received from industry pros and fans alike have been similar in response: unique, interesting, and intelligent.  My composing philosophy and ultimate goal is to have my music tell a story through varied instrumental counterpoint, complex rhythms, and interesting melodies. My musical influences include The Pat Metheny Group, Weather Report, Bill Bruford, and Peter Erskine.


Eclectic Journey of the Paradiddle Penguin

Dreamland Odyssey

Desert Secret

Redondo Beach Sunset

Return to Vega

Phrase Shift

Big Easy Revival

Cosmic Ritual

Allison's Wonderland

I was played on KSDS 88.3 fm San Diego last night.  The DJ, John D'Agostino, is a well know Jazz guy, musician, and LA Times writer.  He had some really great things to say about my music - take a listen!
The transcript:
"San Diego's Jazz 88.3, we were just listening to drummer/composer Gary Umberto Scapellati with Redondo Beach Sunset  from his recent very impressive one man band effort Cosmic Ritual. This is one of those labor's of passion projects that an artist works on for a long time to make sure it's exactly right. Gary composed, performed, and sequenced the entire album by himself. For you gear heads and DAW types,  he used Roland V-Drums, a Mac running Digital Performer, and keyboard to trigger various software synths.  Believe me, it's not easy to straddle the right brain/left brain divide; essentially your merging the functions of producer, engineer, and artist, but Scapellati managed it all beautifully, and had it Mastered at highly regarded Vestman Mastering in Orange County.  So for all the electronics involved, Cosmic Ritual sounds very musical throughout - good job Gary!"

Cosmic Ritual played on KSDS Jazz88.3 fm / Jazz88.org